Naked City

By The Age and Sydney Morning Herald

What's Naked City about?

Take a journey into the dark depths of the Australian criminal underworld with Australia’s most formidable crime reporter - John Silvester.

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LAST EPISODE

73 seconds to a tragic death

09.05.2023

Tyler Cassidy was a troubled kid. Police officers Colin Dods and Richie Blundell were working an afternoon shift in the Northcote divisional van. Their lives would collide on a balmy summer evening in late 2008 at a Northcote skate park. ...

Naked City episodes:

09.05.2023 73 seconds to a tragic death Tyler Cassidy was a troubled kid. Police officers Colin Dods and Richie Blundell were working an afternoon shift in the Northcote divisional van. Their lives would collide on a balmy summer evening in late 2008 at a Northcote skate park. ...
08.29.2023 The cyber cop chasing the crypto criminals Very few people have heard of Detective Sergeant Dion Achtypis - but there may well be no more important investigator in Australia. You won’t see him holding a press conference at a murder scene or commanding a squad of detectives. ...
08.22.2023 Belinda's partner was beyond help. Now, he helps her save strangers Belinda Bozykowski was never a police officer. But her partner, Laurie Fox, was. On the last day of 2012, Fox took his own life, leaving her with two young sons, a broken heart and a million questions. Belinda is as ...
08.15.2023 Bread, water and the Liquorice Mile: Inside Pentridge Prison Prodigious armed robber and expert escaper John Killick escaped custody in three states, once in a helicopter hijacked by his girlfriend. Most of the police and prison officers who chased or caged him over more than 50 years are long ...
08.08.2023 Kaera was shot in cold blood on a city street, and we blamed her It was early on Monday, June 18, 2007, just as city workers were arriving at their jobs that Hells Angel Christopher Wayne Hudson finally imploded. First he beat and kicked a woman in a strip club before dragging her along ...
07.11.2023 Kid Currie: Life and death in the Special Operations Group As a policeman, Tony “Kid” Currie lived on the edge. In the SOG he shot and killed one suspect and in a second incident left one with life-altering injuries. Some thought he was a loose cannon and were happy when ...
07.04.2023 Blood on the steps of Flinders St: The brave men who chased a police killer Keith Pickering was just 19 and a young cop when he was on point duty outside Flinders Street Station in January 1974. He heard a vendor yell out and saw a man crouching with a bloodied carving knife. The mentally ...
06.27.2023 The double murder-suicide that rocked a small country town Kevin Knowles was a brute, a thug and a suspected double murderer. Kirkstall was a lovely county town inhabited mainly by young families looking to build a safe and caring community. That is until Knowles moved into town. Travis Cashmore ...
06.20.2023 A cultish nightmare: David’s 12 years in hell with The Family From the age of two, David Freeman was hidden with a group of children in a remote country house, described as a school that was actually a prison. The cult, led by the charismatic and seriously loopy Anne Hamilton-Byrne, survived ...
06.13.2023 The judge who committed three deadly sins Howard Nathan was a Supreme Court judge for 14 years. Many of his peers did not accept him because he was gay, Jewish and left-wing. One judge did not speak to him during his entire time on the bench. In ...
06.02.2023 Coming soon: Naked City season 6 Join John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, as he talks to the cops and the crims in the sixth season of crime podcast Naked City. The new season will premiere on Wednesday, June 14, and new episodes will drop each ...
10.26.2022 Trailer: The Confession The astonishing true story of how Melbourne homicide detectives broke all the rules in their quest to have Katia Pyliotis convicted for brutally murdering a dirty old man with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Confession is a podcast ...
10.18.2022 The twin bandits and the cop who brought them undone Peter Morgan and his twin Doug used their identical looks to fool police while pulling two dozen armed robberies in Victoria. That is until tough country cop Rick Hasty confronted Peter in a Ballarat laneway, who hours earlier had shot ...
10.12.2022 The good people who stare down evil Policeman Rod Miller came home tired from a late shift but took the time to sign more than 60 thankyou cards to friends and family who congratulated him and his wife Carmel on the birth of their first child. By ...
10.05.2022 The hunt for the police killers begins When police officers Gary Silk and Rod Miller were fatally shot the crime scene was chaotic as it was believed one of the armed offenders was still there and likely to try and kill more cops. The first responders tried ...
09.28.2022 Smoking guns: two police murdered, two suspects, one conviction. When Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller pulled over a blue Hyundai in Moorabbin in 1998 while on armed robbery stake-out duty they had no inkling they were about to be ambushed. Their murders sparked a two year ...
09.21.2022 'Meet me at the pub': The murder that stunned Melbourne. Jill Meagher sent a text to her husband Tom - "Meet me at the pub" but he was asleep and missed the message. By the the time he saw it she had been abducted and murdered as she walked the ...
08.30.2022 Mr Clean: The story of an international money launderer When Bruce Aitken headed to an international airport for one of his hundreds of overseas trips, he would always take his golf bag – a fairly normal piece of luggage for a globe-trotting businessman. For a man who wanted to ...
08.02.2022 The secret life of a sheep breeder: The Wettenhall family murders Darcy Whettenhall was a champion sheep breeder, running the Stanbury stud farm near Geelong. His perfectionism, drive and achievements were famous in the area. But he had a dark side, offering work to young vulnerable men then preying on them ...
07.26.2022 Rats in the rafters: The travelling tradie con There's a knock at your front door. A couple of tradies say they've been working on the house next door and they've noticed tiles missing from your roof. Not to worry. For $20, they're happy to climb up and replace ...
07.19.2022 The inside man who turned on Melbourne's last great armed robbery gang What he had was information on a notorious armed robbery crew, known as the gym gang, and he was prepared to talk, if the deal was right. He was The Driver, a trusted insider who turned informer on a gang ...
07.12.2022 'A heist like a Hollywood movie': The hunt for the Gym Gang Their heists were meticulous, and executed with military-style precision. And as soon as one job was done, they would disappear, sometimes for years. For 40 years, police have been in a cat-and-mouse chase with one of Australia's slickest armed robbery ...
07.05.2022 The knockabout judge and the gangland war Supreme Court judge Paul Coghlan has spent more than 50 years investigating, prosecuting and judging serious crooks on serious crimes. Coghlan, the grandson of a Chinese merchant, innkeeper and opium dealer, became Director of Public Prosecutions during Melbourne's gangland war, ...
06.28.2022 The Frankston serial killer: The net closes How police caught Paul Charles Denyer, and the women who came chillingly close to the Frankston serial's orbit. In part two of John Silvester's season opening episode of Naked City, go behind-the-scenes of the investigation with the veteran crime reporter ...
06.21.2022 When it rained: Seven weeks to catch a serial killer In the winter of 1993, a serial killer terrorised Melbourne, stalking and murdering three young women in the bayside suburb of Frankston. John Silvester is back for another season of Naked City, starting with a two-part episode on the investigation ...
06.15.2022 Coming soon: Naked City season five The much anticipated fifth season of Naked City arrives on June 22. Make sure to subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device. John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through his ...
04.04.2022 Coming soon - Liar, Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions Since late 2020, the case of missing Sydney woman Melissa Caddick has captivated the country. A seemingly successful businesswoman from Sydney's eastern suburbs went missing after authorities raided her Dover Heights home amid questions over an unlicensed financial planning business. ...
08.25.2021 From undercover to under lock and key Cliff Lockwood was just 19 when he left the peace of a tiny town to join the police force. “I know it sounds funny but I just wanted to do good. Nineteen was way too young. You don’t know anything.” ...
08.17.2021 Purana: Melbourne's gangland taskforce For a time gangland figures lived a fast and often lucrative life, but very few made it out alive. After 11 unsolved murders, including Moran brothers Mark and Jason, and their father Lewis, police put together a taskforce to tackle ...
08.10.2021 A country school kidnapping: An unbelievable tale The rookie teacher at the tiny country school was startled during morning recess when some of the kids ran into the single weatherboard classroom, yelling: "There's a man outside with a gun." Rob Hunter had been the sole teacher at ...
08.04.2021 Rent-a-kill: Australia's number one hitman By early 1985 hitman Chris Flannery was running out of friends. This was hardly surprising, as he’d killed most of them. Flannery had built a fearsome reputation for killing on command but when an attack dog begins to snarl at ...
07.27.2021 Abe Saffron and Sydney's corrupt cops Abraham Gilbert Saffron was a successful Sydney businessman who hated his nickname and spent a fortune trying to have it expunged from the record by threatening anyone who used it publicly. The name was Mr Sin and it was well ...
07.20.2021 The man who put three police in a rubbish bin Robbo' Robertson was a natural undercover cop. A Vietnam veteran with the gift of the gab, he slipped seamlessly into the role of Brian Wilson, an underworld heavy from Sydney. In 1978 Robertson was given a new mission. He was ...
07.13.2021 ANoM: The app that spied on crooks It was a Friday night when Federal Police contacted their Victorian counterparts with an urgent message. A shooting had been ordered by an overseas bikie boss to be carried at a Melbourne fight night. The planning was so detailed police ...
07.06.2021 Ron Fenton: The cop and the dog that saved him In 1984 policeman Ron Fenton was nearly given up for dead. Shot in the head and slumped unconscious next to his police car. That is until a cop in an unmarked car took it upon himself to charge do drag ...
06.29.2021 Coming soon: Naked City season 4 The first episode of series four will drop Wednesday 7 July, with a new episode published every Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device. John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take ...
04.13.2021 The fugitive's fatal mistake: police shooting of Arthur Nelson Arthur James Nelson was a third rate crook who had convictions for burglary, theft, assault, false pretences and drugs. In July 1988 his path fatally crossed police officers, Lachlan McCulloch and Syd Hadley. We hear the police re-enactment tapes conducted ...
04.06.2021 Justice Frank Vincent: The secrets of the Supreme Court He was the best defence lawyer representing murder defendants in around 200 cases. He went on to be a respected Supreme Court Judge presiding over the most difficult homicide trials, including the Walsh Street police killings, the Russell Street bombing ...
03.30.2021 Bernie 'The Attorney' Balmer, knockabout lawyer He has represented Mick Gatto and Mark 'Chopper' Reid among other Melbourne gangland characters, but even as a school-kid, lawyer Bernie Balmer had an aversion to bullies. As a year 11 student he had a difference of opinion with a ...
03.23.2021 Graeme Alford: The stick-up, the lawyer and the long lunch Graeme Alford was a smart, cunning, hard-working criminal lawyer with a loyal and regular client base all connected to the feared Painters and Dockers Union. It was a licence to print money. He was also a heavy punter and prodigious ...
03.16.2021 Kill or be killed: The cop and the country bandit Wayne Sherwell was a country cop on traffic duty on a quiet rural road when he pulled up a speeding motorist who claimed to be a vet. The man behind the wheel was calm and matter-of-fact and there was nothing ...
03.09.2021 Jane Thurgood-Dove: The mistaken identity murder Jane Thurgood-Dove was murdered in front of her three children in the driveway of their Muriel Street, Niddrie in November 1997 - as she stepped from the car and with her kids aged 11, six and three still strapped securely ...
03.02.2021 Russell Street bombing: The day that shocked a nation Sometimes life and death can be decided by something as simple as the toss of a coin. On that day, so many years ago, a young policewoman named Angela Taylor was working in the watch house at Russell Street when ...
02.23.2021 Mark 'Chopper' Read's legacy of violence Contrary to popular opinion, Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read was no underworld mastermind and his criminal history was littered with blunders. His police record shows that when he broke the law he was usually caught and convicted. But he was a ...
02.16.2021 Coming Soon: Naked City season 3 On Wednesday 24 February, in the first episode of the third series, listen to never heard before tapes from Mark 'Chopper' Read to get insight into the myth and the legend. Subscribe to get new episodes published every Wednesday straight ...
02.09.2021 Trailer: Naked City season 3 Join John Silvester from Wednesday 24 February for the third series of Naked City. Subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device every Wednesday. Silvester is Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through ...
09.23.2020 The death of a neo-Nazi crime boss Phillip Grant Wilson was a neo-Nazi and a killer. He recruited a gang and according to one police report, ''This group undertook intense physical fitness training for the purpose of establishing a physical and mental advantage over police, especially the ...
09.18.2020 Bonus episode: Portrait of an artist Mica Pillemer is an accomplished international artist who, for reasons best known to himself, wanted to paint John Silvester for the Archibald Prize. During the sitting he reflects on his family history – from the concentration camps of Europe, the ...
09.15.2020 Mad Max meets his maker A Bulgarian army deserter, Pavel Marinof trained himself for an armed confrontation with police, saying they would 'never take him alive'. Because he was violent and dangerous Australian media dubbed him 'Mad Max'. Marinof always traveled with two pistols and ...
09.08.2020 The Ramchens: Beauty and the Beast She was a stunning former model and television hostess. He was a successful businessman. They owned two mansions and had three beautiful children. So why did Jacqui Ramchen vanish without a trace? Her husband, Slavik "Vic" Ramchen, a no nonsense, ...

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