Underbelly - including spin off's
Jun 10, 2016 14:56:33 GMT
The Saint, Windy Miller, and 1 more like this
Post by Dirty Epic on Jun 10, 2016 14:56:33 GMT
Just wondering if anyone has seen or likes the Australian crime series Underbelly and it’s spin off series which are mostly (not all) on DVD in the UK and have been shown on UK-based channels like STV, Fox and CBS Action?
{Spoiler Alert - Click Here To Reveal}
Underbelly (2008)
The original Underbelly focuses on Melbourne’s gangland wars between 1995 and 2004. Loosely based on John Silvester and Andrew Rule’s true crime book Leadbelly Underbelly has characters that are (mostly) based on the real people. The main protagonists are members of the Carlton Crew – a collective of Calabrian Mafia and Painters and Dockers Union members including Alphonse Gangitano (Vince Colosimo), Mick Gatto (Simon Westaway), Graham Kinniburgh (Gerrard Kennedy), Jason/Mark Moran (Les Hill/Callan Mullvey) and Mario Condello (Martin Sacks) and their associates one of which was Carl Williams (Gyton Grantley). Williams was little more than a driver for Jason Moran. After the drug trade became more lucrative for Melbourne’s criminal gangs Williams uses the Moran pill press to flood the city with his own ecstasy. Prior to this Alphonse Gangitano had shot dead a low ranking criminal Graham Workman (Liam Amor) over a small debt and subsequently embroiled Jason Moran in a violent bar brawl in Melbourne’s CBD. When Gangitano pleads guilty to the brawl charge it implicates Moran who plead not guilty and will serve time in prison. (Allegedly) Moran has a showdown with Gangitano in his home (witnessed by Graham Kinniburgh) and shoots him dead. Meanwhile Williams is upscaling his drug business with dealer Tony Mockbel (Robert Mammone). He’s flooded the city with cheap pills undercutting the Moran family. The Moran’s aim to find out who is doing this and deal with them. It’s complicated as Jason’s in prison and their father Lewis (Kevin Harrington) is taking a back seat. Carl has taken up with Roberta (Kat Stewart) the ex-wife of a low ranking Carlton Crew member. Roberta’s a loose cannon and initially taunts Carl for being the Moran’s ‘driver’. Carl though shows her what he’s doing and his plans. Driven on by this Roberta becomes Carl’s wife and if anything pushes him forward and forward into the drug trade and organised crime. When the police bust the Moran’s drug house – due to Carl opening the door to them while the pill press was running, the Moran’s summon Carl to a meeting in a St Kilda park. They still don’t suspect Williams and almost let him off with a warning wanting money to cover their losses. Mark though realises Williams was operating the press for his own ends and is the reason they’ve lost ground in the drug trade. Reacting angrily Jason shoot’s Carl in the stomach. Mark tells him as he’s now injured and needing hospital treatment he should finish him off. Jason almost does this but – perhaps foolishly, wants Williams to repay his debt. Williams recovers from the shooting but becomes more ruthless and is now on a path of war with Carlton Crew/Moran’s. To achieve this he befriends Carlton associate Andrew ‘Benji’ Venjamin (Damien Walshe-Howling). Benji was under the wing of Mick Gatto and was a one time kick boxing champion. After Mockbel is assaulted by a ‘bikie’ associated to the Carlton Crew Benji run’s him back to Williams. Williams puts a proposition to Benji to be his enforcer and connect him with up and coming crime figures from the Sunshine area of Melbourne like Dino Dibra (Daniel Amalm), Rocco Arico (Ryan Jonson) and Paul ‘PK’ Kallipolitis (Robert Rabiah). Williams has also made connections with hitmen like Thomas Hentschel (Ian Bliss) and Victor Brincat (Alex Dimitriades) and despite having a brief period in prison his drug business is booming and he’s out for revenge against the Moran’s. His first target is Mark and with the assistance of Hentschel and Dibra Williams becomes proficient with weapons to do a hit on him. Williams shoots Mark dead in the front garden of his home which creates ripples amongst not just the Moran’s/Carlton Crew but organised crime as a whole in Melbourne. Still in prison Jason swears revenge Williams and anyone associated with him and tries to recruit the fence sitting Benji to do a hit on Williams. Benji tells Williams of this and tries to recruit a veteran crime figure Victor Pierce (Andrew Gilbert) to hit Jason at his brothers grave on the anniversary of his death. Jason doesn’t show however and after playing hardball with Benji for his fee for a hit he doesn’t do Williams orders the killing of Pierce. With other crime figures like PK, Dibra and more significantly Nic ‘The Russian’ Radev (Don Hany) Victoria Police set up Operation Purana to counteract the escalating gang war. One thing the police do is to relocate Jason Moran and his family to London indefinitely as he’s been identified as the most likely target for Williams and his associates. Jason agrees but homesick he returns to Melbourne roughly a year later. His father Lewis has lost even more ground to the ‘Williams Crew’ and Jason still wants his pound of flesh with him. After a botched shooting of Williams home Williams is even more determined to get Moran and enlists Hentschel and Brincat to do this. They’ve found a way to ambush him while he takes his son, brothers kids and friends to footie practice. Fitness fanatic Brincat was armed robber known as the ‘running man’ and could sprint a mile from a robbery to a getaway vehicle. Him and Hentschel use this to shoot Moran and his associate Pasquale ‘Pat’ Barbaro dead in the football field car park. The shooting shocks Australia who demand the Police take action on these gangland killings. Led by detective Gary Butterworth (Franke J Holden) the Purana team put Williams, Benji, Hentschel, Brincat, their associates and the remaining members of the Carlton Crew under close surveillance. This fails to prevent the murder of Lewis Moran, hot dog seller Michael Marshall and Graham Kinniburgh but the net is closing in on Williams and after the Marshall murder Hentschel and Brincat are arrested/remanded for this. Mick Gatto had kept under the radar of most of this turnmoil but due to his close friend Graham Kinniburgh being murdered – under William’s orders he’s now involved and wanting revenge. He thinks Benji killed him (it’s considered another associate of Williams Killed Kinniburgh) and summons him to a meeting at a restaurant in Lygon Street. After the pair go to the stockroom a argument, scuffle and shot occurs. Benji has been fatally shot and Gatto claimed he pulled a gun on him and after struggling the gun went off – killing Benji. Williams sees this as an eye for an eye and intends taking out Mario Condello. Lewis Caine (Marcus Graham) was a close friend of Benji but also owes the Carlton Crew due to being looked after by them after serving time for manslaughter. He’s in a relationship with a lawyer for the Carlton Crew but feels the need to revenge the death of Benji. He offers his services to Williams and has found a way of getting Mario Condello and Williams pairs him with a notorious Melbourne criminal Keith Faure and his nephew who both committed Lewis Moran’s murder. They’re set to go but a row between Caine and Faure see’s Faure shoot him dead in his own car which brings police attention to Williams. The police get to Condello’s bodyguard Tibor (Brett Swain). When he is caught in possession of a gun by they make him get information on Condello and offer his services as a hitman to kill Williams. This pays off for the police who eventually uncover a plot to hit Condello by the lowdown members of Williams crew who botch the Condello hit. After persistence with Hentschel and Brincat they have enough information arrest Williams and (to a degree) calm down some of the violence in Melbourne’s gangland.
Give or take some of the slight inaccuracies with real events, violence, sex and a feeling of Americanised production values etc. the 13 parts of the original Underbelly series are generally very good. All the leading actors I’ve mentioned and others I haven’t like members of the police/Purana team Caroline Craig, Roger Corser etc. play their parts well and they’re lightyears ahead of what they’ve done prior to this – in particular soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away. Fact is stranger than fiction and many of the events here in Underbelly pretty much did happen. No one really comes out of this unscathed either a victim of the snowballing gang wars, a victim of those involved in them or so far gone in the quest for money and power they lose grip of a real-world reality. Carl Williams too eventually ended up a victim too. After being sentenced to 35 years without parole in 2006/07 he too was killed in the gym of Barwon Prison. The success of Underbelly led to a number of spin offs the first of which is A Tale of Two Cities. Overall I’d rate it just short of 9/10.
Underbelly : A Tale of Two Cites (2009)
This focuses on Australian organised crime from 1976 to 1986 and begins with the marijuana trade in Griffith NSW led by Robert ‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole (Roy Billing). New Zealander Terry ‘Kiwi Terry’ Clark (Matthew Newton) is in Sydney to set up a major international heroin network. Clark has connections with Singapore based ex-pat Scot Andy Maher (Damon Gameau) who has tapped into the heroin supply network of ‘Mr Asia’ Marty Johnstone (Merrick Watts). Utilising couriers, false pasports and his own drive and ambition Clark is determined to be a major figure in the Australasian and world heroin trade but needs backers to get his plans off the ground. After approaching and being rebuffed by major Sydney crime figure George Freeman (Peter O’Brien) Clark then approaches Trimbole a mid-league figure in the Calabrian/Italian community in Griffith. Trimbole’s associate Gianfranco "Frank" Tizzoni (Toni Poli) is apprehensive and warns off getting involved in the heroin trade and Trimbole is equally weary of being involved with Clark due to a local politician Donald McKay (Andrew McFarlane) being aware of and having him in his sights for his marijuana growing trade and initially being dismissed as ‘small time’ by Clark. Clark though after himself being violently dismissed by Freeman and his heavies goes cap in hand to Trimbole in order to set up his network. Trimbole shows Clark he’s no pushover and threatens him a gun when he thinks Clark is disrespecting him. Trimbole’s sceptical about whether Clark can put together his heroin network. However when Clark arranges with his Singapore contacts and personally ‘mules’ a large quantity of heroin into Australia Trimbole is impressed and agrees to be his backer. Meanwhile things with McKay come to a head and Trimbole decides to have him murdered – rumoured to be Australia’s first political assignation. Through contacts in the Melbourne underworld – specifically Brian and Les Kane (Tim McCunn and Martin Dingle-Wall), Tizzoni recruits for Trimbole a hitman ‘Fred’/James Frederick Bazley (Scott Burges). After a few botched attempts Bazley takes McKay out in the car park of a pub and according to Tizzoni they put him through a meat grinder – in real life McKay’s disappearance/possible death was more unclear. With a lack of activity from detectives in Griffith to solve McKay’s ‘disappearance’, the word amongst Melbourne detectives Liz Cruickshank (Asher Keddie) and her boss Joe Messina (Peter Phelps) that a Sydney based criminal was looking for a hitman and the police and politician’s in Griffith like Al Grasby (Ric Herbert) protecting and having a cosy relationship with Trimbole a young ambitious detective Warwick Mobbs (Matt Passmore) dropped in the middle of this and is determined to solve McKay’s disappearance and its links with Trimbole. Whilst investigating he uncovers Trimbole’s links with Freeman/Lennie McPherson’s (John McNeill) illegal SP betting as well as his wider links with organised crime and the drug trade in NSW, Victoria and Australia more generally. Whilst investigating Trimbole Mobbs encounters a surveillance operation into Freeman/McPherson/Trimbole led by David Priest (Jonny Pasvolsky) of the Commonwealth Police – later the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Priest has been trying to get evidence on Trimbole and his associates for a while but so far has drawn a blank and is impressed with Mobbs efforts on the McKay case. However word of Mobbs investigations has spread throughout the wider NSW police force and from up high Mobbs is taken off the McKay case and is posted to a rural NSW with immediate effect. Clark meanwhile puts together his Australian team for his heroin network. Using ex-pat ‘friends’ like Greg Ollard (Chris Sadrinna), Harry ‘Pommy’ Lewis (Sam Anderson), Doug and Isabelle Wilson (Gareth Reeves and Simone Kessell) and Wayne Robb (Jake Lindesay) they become his mules, couriers, dealers and go-betweens for him. Wayne’s girlfriend Alison Dine (Anna Hutchison) also catches Clarks eye. Starting out a naive country girl from Rotorua she’s soon smitten with Clark and is snared into his world. Clark casts his wife and son aside for Dine and she soon becomes his right hand in his heroin network recruiting further mules for him. Clark however has a dark side and after hearing Ollard has been selling his heroin on the side and ‘Pommy’ being caught in possession of a firearm by Australian customs and also revealing things about him and the network to them he brutally murders both men severing limbs and smashing their teeth accordingly. Meanwhile a notorious Melbourne crime figure Ray Chuck Bennett (Nathan Page) has returned from overseas. He approaches Trimbole as a front to launder money to the Philippines. This money will come from The Great Bookie Robbery which will net Bennett and his crew an estimated $4m (approx. $20m in modern value). Word Bennett is planning something reaches the Kane brothers who as standover men feel they deserve a cut of the proceeds from Bennett. Also a knock-about criminal Christopher Dale Flannery (Dustin Clare) also wants in on Bennett’s plan and tries to join the gang. Flannery is a loose cannon who would a few years later reinvent himself as a hitman known as ‘Mr Rent-a-Kill’ and Bennett is weary of having him on his well-drilled team. Bennett cuts Flannery aside and goes ahead with the robbery without him. The Kane’s furious at not being ‘in’ on this apply further pressure to Bennett and his associates Vinnie Mikkelsen (Wayne Bradley) and Laurie Prendergast (Teo Gebert) to cut them in on the proceeds. Bennett is having non of it and after Clark’s courier Wayne is robbed of drug money by Mikklesen and Prendegast and a pub brawl between Brian Kane and Mikklesen where Kane’s ear is partially bitten off and a threat to kill Bennett and his family from Kane things reach boiling point between the Kane’s and Bennet and their allies. Bennet decides to acquire some submachine guns from Trimbole and use these to ambush Les Kane at his home in front of his wife and kids – again in real life Kane is believed murdered but is ‘officially’ disappeared. Bennett, Mikklesen and Prendesgast assassinate Kane in his own bathroom and transport his body in his own car a Ford Futura. His distraught wife Judy Kane (Kate Ritchie) initially cleans up the bathroom and contacts Brian with regard to what to do next. She decides to speak with the police and this leads to Bennett and co. being arrested and up on trial for murdering Les. In jail Brian Kane thinks his allies will deal with Bennett but he strikes up a rapport with notorious prisoner Mark ‘Chopper’ Read who if perhaps not friends have mutual respect which see’s in survive. The trial meanwhile collapses due to lack of evidence and Bennett, Mikllesen and Prendergast go there separate ways. Bennett is re-arrested on a minor charge and while awaiting trial in the courthouse a fake beard/disguised Brian Kane shoots him dead and makes his escape – perhaps with the assistance of corrupt police officers/court officials. In real life Mikklesen was also eventually murdered as was Brian Kane. In the series Prendergast turns up a few years later as an associate of Flannery’s in Sydney but in real life he disappeared after the Kane trial. Clark feels Wayne is a liability and wants to deal with him as per Pommy and Ollard but Alison convinces him not to. She also convinces Clark to give Wayne some money to set up as a artist back in NZ. But Wayne spends the money on heroin and when Clark finds this out he badly beats Wayne with a cricket bat in the bush and leaves him there for dead – he survives but doesn’t testify. His main couriers The Wilson’s are also having heroin troubles but after checking into rehab they convince Terry they’re clean and focused. However after a wild party in a Queensland hotel where Clark is arrested with a firearm the Wilson’s get pressure applied on them by the police which ultimately results in them telling all about Clark’s heroin operation. Clark skips to the UK and instructs Trimbole to kill the Wilson’s. Trimbole/Tizzoni hire Bazley who shoots the Wilsons and buries them in a shallow grave in Victoria after they were lured to Melbourne on the premise of a drug run. However unlike McKay their bodies are quickly found and sets a chain of events where Clark skips to the UK, police attention falls upon Trimbole. Flannery now a hitman is approached by Trimbole (via Clark) to kill Alison. Posing as a florist he almost succeeds but is beaten to it by the arrival of corrupt narcotics agent Jack Smith (Samuel Johnson), who ultimately plants drugs on her in order to arrest her. Alison is pressured but doesn’t crack and is released. Trimbole is on the receiving end of Flannery’s volatile temper and is made to pay him despite not carrying out the hit on Alison. Clark also changes his mind about killing Alison and wanting out she too leaves Australia for the US. Stimulated by the Wilson murders AFP and Victorian police form a joint task force led by David Priest to investigate their murder and the links to organised crime – specifically individuals like Clark, Trimbole and Freeman. The team includes Mobbs, Cruickshank, Messina and a Sydney CIB detective Trevor Haken (Dieter Brummer).Haken however is a fly in the ointment as he has links to Kings Cross CIB and corrupt police officers like Dennis Kelly (Paul Tassone) and Jim Egan (Daniel Roberts) who are pretty much on the Freeman’s payroll. Despite the best efforts of Haken they start to put together the pieces of Clark and Trimbole’s involvement in the Australian drug trade. However with Clark in the UK and no hard evidence on Trimbole they still can’t make any serious moves against them. A stroke of luck happens when ‘Mr Asia’ Marty Johnstone meets Clark in London. Johnstone has been supplying Clark and his associates with poor quality heroin and/or not guaranteeing supplies and Clark wants Maher to kill him. Maher lures him to take a trip from London to Scotland on the pretext of arranging a big drug deal but after stopping the car in Lancashire Johnstone is shot dead his body dismembered and dumped Eccleston Delph, near Chorley in Lancashire. Unlike Clark Maher is no pre-meditated murderer and racked with guilt he confesses to the police when Johnstone’s body is found. Clark and Maher are jailed for Johnstone’s murder thanks in part to the testimony of Alison Dine who was brought back to testify against Clark by the AFP taskforce. The net is closing in on Trimbole and he skips Australia for Europe including some dubious activity with the IRA in Ireland before settling in Spain. Trimbole also has bowel cancer and doesn’t have long to live. Prior to this he set up a massive cannabis resin shipment from the middle east to Australia from his doctor Nick Paltos (Wadih Dona). However this goes pearshaped and the AFP eventually get wind of Trimbole’s whereabouts in Spain. Before they can arrest/extradite Trimbole he dies in a Spanish hospital perhaps poetic justice for some of his activities over the years. Back in Sydney meanwhile a mini-gang war has seen Freeman shot and wounded and trying to capitalise upon this Flannery offers his services as his gun for hire. Teaming up with Prendergast Flannery not only works as Freeman’s gun for hire but hires his services out to the highest bidder – with protection from the corrupt police officers from Kings Cross CIB. Flannery has also become increasingly paranoid in the grip of a cocaine and speed addiction and when he takes it upon himself to shoot heroin dealer Danny Chubb (Anthony Simcoe) dead Kelly tries to convince Freeman that Flannery is a loose canon which needs dealing with. Freeman is initially sceptical as Flannery is dealing with his problems quite effectively but after Kelly overhears a drug fuelled conversation between Flannery and Tony Eustace (Paul Ireland) to bump off Freeman and take over Sydney’s gangland Freeman is convinced. At first he uses Flannery to lure Eustace to a deserted location near the Sydney Airport Hilton Eustace is shot and killed by Freeman who appears out of Flannery’s car boot. Dennis Kelly and his officers at Kings Cross CIB also deal with a problem in the form of corrupt lawyer Brian Alexander (Damian de Montemas). He was a high ranking lawyer and a go between Freeman, Trimbole and corrupt police and court officials in Sydney. However after being subpoenaed by the AFP, his wife and kids leaving him, a drink problem and more specifically owing Freeman a large gambling debt it’s decided by Kelly to kill him. He’s lured to a boat and taken out into the Sydney heads where he is subsequently chained to a metal storage box and thrown overboard. Flannery meanwhile also has to be dealt with. After his Holden Commodore is nobbled he is taken to Freeman’s house by Kelly on the premise Freeman/McPherson were showing him a new submachine gun they wanted him to use on a hit for them. However once at Freeman’s McPherson after demonstrating assembly of the gun turns it on a unsuspecting Flannery and his body is loaded into Kelly’s car. In reality the arrangement for Flannery to meet Freeman is believed to be the reason behind his disappearance but Freeman maintained he wasn’t involved in his disappearance/death and Flannery’s body has never been found. Haken meanwhile has been found to be the weak link at the taskforce and is transferred back to Kings Cross CIB. Also a significant number of NSW drug officers/detectives were either kicked out or downgraded to general customs officers including Jack Smith although his links to Kings Cross CIB remained.
The retro aspects of A Tale of Two Cities and the feel of the series as a whole are quite different to the original Underbelly but for me that doesn’t any less enjoyable – in fact I liked it just as much as the original series. The characters and actors are very good and although some events have been fictionalised, aren’t quite the same as they really were in real life and have some conjecture overall it does tell the story of ‘Mr Asia’, Trimbole, Clark, The Kane Brothers, Ray Chuck Bennett, Chris Flannery, Freeman/McPherson very well and if you have seen some of the Australian true crime programmes like Tough Nuts and Australia’s Families of Crime it’s frighteningly accurate. I particularly liked the partnership between Roy Billing and Matthew Newton as Trimbole and Clark, Nathan Page’s take on Bennett, Peter O’Brien as Freeman and Dustin Clare’s almost over-the-top (but in a good way) portrayal of Flannery. Mind you all the cast and crew work well in A Tale of Two Cities – many of which who are more well known for soaps up their game here. Even the period touches are done well. Yes you do get retro cars and fashions but it’s natural and not over done unlike many period pieces which seem to over play this aspect IMHO. I’ve seen a description of A Tale of Two Cities being The Sweeney meets The Sopranos and that’s a good idea for what A Tale of Two Cities has to offer and I’d rate this 9/10. Very good!
Underbelly: The Golden Mile (2010)
The Golden Mile is Sydney’s Kings Cross between 1988-98. It focuses on the rise of organised crime within Australia’s Lebanese/immigrant communities relative to established Sydney crime figures like Freeman/McPherson and the corrupt activities of NSW police’s Kings Cross CIB. A bright but rebellious youth John Ibrahim (Friass Dirani) has quit school and wants to be a successful ‘businessman’ like Freeman in ‘the Cross’. One of his relatives Harry 'Hammer' Hammoud (Salvatore Coco) is a foot soldier between established players like Freeman/McPherson, Lebanese gangsters like Billy and Louis Bayeh (Hazem Shammas/Steve Bastoni) and other characters involved in Kings Cross. Hammer’s vary for John to be part of this world but after saving him from a beating takes him on board. John also admires George Freeman’s rise to power and Freeman likes what he see’s in John mentoring him for what will be his move into the Sydney’s night economy in the 1990’s. The CIB also have many fingers in the pies of organised crime in Kings Cross/Sydney and have cosy arrangements where they ‘earn’ and to some degree protect Freeman, Bayeh and others of use to them in the Cross. Led by Graham 'Chook' Fowler (Damien Garvey) the CIB team are more corrupt than they were in the previous ‘tale of two cities’. Detective Trevor Haken from the previous series joins the team and soon strikes up a rapport with a previous colleague Decretive Jim Egan who shows him the ropes. Haken has shaken off many of his reservations from the previous series and is now fully corrupt. He’s also developed a drink problem which will have negative consequences for both himself and his family. Haken is trusted by his CIB colleagues to be the go between with Billy Bayeh and initially things in the Cross are working well for all concerned. However with the AFP investigating under the ambitious Gerry Lloyd (Sigrid Thornton), George Freeman dying and loose cannon newcomers to the drug trade like Benny Kassab (Michael Vice) and Danny ‘DK’ Karam (Dan Mor) entering the fray a bloody turf war begins for Kings Cross’s lucrative organised crime rackets. This threatens the established players like the Bayeh brothers, the corrupt activities of Kings Cross CIB and the ambitions of John Ibrahim and to a lesser extent like the Melbourne Gangland Wars violence and murder plays out in Kings Cross too. Complicating things further is the arrival in the Cross of Kim Hollingsworth (Emma Both). A once naïve country girl Kim after a nasty encounter with her ex-boyfriend Trent (Mark Furze) is drawn into Kings Cross’ vice world. She ultimately becomes a major link between it and the corrupt activities of the CIB. However after a few years Kim becomes tired of the world she’s involved in and tries to join the NSW police. She’s successful but whilst in the academy Kim is recognised by one of the detectives Eddie Gould (Diarmid Heidenreich) who ensures she’s kicked off the force. Word of Kim’s vice past filters to the AFP who are trying to take the CIB officers down and Lloyd double crosses/convinces a reluctant Kim to work undercover to infiltrate Gould and others involved in the corruption. Lloyd also has her hooks into Haken who has been caught taking bribes from Bayeh and others and again convinces him to work with them to bring down his corrupt colleagues. His alcoholism has also seen his life fall apart, his wife/children have left him and after exposing the CIB to a royal commission he is ditched by the AFP and has to go into witness protection under a new identity – this did happen in real life. Also former allies of those within the CIB like Denny Kelly who’ve moved up the NSW police ladder protect their own necks and disown them and much of what we see here relates loosely to the activities of Roger Rogerson and others within Sydney CIB up to the 1990’s. Kim is also ditched by the AFP but she determinedly brings the corruption to the attention of the media when she wins an appeal for unfair dismissal from NSW police and refuses the compensation they offer – again a true story. Meanwhile the turf war for the Cross reaches a climax where Louis Bayeh escapes a murder attempt and is jailed, Kassab and ‘DK’ attempting to take control of the drug market from Billy Bayeh with the increasingly psychotic ‘DK’ going resorting to recruiting a bogan street gang led by Michael "Doc" Kanaan (Ryan Corr) – loosely based on West Sydney gangs like ‘Brothers 4 Life’ etc. who ultimately see what is out there and want some themselves with perhaps fatal results for ‘DK’, Kassab, Ibrahim (whom they’re jealous of) and even themselves.
Can’t quite put my finger on it but it doesn’t quite hit the same heights as the first two series. That’s not to say it’s poor – in my opinion it’s reasonably good, but it just feels something’s lacking/not there in comparison to what was done before. Perhaps the familiarity of the subject matter and the feeling the scripts/production seemed a little weaker and maybe actors who seemed more at home in the soaps than a hard hitting crime drama but it doesn’t quite do it for me like the first series did. Having said that it does expose the widespread corruption within Kings Cross CIB which was rife until the late 1990’s – although not mentioned by name I’m sure one or two character’s are pretty much the mirror image of the alleged (not proven) corrupt ex-Kings Cross CIB detective Roger Rodgerson, the changing face of organised crime in Australia and perhaps as shown by recent events the rise and negative influence of youth crime gangs and the violence they can bring in inner city areas not just in Australia but worldwide too. Overall I’d rate The Golden Mile 7/10 not bad but maybe not great either.
Underbelly: Razor (2011)
Based on the novel ‘Razor’ by Larry Writer this series is set in 1920’s Sydney and the violent battle between vice Queens Tilly Devine (Chelsie Preston Crayford) and her rival Katie Leigh (Danielle Cormack). I haven’t actually seen Razor yet so can’t really comment/review it further and so far it’s not had a showing on UK television nor a DVD/Blu Ray release. I do hope to see Razor fairly soon though.
Underbelly: Files telemovies (2011)
These are three separate stand-alone crime telemovies would continue the Underbelly franchise.
Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer was Here
This was the cold-blooded murder of Victorian police officers Gary Silk (Daniel Whyte) and Rodney Miller (Paul O’Brien) in the line of duty in 1988. The investigation into their murders by the Lorimer taskforce and Detective Inspector Paul Sheriden (Brett Climo) was almost impossible but due to dogged persistence, and sheer faith that the killers were brought to justice.
Underbelly Files: Infiltration
This is the tale of Victoria detective Colin McLaren (Sullivan Stapleton) who posed as an art dealer in order to infiltrate the Calabrian Mafia operating out of Griffith in 1990’s. This undercover operation saw 11 of Australia’s most notorious criminals including Antonio and Maria Russo (Valentino del Toro and Emma de Clario) sent to prison.
Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away
This features British-Australian drug smuggler David McMillian the only westerner in history to escape from Klong Prem prison in Bangkok. McMillan came from a privileged background, but chose a life of crime, which put him on Interpol's Top Ten Most Wanted list. His love interest Clelia Vigano (Claire van der Boom) was also a partner in crime and they thought they were unstoppable…
The Underbelly Files overall are generally good and the best one in my opinion is Infiltration mainly due to the way Sullivan Stapleton takes on the role of McLaren and how his character convinces a hard to crack organisation (the Calabrian Mafia) and takes him into their confidence. Overall I’d rate these say 7.5/10 with Infiltration perhaps 8/10.
Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud (2011)
Made by TVNZ rather than Australia’s Channel 9 network this again looks into Marty Johnstone’s (Dan Musgrove) ‘Mr Asia’ character but this time from his perspective from a small time cannabis grower in New Zealand to the multi million drug import business he headed up in the Far East. Set between 1972 to 1980 it shows Johnstone’s rise and fall and along with that of Detective Constable Ben Charlton (Jamie Irvine) who realises that changing criminal tactics will necessitate drastic alterations in New Zealand policing. Characters that appear in both shows include Clark, Johnstone, Andy Maher and Karen Soich, but none of the original actors reprise their roles in the New Zealand series.
Not a bad effort overall but not in the same league as A Tale of Two Cities. My rating 7.5/10.
Underbelly: Badness (2012)
A pre-release prisoner Terry Falconer is murdered while on day release in 2002 by associates of Anthony ‘Rooster’ Perish (Jonathan LaPaglia). This is in revenge for a past crime which accidently killed his parents. The police seemingly have no leads nor reason why or who killed Falconer. While investigating the murder they stumble upon Rooster’s criminal activities, that of his brother Andrew 'Undies' Perish (Josh Quong Tart) and associates like Decker (Jason Montgomery), Frank "Tink" O'Rourke (Aaron Jeffery) and ‘Muzz’ (Justin Smith) who have become major player in organised crime in/around the Sydney suburb of Lindfield. These investigations eventually show the links Rooster has to outlaw motorcycle clubs, drugs, organised crime, kidnapping and murder. Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin (Matt Nable) is determined to take down Rooster and his team under the auspices of 'Strike Force Tuno' engage in a near decade battle to bring down Rooster’s criminal empire and bring justice to Terry Falconer and his family.
Again this series is perhaps not as good as the first and second Underbelly’s but I did enjoy it and overall Badness does have some good moments in it. In fact I liked it more than The Golden Mile being honest and in particular liked Jonathan LaPaglia’s portrayal of Rooster and some of the supporting characters like O’Rourke, Decker and Muzz too. Overall I’d rate it perhaps around 7.5/10 generally a good series overall.
Underbelly: Squizzy (2013)
This features the story of Melbourne’s most notorious criminals Squizzy Taylor (Jared Daperis) from 1915-27 whose character is briefly touched upon in the preceding ‘Razor’ series. Apart from catching the tale end of a episode when I was in Australia in November 2013 I’ve not seen this series so can’t really say much more until I do and again it’s not been shown on British television.
Fat Tony & Co. (2014)
Fat Tony & Co. is based on Based on Tony Mokbel (Robert Mammone) who was in the original Underbelly series. Running concurrent to this it mainly features on the 18 month period Mokbel’s drug empire was dismantled and his manhunt in Greece. Many of the original cast from Underbelly – including Vince Colosimo, Gyton Grantley, Les Hill, Madeleine West, Simon Westaway, Gerard Kennedy and Kevin Harrington also reprise their roles from the original series. Again one I’ve not seen so far so can’t really rate/review this.
Overall I’d say if you’re a fan of crime/action drama then these Underbelly series are well worth watching. They are generally well acted and well made and some of the actors have gone on to be major players in Hollywood movies over the last few years. Things like The Great Bookie Robbery and (I’ve not seen it yet) Blue Murder may be more realistic/truer depictions of what is covered in Underbelly but I find them interesting as they do show a Australia people don’t really see and the fact that much of what is shown is based on real events makes it interesting too. Shame British TV companies haven’t considered a ‘Underbelly’ type show for tales of British underworld over the last few years as there’s many a tale that could work/be applied to a UK based production in this style too. Overall Underbelly puts many British television productions to shame and in the shade. Apologies for the long review and glad I discovered it!
Underbelly (2008)
The original Underbelly focuses on Melbourne’s gangland wars between 1995 and 2004. Loosely based on John Silvester and Andrew Rule’s true crime book Leadbelly Underbelly has characters that are (mostly) based on the real people. The main protagonists are members of the Carlton Crew – a collective of Calabrian Mafia and Painters and Dockers Union members including Alphonse Gangitano (Vince Colosimo), Mick Gatto (Simon Westaway), Graham Kinniburgh (Gerrard Kennedy), Jason/Mark Moran (Les Hill/Callan Mullvey) and Mario Condello (Martin Sacks) and their associates one of which was Carl Williams (Gyton Grantley). Williams was little more than a driver for Jason Moran. After the drug trade became more lucrative for Melbourne’s criminal gangs Williams uses the Moran pill press to flood the city with his own ecstasy. Prior to this Alphonse Gangitano had shot dead a low ranking criminal Graham Workman (Liam Amor) over a small debt and subsequently embroiled Jason Moran in a violent bar brawl in Melbourne’s CBD. When Gangitano pleads guilty to the brawl charge it implicates Moran who plead not guilty and will serve time in prison. (Allegedly) Moran has a showdown with Gangitano in his home (witnessed by Graham Kinniburgh) and shoots him dead. Meanwhile Williams is upscaling his drug business with dealer Tony Mockbel (Robert Mammone). He’s flooded the city with cheap pills undercutting the Moran family. The Moran’s aim to find out who is doing this and deal with them. It’s complicated as Jason’s in prison and their father Lewis (Kevin Harrington) is taking a back seat. Carl has taken up with Roberta (Kat Stewart) the ex-wife of a low ranking Carlton Crew member. Roberta’s a loose cannon and initially taunts Carl for being the Moran’s ‘driver’. Carl though shows her what he’s doing and his plans. Driven on by this Roberta becomes Carl’s wife and if anything pushes him forward and forward into the drug trade and organised crime. When the police bust the Moran’s drug house – due to Carl opening the door to them while the pill press was running, the Moran’s summon Carl to a meeting in a St Kilda park. They still don’t suspect Williams and almost let him off with a warning wanting money to cover their losses. Mark though realises Williams was operating the press for his own ends and is the reason they’ve lost ground in the drug trade. Reacting angrily Jason shoot’s Carl in the stomach. Mark tells him as he’s now injured and needing hospital treatment he should finish him off. Jason almost does this but – perhaps foolishly, wants Williams to repay his debt. Williams recovers from the shooting but becomes more ruthless and is now on a path of war with Carlton Crew/Moran’s. To achieve this he befriends Carlton associate Andrew ‘Benji’ Venjamin (Damien Walshe-Howling). Benji was under the wing of Mick Gatto and was a one time kick boxing champion. After Mockbel is assaulted by a ‘bikie’ associated to the Carlton Crew Benji run’s him back to Williams. Williams puts a proposition to Benji to be his enforcer and connect him with up and coming crime figures from the Sunshine area of Melbourne like Dino Dibra (Daniel Amalm), Rocco Arico (Ryan Jonson) and Paul ‘PK’ Kallipolitis (Robert Rabiah). Williams has also made connections with hitmen like Thomas Hentschel (Ian Bliss) and Victor Brincat (Alex Dimitriades) and despite having a brief period in prison his drug business is booming and he’s out for revenge against the Moran’s. His first target is Mark and with the assistance of Hentschel and Dibra Williams becomes proficient with weapons to do a hit on him. Williams shoots Mark dead in the front garden of his home which creates ripples amongst not just the Moran’s/Carlton Crew but organised crime as a whole in Melbourne. Still in prison Jason swears revenge Williams and anyone associated with him and tries to recruit the fence sitting Benji to do a hit on Williams. Benji tells Williams of this and tries to recruit a veteran crime figure Victor Pierce (Andrew Gilbert) to hit Jason at his brothers grave on the anniversary of his death. Jason doesn’t show however and after playing hardball with Benji for his fee for a hit he doesn’t do Williams orders the killing of Pierce. With other crime figures like PK, Dibra and more significantly Nic ‘The Russian’ Radev (Don Hany) Victoria Police set up Operation Purana to counteract the escalating gang war. One thing the police do is to relocate Jason Moran and his family to London indefinitely as he’s been identified as the most likely target for Williams and his associates. Jason agrees but homesick he returns to Melbourne roughly a year later. His father Lewis has lost even more ground to the ‘Williams Crew’ and Jason still wants his pound of flesh with him. After a botched shooting of Williams home Williams is even more determined to get Moran and enlists Hentschel and Brincat to do this. They’ve found a way to ambush him while he takes his son, brothers kids and friends to footie practice. Fitness fanatic Brincat was armed robber known as the ‘running man’ and could sprint a mile from a robbery to a getaway vehicle. Him and Hentschel use this to shoot Moran and his associate Pasquale ‘Pat’ Barbaro dead in the football field car park. The shooting shocks Australia who demand the Police take action on these gangland killings. Led by detective Gary Butterworth (Franke J Holden) the Purana team put Williams, Benji, Hentschel, Brincat, their associates and the remaining members of the Carlton Crew under close surveillance. This fails to prevent the murder of Lewis Moran, hot dog seller Michael Marshall and Graham Kinniburgh but the net is closing in on Williams and after the Marshall murder Hentschel and Brincat are arrested/remanded for this. Mick Gatto had kept under the radar of most of this turnmoil but due to his close friend Graham Kinniburgh being murdered – under William’s orders he’s now involved and wanting revenge. He thinks Benji killed him (it’s considered another associate of Williams Killed Kinniburgh) and summons him to a meeting at a restaurant in Lygon Street. After the pair go to the stockroom a argument, scuffle and shot occurs. Benji has been fatally shot and Gatto claimed he pulled a gun on him and after struggling the gun went off – killing Benji. Williams sees this as an eye for an eye and intends taking out Mario Condello. Lewis Caine (Marcus Graham) was a close friend of Benji but also owes the Carlton Crew due to being looked after by them after serving time for manslaughter. He’s in a relationship with a lawyer for the Carlton Crew but feels the need to revenge the death of Benji. He offers his services to Williams and has found a way of getting Mario Condello and Williams pairs him with a notorious Melbourne criminal Keith Faure and his nephew who both committed Lewis Moran’s murder. They’re set to go but a row between Caine and Faure see’s Faure shoot him dead in his own car which brings police attention to Williams. The police get to Condello’s bodyguard Tibor (Brett Swain). When he is caught in possession of a gun by they make him get information on Condello and offer his services as a hitman to kill Williams. This pays off for the police who eventually uncover a plot to hit Condello by the lowdown members of Williams crew who botch the Condello hit. After persistence with Hentschel and Brincat they have enough information arrest Williams and (to a degree) calm down some of the violence in Melbourne’s gangland.
Give or take some of the slight inaccuracies with real events, violence, sex and a feeling of Americanised production values etc. the 13 parts of the original Underbelly series are generally very good. All the leading actors I’ve mentioned and others I haven’t like members of the police/Purana team Caroline Craig, Roger Corser etc. play their parts well and they’re lightyears ahead of what they’ve done prior to this – in particular soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away. Fact is stranger than fiction and many of the events here in Underbelly pretty much did happen. No one really comes out of this unscathed either a victim of the snowballing gang wars, a victim of those involved in them or so far gone in the quest for money and power they lose grip of a real-world reality. Carl Williams too eventually ended up a victim too. After being sentenced to 35 years without parole in 2006/07 he too was killed in the gym of Barwon Prison. The success of Underbelly led to a number of spin offs the first of which is A Tale of Two Cities. Overall I’d rate it just short of 9/10.
Underbelly : A Tale of Two Cites (2009)
This focuses on Australian organised crime from 1976 to 1986 and begins with the marijuana trade in Griffith NSW led by Robert ‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole (Roy Billing). New Zealander Terry ‘Kiwi Terry’ Clark (Matthew Newton) is in Sydney to set up a major international heroin network. Clark has connections with Singapore based ex-pat Scot Andy Maher (Damon Gameau) who has tapped into the heroin supply network of ‘Mr Asia’ Marty Johnstone (Merrick Watts). Utilising couriers, false pasports and his own drive and ambition Clark is determined to be a major figure in the Australasian and world heroin trade but needs backers to get his plans off the ground. After approaching and being rebuffed by major Sydney crime figure George Freeman (Peter O’Brien) Clark then approaches Trimbole a mid-league figure in the Calabrian/Italian community in Griffith. Trimbole’s associate Gianfranco "Frank" Tizzoni (Toni Poli) is apprehensive and warns off getting involved in the heroin trade and Trimbole is equally weary of being involved with Clark due to a local politician Donald McKay (Andrew McFarlane) being aware of and having him in his sights for his marijuana growing trade and initially being dismissed as ‘small time’ by Clark. Clark though after himself being violently dismissed by Freeman and his heavies goes cap in hand to Trimbole in order to set up his network. Trimbole shows Clark he’s no pushover and threatens him a gun when he thinks Clark is disrespecting him. Trimbole’s sceptical about whether Clark can put together his heroin network. However when Clark arranges with his Singapore contacts and personally ‘mules’ a large quantity of heroin into Australia Trimbole is impressed and agrees to be his backer. Meanwhile things with McKay come to a head and Trimbole decides to have him murdered – rumoured to be Australia’s first political assignation. Through contacts in the Melbourne underworld – specifically Brian and Les Kane (Tim McCunn and Martin Dingle-Wall), Tizzoni recruits for Trimbole a hitman ‘Fred’/James Frederick Bazley (Scott Burges). After a few botched attempts Bazley takes McKay out in the car park of a pub and according to Tizzoni they put him through a meat grinder – in real life McKay’s disappearance/possible death was more unclear. With a lack of activity from detectives in Griffith to solve McKay’s ‘disappearance’, the word amongst Melbourne detectives Liz Cruickshank (Asher Keddie) and her boss Joe Messina (Peter Phelps) that a Sydney based criminal was looking for a hitman and the police and politician’s in Griffith like Al Grasby (Ric Herbert) protecting and having a cosy relationship with Trimbole a young ambitious detective Warwick Mobbs (Matt Passmore) dropped in the middle of this and is determined to solve McKay’s disappearance and its links with Trimbole. Whilst investigating he uncovers Trimbole’s links with Freeman/Lennie McPherson’s (John McNeill) illegal SP betting as well as his wider links with organised crime and the drug trade in NSW, Victoria and Australia more generally. Whilst investigating Trimbole Mobbs encounters a surveillance operation into Freeman/McPherson/Trimbole led by David Priest (Jonny Pasvolsky) of the Commonwealth Police – later the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Priest has been trying to get evidence on Trimbole and his associates for a while but so far has drawn a blank and is impressed with Mobbs efforts on the McKay case. However word of Mobbs investigations has spread throughout the wider NSW police force and from up high Mobbs is taken off the McKay case and is posted to a rural NSW with immediate effect. Clark meanwhile puts together his Australian team for his heroin network. Using ex-pat ‘friends’ like Greg Ollard (Chris Sadrinna), Harry ‘Pommy’ Lewis (Sam Anderson), Doug and Isabelle Wilson (Gareth Reeves and Simone Kessell) and Wayne Robb (Jake Lindesay) they become his mules, couriers, dealers and go-betweens for him. Wayne’s girlfriend Alison Dine (Anna Hutchison) also catches Clarks eye. Starting out a naive country girl from Rotorua she’s soon smitten with Clark and is snared into his world. Clark casts his wife and son aside for Dine and she soon becomes his right hand in his heroin network recruiting further mules for him. Clark however has a dark side and after hearing Ollard has been selling his heroin on the side and ‘Pommy’ being caught in possession of a firearm by Australian customs and also revealing things about him and the network to them he brutally murders both men severing limbs and smashing their teeth accordingly. Meanwhile a notorious Melbourne crime figure Ray Chuck Bennett (Nathan Page) has returned from overseas. He approaches Trimbole as a front to launder money to the Philippines. This money will come from The Great Bookie Robbery which will net Bennett and his crew an estimated $4m (approx. $20m in modern value). Word Bennett is planning something reaches the Kane brothers who as standover men feel they deserve a cut of the proceeds from Bennett. Also a knock-about criminal Christopher Dale Flannery (Dustin Clare) also wants in on Bennett’s plan and tries to join the gang. Flannery is a loose cannon who would a few years later reinvent himself as a hitman known as ‘Mr Rent-a-Kill’ and Bennett is weary of having him on his well-drilled team. Bennett cuts Flannery aside and goes ahead with the robbery without him. The Kane’s furious at not being ‘in’ on this apply further pressure to Bennett and his associates Vinnie Mikkelsen (Wayne Bradley) and Laurie Prendergast (Teo Gebert) to cut them in on the proceeds. Bennett is having non of it and after Clark’s courier Wayne is robbed of drug money by Mikklesen and Prendegast and a pub brawl between Brian Kane and Mikklesen where Kane’s ear is partially bitten off and a threat to kill Bennett and his family from Kane things reach boiling point between the Kane’s and Bennet and their allies. Bennet decides to acquire some submachine guns from Trimbole and use these to ambush Les Kane at his home in front of his wife and kids – again in real life Kane is believed murdered but is ‘officially’ disappeared. Bennett, Mikklesen and Prendesgast assassinate Kane in his own bathroom and transport his body in his own car a Ford Futura. His distraught wife Judy Kane (Kate Ritchie) initially cleans up the bathroom and contacts Brian with regard to what to do next. She decides to speak with the police and this leads to Bennett and co. being arrested and up on trial for murdering Les. In jail Brian Kane thinks his allies will deal with Bennett but he strikes up a rapport with notorious prisoner Mark ‘Chopper’ Read who if perhaps not friends have mutual respect which see’s in survive. The trial meanwhile collapses due to lack of evidence and Bennett, Mikllesen and Prendergast go there separate ways. Bennett is re-arrested on a minor charge and while awaiting trial in the courthouse a fake beard/disguised Brian Kane shoots him dead and makes his escape – perhaps with the assistance of corrupt police officers/court officials. In real life Mikklesen was also eventually murdered as was Brian Kane. In the series Prendergast turns up a few years later as an associate of Flannery’s in Sydney but in real life he disappeared after the Kane trial. Clark feels Wayne is a liability and wants to deal with him as per Pommy and Ollard but Alison convinces him not to. She also convinces Clark to give Wayne some money to set up as a artist back in NZ. But Wayne spends the money on heroin and when Clark finds this out he badly beats Wayne with a cricket bat in the bush and leaves him there for dead – he survives but doesn’t testify. His main couriers The Wilson’s are also having heroin troubles but after checking into rehab they convince Terry they’re clean and focused. However after a wild party in a Queensland hotel where Clark is arrested with a firearm the Wilson’s get pressure applied on them by the police which ultimately results in them telling all about Clark’s heroin operation. Clark skips to the UK and instructs Trimbole to kill the Wilson’s. Trimbole/Tizzoni hire Bazley who shoots the Wilsons and buries them in a shallow grave in Victoria after they were lured to Melbourne on the premise of a drug run. However unlike McKay their bodies are quickly found and sets a chain of events where Clark skips to the UK, police attention falls upon Trimbole. Flannery now a hitman is approached by Trimbole (via Clark) to kill Alison. Posing as a florist he almost succeeds but is beaten to it by the arrival of corrupt narcotics agent Jack Smith (Samuel Johnson), who ultimately plants drugs on her in order to arrest her. Alison is pressured but doesn’t crack and is released. Trimbole is on the receiving end of Flannery’s volatile temper and is made to pay him despite not carrying out the hit on Alison. Clark also changes his mind about killing Alison and wanting out she too leaves Australia for the US. Stimulated by the Wilson murders AFP and Victorian police form a joint task force led by David Priest to investigate their murder and the links to organised crime – specifically individuals like Clark, Trimbole and Freeman. The team includes Mobbs, Cruickshank, Messina and a Sydney CIB detective Trevor Haken (Dieter Brummer).Haken however is a fly in the ointment as he has links to Kings Cross CIB and corrupt police officers like Dennis Kelly (Paul Tassone) and Jim Egan (Daniel Roberts) who are pretty much on the Freeman’s payroll. Despite the best efforts of Haken they start to put together the pieces of Clark and Trimbole’s involvement in the Australian drug trade. However with Clark in the UK and no hard evidence on Trimbole they still can’t make any serious moves against them. A stroke of luck happens when ‘Mr Asia’ Marty Johnstone meets Clark in London. Johnstone has been supplying Clark and his associates with poor quality heroin and/or not guaranteeing supplies and Clark wants Maher to kill him. Maher lures him to take a trip from London to Scotland on the pretext of arranging a big drug deal but after stopping the car in Lancashire Johnstone is shot dead his body dismembered and dumped Eccleston Delph, near Chorley in Lancashire. Unlike Clark Maher is no pre-meditated murderer and racked with guilt he confesses to the police when Johnstone’s body is found. Clark and Maher are jailed for Johnstone’s murder thanks in part to the testimony of Alison Dine who was brought back to testify against Clark by the AFP taskforce. The net is closing in on Trimbole and he skips Australia for Europe including some dubious activity with the IRA in Ireland before settling in Spain. Trimbole also has bowel cancer and doesn’t have long to live. Prior to this he set up a massive cannabis resin shipment from the middle east to Australia from his doctor Nick Paltos (Wadih Dona). However this goes pearshaped and the AFP eventually get wind of Trimbole’s whereabouts in Spain. Before they can arrest/extradite Trimbole he dies in a Spanish hospital perhaps poetic justice for some of his activities over the years. Back in Sydney meanwhile a mini-gang war has seen Freeman shot and wounded and trying to capitalise upon this Flannery offers his services as his gun for hire. Teaming up with Prendergast Flannery not only works as Freeman’s gun for hire but hires his services out to the highest bidder – with protection from the corrupt police officers from Kings Cross CIB. Flannery has also become increasingly paranoid in the grip of a cocaine and speed addiction and when he takes it upon himself to shoot heroin dealer Danny Chubb (Anthony Simcoe) dead Kelly tries to convince Freeman that Flannery is a loose canon which needs dealing with. Freeman is initially sceptical as Flannery is dealing with his problems quite effectively but after Kelly overhears a drug fuelled conversation between Flannery and Tony Eustace (Paul Ireland) to bump off Freeman and take over Sydney’s gangland Freeman is convinced. At first he uses Flannery to lure Eustace to a deserted location near the Sydney Airport Hilton Eustace is shot and killed by Freeman who appears out of Flannery’s car boot. Dennis Kelly and his officers at Kings Cross CIB also deal with a problem in the form of corrupt lawyer Brian Alexander (Damian de Montemas). He was a high ranking lawyer and a go between Freeman, Trimbole and corrupt police and court officials in Sydney. However after being subpoenaed by the AFP, his wife and kids leaving him, a drink problem and more specifically owing Freeman a large gambling debt it’s decided by Kelly to kill him. He’s lured to a boat and taken out into the Sydney heads where he is subsequently chained to a metal storage box and thrown overboard. Flannery meanwhile also has to be dealt with. After his Holden Commodore is nobbled he is taken to Freeman’s house by Kelly on the premise Freeman/McPherson were showing him a new submachine gun they wanted him to use on a hit for them. However once at Freeman’s McPherson after demonstrating assembly of the gun turns it on a unsuspecting Flannery and his body is loaded into Kelly’s car. In reality the arrangement for Flannery to meet Freeman is believed to be the reason behind his disappearance but Freeman maintained he wasn’t involved in his disappearance/death and Flannery’s body has never been found. Haken meanwhile has been found to be the weak link at the taskforce and is transferred back to Kings Cross CIB. Also a significant number of NSW drug officers/detectives were either kicked out or downgraded to general customs officers including Jack Smith although his links to Kings Cross CIB remained.
The retro aspects of A Tale of Two Cities and the feel of the series as a whole are quite different to the original Underbelly but for me that doesn’t any less enjoyable – in fact I liked it just as much as the original series. The characters and actors are very good and although some events have been fictionalised, aren’t quite the same as they really were in real life and have some conjecture overall it does tell the story of ‘Mr Asia’, Trimbole, Clark, The Kane Brothers, Ray Chuck Bennett, Chris Flannery, Freeman/McPherson very well and if you have seen some of the Australian true crime programmes like Tough Nuts and Australia’s Families of Crime it’s frighteningly accurate. I particularly liked the partnership between Roy Billing and Matthew Newton as Trimbole and Clark, Nathan Page’s take on Bennett, Peter O’Brien as Freeman and Dustin Clare’s almost over-the-top (but in a good way) portrayal of Flannery. Mind you all the cast and crew work well in A Tale of Two Cities – many of which who are more well known for soaps up their game here. Even the period touches are done well. Yes you do get retro cars and fashions but it’s natural and not over done unlike many period pieces which seem to over play this aspect IMHO. I’ve seen a description of A Tale of Two Cities being The Sweeney meets The Sopranos and that’s a good idea for what A Tale of Two Cities has to offer and I’d rate this 9/10. Very good!
Underbelly: The Golden Mile (2010)
The Golden Mile is Sydney’s Kings Cross between 1988-98. It focuses on the rise of organised crime within Australia’s Lebanese/immigrant communities relative to established Sydney crime figures like Freeman/McPherson and the corrupt activities of NSW police’s Kings Cross CIB. A bright but rebellious youth John Ibrahim (Friass Dirani) has quit school and wants to be a successful ‘businessman’ like Freeman in ‘the Cross’. One of his relatives Harry 'Hammer' Hammoud (Salvatore Coco) is a foot soldier between established players like Freeman/McPherson, Lebanese gangsters like Billy and Louis Bayeh (Hazem Shammas/Steve Bastoni) and other characters involved in Kings Cross. Hammer’s vary for John to be part of this world but after saving him from a beating takes him on board. John also admires George Freeman’s rise to power and Freeman likes what he see’s in John mentoring him for what will be his move into the Sydney’s night economy in the 1990’s. The CIB also have many fingers in the pies of organised crime in Kings Cross/Sydney and have cosy arrangements where they ‘earn’ and to some degree protect Freeman, Bayeh and others of use to them in the Cross. Led by Graham 'Chook' Fowler (Damien Garvey) the CIB team are more corrupt than they were in the previous ‘tale of two cities’. Detective Trevor Haken from the previous series joins the team and soon strikes up a rapport with a previous colleague Decretive Jim Egan who shows him the ropes. Haken has shaken off many of his reservations from the previous series and is now fully corrupt. He’s also developed a drink problem which will have negative consequences for both himself and his family. Haken is trusted by his CIB colleagues to be the go between with Billy Bayeh and initially things in the Cross are working well for all concerned. However with the AFP investigating under the ambitious Gerry Lloyd (Sigrid Thornton), George Freeman dying and loose cannon newcomers to the drug trade like Benny Kassab (Michael Vice) and Danny ‘DK’ Karam (Dan Mor) entering the fray a bloody turf war begins for Kings Cross’s lucrative organised crime rackets. This threatens the established players like the Bayeh brothers, the corrupt activities of Kings Cross CIB and the ambitions of John Ibrahim and to a lesser extent like the Melbourne Gangland Wars violence and murder plays out in Kings Cross too. Complicating things further is the arrival in the Cross of Kim Hollingsworth (Emma Both). A once naïve country girl Kim after a nasty encounter with her ex-boyfriend Trent (Mark Furze) is drawn into Kings Cross’ vice world. She ultimately becomes a major link between it and the corrupt activities of the CIB. However after a few years Kim becomes tired of the world she’s involved in and tries to join the NSW police. She’s successful but whilst in the academy Kim is recognised by one of the detectives Eddie Gould (Diarmid Heidenreich) who ensures she’s kicked off the force. Word of Kim’s vice past filters to the AFP who are trying to take the CIB officers down and Lloyd double crosses/convinces a reluctant Kim to work undercover to infiltrate Gould and others involved in the corruption. Lloyd also has her hooks into Haken who has been caught taking bribes from Bayeh and others and again convinces him to work with them to bring down his corrupt colleagues. His alcoholism has also seen his life fall apart, his wife/children have left him and after exposing the CIB to a royal commission he is ditched by the AFP and has to go into witness protection under a new identity – this did happen in real life. Also former allies of those within the CIB like Denny Kelly who’ve moved up the NSW police ladder protect their own necks and disown them and much of what we see here relates loosely to the activities of Roger Rogerson and others within Sydney CIB up to the 1990’s. Kim is also ditched by the AFP but she determinedly brings the corruption to the attention of the media when she wins an appeal for unfair dismissal from NSW police and refuses the compensation they offer – again a true story. Meanwhile the turf war for the Cross reaches a climax where Louis Bayeh escapes a murder attempt and is jailed, Kassab and ‘DK’ attempting to take control of the drug market from Billy Bayeh with the increasingly psychotic ‘DK’ going resorting to recruiting a bogan street gang led by Michael "Doc" Kanaan (Ryan Corr) – loosely based on West Sydney gangs like ‘Brothers 4 Life’ etc. who ultimately see what is out there and want some themselves with perhaps fatal results for ‘DK’, Kassab, Ibrahim (whom they’re jealous of) and even themselves.
Can’t quite put my finger on it but it doesn’t quite hit the same heights as the first two series. That’s not to say it’s poor – in my opinion it’s reasonably good, but it just feels something’s lacking/not there in comparison to what was done before. Perhaps the familiarity of the subject matter and the feeling the scripts/production seemed a little weaker and maybe actors who seemed more at home in the soaps than a hard hitting crime drama but it doesn’t quite do it for me like the first series did. Having said that it does expose the widespread corruption within Kings Cross CIB which was rife until the late 1990’s – although not mentioned by name I’m sure one or two character’s are pretty much the mirror image of the alleged (not proven) corrupt ex-Kings Cross CIB detective Roger Rodgerson, the changing face of organised crime in Australia and perhaps as shown by recent events the rise and negative influence of youth crime gangs and the violence they can bring in inner city areas not just in Australia but worldwide too. Overall I’d rate The Golden Mile 7/10 not bad but maybe not great either.
Underbelly: Razor (2011)
Based on the novel ‘Razor’ by Larry Writer this series is set in 1920’s Sydney and the violent battle between vice Queens Tilly Devine (Chelsie Preston Crayford) and her rival Katie Leigh (Danielle Cormack). I haven’t actually seen Razor yet so can’t really comment/review it further and so far it’s not had a showing on UK television nor a DVD/Blu Ray release. I do hope to see Razor fairly soon though.
Underbelly: Files telemovies (2011)
These are three separate stand-alone crime telemovies would continue the Underbelly franchise.
Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer was Here
This was the cold-blooded murder of Victorian police officers Gary Silk (Daniel Whyte) and Rodney Miller (Paul O’Brien) in the line of duty in 1988. The investigation into their murders by the Lorimer taskforce and Detective Inspector Paul Sheriden (Brett Climo) was almost impossible but due to dogged persistence, and sheer faith that the killers were brought to justice.
Underbelly Files: Infiltration
This is the tale of Victoria detective Colin McLaren (Sullivan Stapleton) who posed as an art dealer in order to infiltrate the Calabrian Mafia operating out of Griffith in 1990’s. This undercover operation saw 11 of Australia’s most notorious criminals including Antonio and Maria Russo (Valentino del Toro and Emma de Clario) sent to prison.
Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away
This features British-Australian drug smuggler David McMillian the only westerner in history to escape from Klong Prem prison in Bangkok. McMillan came from a privileged background, but chose a life of crime, which put him on Interpol's Top Ten Most Wanted list. His love interest Clelia Vigano (Claire van der Boom) was also a partner in crime and they thought they were unstoppable…
The Underbelly Files overall are generally good and the best one in my opinion is Infiltration mainly due to the way Sullivan Stapleton takes on the role of McLaren and how his character convinces a hard to crack organisation (the Calabrian Mafia) and takes him into their confidence. Overall I’d rate these say 7.5/10 with Infiltration perhaps 8/10.
Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud (2011)
Made by TVNZ rather than Australia’s Channel 9 network this again looks into Marty Johnstone’s (Dan Musgrove) ‘Mr Asia’ character but this time from his perspective from a small time cannabis grower in New Zealand to the multi million drug import business he headed up in the Far East. Set between 1972 to 1980 it shows Johnstone’s rise and fall and along with that of Detective Constable Ben Charlton (Jamie Irvine) who realises that changing criminal tactics will necessitate drastic alterations in New Zealand policing. Characters that appear in both shows include Clark, Johnstone, Andy Maher and Karen Soich, but none of the original actors reprise their roles in the New Zealand series.
Not a bad effort overall but not in the same league as A Tale of Two Cities. My rating 7.5/10.
Underbelly: Badness (2012)
A pre-release prisoner Terry Falconer is murdered while on day release in 2002 by associates of Anthony ‘Rooster’ Perish (Jonathan LaPaglia). This is in revenge for a past crime which accidently killed his parents. The police seemingly have no leads nor reason why or who killed Falconer. While investigating the murder they stumble upon Rooster’s criminal activities, that of his brother Andrew 'Undies' Perish (Josh Quong Tart) and associates like Decker (Jason Montgomery), Frank "Tink" O'Rourke (Aaron Jeffery) and ‘Muzz’ (Justin Smith) who have become major player in organised crime in/around the Sydney suburb of Lindfield. These investigations eventually show the links Rooster has to outlaw motorcycle clubs, drugs, organised crime, kidnapping and murder. Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin (Matt Nable) is determined to take down Rooster and his team under the auspices of 'Strike Force Tuno' engage in a near decade battle to bring down Rooster’s criminal empire and bring justice to Terry Falconer and his family.
Again this series is perhaps not as good as the first and second Underbelly’s but I did enjoy it and overall Badness does have some good moments in it. In fact I liked it more than The Golden Mile being honest and in particular liked Jonathan LaPaglia’s portrayal of Rooster and some of the supporting characters like O’Rourke, Decker and Muzz too. Overall I’d rate it perhaps around 7.5/10 generally a good series overall.
Underbelly: Squizzy (2013)
This features the story of Melbourne’s most notorious criminals Squizzy Taylor (Jared Daperis) from 1915-27 whose character is briefly touched upon in the preceding ‘Razor’ series. Apart from catching the tale end of a episode when I was in Australia in November 2013 I’ve not seen this series so can’t really say much more until I do and again it’s not been shown on British television.
Fat Tony & Co. (2014)
Fat Tony & Co. is based on Based on Tony Mokbel (Robert Mammone) who was in the original Underbelly series. Running concurrent to this it mainly features on the 18 month period Mokbel’s drug empire was dismantled and his manhunt in Greece. Many of the original cast from Underbelly – including Vince Colosimo, Gyton Grantley, Les Hill, Madeleine West, Simon Westaway, Gerard Kennedy and Kevin Harrington also reprise their roles from the original series. Again one I’ve not seen so far so can’t really rate/review this.
Overall I’d say if you’re a fan of crime/action drama then these Underbelly series are well worth watching. They are generally well acted and well made and some of the actors have gone on to be major players in Hollywood movies over the last few years. Things like The Great Bookie Robbery and (I’ve not seen it yet) Blue Murder may be more realistic/truer depictions of what is covered in Underbelly but I find them interesting as they do show a Australia people don’t really see and the fact that much of what is shown is based on real events makes it interesting too. Shame British TV companies haven’t considered a ‘Underbelly’ type show for tales of British underworld over the last few years as there’s many a tale that could work/be applied to a UK based production in this style too. Overall Underbelly puts many British television productions to shame and in the shade. Apologies for the long review and glad I discovered it!
His death was the start of the gangland wars and people were shocked how immersed in regular suburbs these criminals were. The interest in the first Underbelly shows was further heightened because in 2008 when they were first broadcast there was a ban on showing some of the episodes because the characters were portraying real people who were in court being tried for murder ! 
Everyone knew someone who could get their hands on a disc for you. 
I'd also read John Sylvester and Andrew Rule's Leadbelly which the series are based on and it's a good true crime read IMO too and I also recommend A Tale of Two Cities too. It has some of the aspects of the original series with a nice retro feel to it too dare I say it an Aussie Sweeney feel to it! 