While she was born and raised in Sydney, “Sally” was so devoted to Stalinist Russia that she became a Soviet spy and infiltrated a US government agency. Like the show? consider becoming a Herald Sun subscriber for Jen Kelly's columns and much more. Go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin  

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In 1918, Melbourne was celebrating the end of WWI, unaware an insidious new war on home turf had just begun. That’s when a new drug – cocaine – first came under the nose of Melbourne police, introduced by a prostitute from Sydney. And the mastermind of the cocaine trade was Charles le Marchant, a longtime opium addict who had honed his criminal skills as a teen gang member in Chinatown. Read more about Melbourne's dark past at heraldsun.com.au/ibaw  

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In the early 1900s, Chinatown's Heffernan Lane was one of the worst streets in Melbourne thanks to brothels, opium dens, gambling rooms and a tendency to attract murderous thieves. And its most notorious resident was Chinese-born gangster Harry Quong, whose upstanding parents migrated to Melbourne to give their son "a good English education". Instead, he repaid his parents’ sacrifice by becoming a bank robber, thief and all-round scoundrel - then scored himself 15 years in jail for shooting a policeman. Read more at heraldsun.com.au/ibaw  

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In 1919 as a gang war called the Fitzroy Vendetta raged, Squizzy Taylor and a cast of misfits were tearing apart the inner Melbourne suburb. And living amid the sly grog shops, opium dens, brothels and slums was one man, World War I veteran Arthur Skerritt, whose life of crime culminated in a shocking murder. Read more at heraldsun.com.au/ibaw  

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The Collis family caused mayhem for decades with their sly grog shops and gang violence until authorities were forced to declare their homes condemned to run them out of town. Read more at heraldsun.com.au/ibaw  

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Her name is barely known today, but the formidable Ann Shiell was a powerful crime boss, slum landlord, brothel madam and controller of gangs of thieves in Melbourne in the late 1800s. For more on this story, go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw  

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Australian-born beauty Enid Lindeman disguised escaped Allied servicemen as maids to trick police when they raided the riviera mansion she used as a safe house for the French Resistance. Read more Australian tales at www.heraldsun.com.au/ibaw  

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As well as driving a cheetah with a diamond collar around London in her Bentley, scandal-plagued socialite Enid Lindeman outlived four husbands, earned the nickname “Lady Killmore”, and walked around with a pet hyrax on her shoulder.   

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After building an empire of brothels in the notorious Little Lon red light district, Madame Brussels was dubbed the “worst and wickedest woman in Melbourne”.  

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Convict James Porter and his crewmates were viewed as mutineer scum when they escaped Australia in a leaky stolen boat, but hailed as heroes in their new home 10,000km away.  

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