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
Jan 20
America’s Craziest Mob Boss (Sort of!) Vincent Gigante
Vincent “Chin” Gigante was the most powerful mob boss in America...and he was also the mob's best performance artist. By day, he wandered Greenwich Village in a bathrobe, muttering to himself, selling the world on the idea that he was crazy. By night, he ran the Genovese crime fa ... Show More
1h 12m
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