I've mentioned John Birmingham's book Leviathan* (Assorted links) before (5 June, 2005). Here's one of the chapters, expanded and filmed. Also see the works of Rupert Kathner
Underbelly: Back where it all began - SMH TV & Radio - Entertainment: "Sydney had been corrupt since the Rum Corps, but in the 1970s it exploded. A cell of bent detectives effectively franchised crime using 'pet' criminals. People such as Lennie McPherson, a safebreaker but no mastermind, became a Mr Big after police gave him the 'green light'. Arthur 'Neddy' Smith, a violent thug, became a protected mob leader. The smooth George Freeman made millions — so brazenly he was once photographed at Randwick races with the chief magistrate.
But there were a few honest police — and they had to break the law to prove it..."
* Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney A RIVETING HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY OF A REMARKABLE AUSTRALIAN CITY “Combining intensive research with the pace of a techno-thriller, John Birmingham creates a rich portrait of a city too dazzled by its own gorgeous reflection to care much for what lies at its dark, corrupted heart. … Birmingham drills beneath the cover story of a successful multicultural metropolis and melts the boundaries between past and present … Beneath the shining harbour, amid the towers of global greed and deep inside the bad-drugs madness of the suburban wastelands, lies Sydney's shadow history. … Illuminated by wild flashes of black humour, violent, ghoulish and utterly compelling, Leviathan is history for the Tarantino generation.” ISBN: 0091842034; ISBN: 9780091842031; ISBN: 0091832616
