Hugo Rich and a crook known as The Ladderman are at opposite ends of the criminal food chain. Rich was a violent, calculating armed robber and murderer. Ladderman wouldn’t hurt a fly. In this episode you will hear audio tapes from both - Rich's outburst in the County Court where he threatened to kill the prosecutor and did everything in his power to sabotage his trial to a bizarre collection of police interviews with a small time thief. See how police deal with all kinds - from the homicidal to the hilarious.

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He nearly died because his boss liked a cheap beer: Bertie Wrout was right hand to Melbourne crime lord Lewis Moran and saw the gangland wars up close. He was there as Moran family and associates came and went, witnessed the rise of the infamous drug lord Carl Williams and was with Lewis Moran when he was was shot dead at his favourite drinking hole, The Brunswick Club. 

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Peter Norris Dupas is the worst type of serial killer -  a man who stalked women for decades and, police suspect, randomly killed six strangers. Convicted of the murders of Nicole Patterson and Margaret Maher he was the prime suspect in the murder of Mersina Halvagis, stabbed to death in 1997 in the Fawkner Cemetery tending her grandmother’s grave.

It would take homicide investigators Jeff Maher and Paul Scarlett 13 years, two trials and a shock witness to get their man.

This is the inside story on the pursuit of Peter Dupas and the fight for justice for Mersina Halvagis. Andrew Fraser, a lawyer police loved to hate, would become the star witness. We hear from Fraser, the police and the prosecutors on the 13 year journey that led to Dupas’ conviction and life sentence.

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What happens once the criminals are locked up? In his years as an officer at Port Phillip Prison, Paul O'Sullivan has seen more than most will see in a lifetime. An accomplished boxer, he could hold his own and he had to, because jail is a violent place. He's witnessed murders, bashings, and even had his own throat cut. But he's also made friends, had a laugh and got a better understanding of human nature. 

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Part 2 of 2 - We take you inside the investigation, the witness betrayal and the bloody aftermath of the killing of two young police officers on Walsh Street in South Yarra in 1988. It was a war fought in Melbourne streets that left three suspects dead, two patrol officers murdered and led a respected investigator to take his own life.

John Noonan, the joint head of the Ty-Eyre taskforce, recounts the brutal slaying as well as the investigation and prosecution. The taskforce charged Victor Peirce, Trevor Pettingill, Peter David McEvoy and Anthony Farrell with the Walsh Street murders. With Victor's wife, Wendy Peirce was to be the star witness. She stayed in police protection for 18 months - at a cost of $2 million - but eventually refused to give evidence at the Supreme Court.

Peter "Bubble-Brain" McEvoy wasn’t so much a black sheep but a dark stain on his family. His brothers were prison officers. He was a rapist, armed robber and alleged police killer. He has always maintained his innocence, but his brother Geoff tells a different story.

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Part 1 of 2 Known armed robber Graeme Jensen was shot dead by police as he evaded arrest at Narre Warren. Jensen was part of a group called 'The Flemington Crew' who operated in the 80s and early 90s, when armed robberies were a weekly occurrence. Police wanted him for the murder of a security guard, but Jensen was innocent, and the arrenst went badly wrong. A split second decision left Jensen dead, and his criminal associates vowing for revenge. The murders of two police at Walsh Street the day after wasn't the only aftermath of the Jensen shooting. There were murder charges for the arresting crew, a suicide and a complete change of approach at Victoria Police. 

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Keith Banks arrived at the Police Academy a clean cut teetotaller. Within a few years he was a dope smoking, binge drinking undercover cop. Fit, idealistic and eager to learn, he sucked in as much knowledge as he could before graduating into a police force rotting from the top. By the time he was 21 the clean-living country kid was a dope-smoking, binge-drinking undercover agent regularly risking his life to infiltrate drug syndicates, all the time knowing his targets could be tipped off by corrupt cops.

Contains a sample of Green Fields of France © 1976 performed by The Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur with words and music written by Eric Bogle, courtesy of Folk Freak.  

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The first episode of series two will drop Wednesday 15 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 you on a journey through his 40 years of dealing with the nation’s most dangerous criminals. 

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As a young cop of Greek heritage Nick Cecil was used to infiltrate ethnic gambling houses and became a key undercover in a task force assigned to smash illegal bookie syndicates in the 1950s. Much later he was sent to find The Great Train Robbery crook Ronald Biggs by putting his wife Charmian under surveillance when Biggs disappeared from his Blackburn home. Cecil tells an amazing story of becoming friends with the Biggs family (their kids played with his kids) and how close he came to catching the fugitive before he escaped to South America.  

Contains a sample of The Great Pretender © 1955 performed by The Platters with words and music written by Buck Ram, courtesy of Mercury Records.

Contains a sample of White Sports Coat © 1957 performed by Marty Robbins with words and music written by Marty Robbins, courtesy of Columbia Records.

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David Key was winched from the police helicopter 400 times on rescue missions. He tells Silvester what happened when he was lowered into 30 metre waves in the fatal 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and how close the helicopter came to crashing through lack of fuel. In 2009 he was lowered into Black Saturday then released from the wire when the helicopter started to lose altitude. Believing he was going to die he and the people he was sent to rescue were guided out by the chopper above. 

Thanks for listening. Please take the time to rate & review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. We love to hear your thoughts and it makes it easier for the rest of the podcast world to find us.

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