Big Shots

'People reckon my life has been glamorous. Well if this is glamour, then they're just off their heads.'

It was to be Carl Williams' last conversation behind bars with his unlikely confidante, reporter Adam Shand. Shortly afterwards, the drug boos and killer was front-page news again, this time being buried in a gold-plated coffin.

This bestselling behind-the-scenes story of Melbourne's disorganised crime scene starts in the late 1990s, when a feud raging between rival underworld families erupted in a spate of slayings on Melbourne's streets. The new generation was clashing with the criminal Establishment. Shand got closer than anyone to unravelling the personal stories behind the headlines, talking to the key figures, the suspects and victims, including Williams, his wife Roberta, Mick Gatto, and many others.

It wasn't a relationship without risks. Crackling with tension, Big Shots documents Shand's plunge into the other side of Melbourne. He watches as notorious criminals are transformed into red-carpet celebrities and finds himself questioning his objectivity – and even whether he is being used to further murderous ends.

About the Author

Adam Shand is a journalist with nearly thirty years experience in television, print and online media. As a freelance reporter, he covered the rise to power of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda and the corruption of Zimbabwe's democracy. Since 1997 he has been an investigative reporter. He is the author of five books including Carl Williams; Big Shots: Carl Williams and the Gangland Wars – the Inside Story and The Skull: Informers, Hit Men and Australia's Toughest Cops.