Abe Saffron rose from wartime wheeler-dealing to become the king of Sydney’s underworld, a man whose appetite for sex, money and scandal was unmatched by any other Aussie gangster in the swinging Sixties. Saffron paid everybody off, brought Sinatra to Sydney, and hosted Sinatra. He was, in the words of one reporter, “Mr Sin”.
But as Saffron’s empire of vice ... Show More
Nov 11
The Tijuana Cartel's Bloody Rise and Fall
When the godfather Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo got busted in '89, he divvied up his empire from a prison cell and handed the coveted Tijuana plaza to the Arellano Felix Brothers, who transformed it into one of the most violent drug organizations in Mexico. At their peak, the brot ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 2024
Always Cheat & Always Win: Episode 419
<p>Roderick McLean said it was important to 'always cheat: always win'. A larger than life character, McLean, known as 'Popeye', was sent to prison when police and customs officers captured a gang of eight drug smugglers off the Caithness coast. During the raid customs officer Al ... Show More
28m 29s
Aug 2023
The Velvet Underground: Heroin, S&M, and the Attempted Assassination of Andy Warhol
The Velvet Underground put a spike in the status quo. They sang candidly about heroin, speed, and S&M. Their members included drug dealers and junkies. Their stage show was so perverted that it offended even the most liberal of peacenik hippies. Their benefactor and so-called man ... Show More
37m 10s