MOOR KEITH

Before Carl Williams, there was Trimbole: race-fixer, drug boss, Mafia powerbroker, murder contractor, arms dealer. This is his true story with never-before-published material. In the 1970s Robert Trimbole and the Calabrian Mafia ruled Australia's marijuana trade from their castles in Griffith, NSW – dream homes built with drug money. The business expanded to heroin when Trimbole joined Terry Clark and the notorious Mr Asia syndicate, and then to murder when anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay blew the whistle. Walkley Award–winning journalist Keith Moor learned the truth about Mackay's disappearance from those involved, recording candid interviews in the late 1980s with the hit man, his contact and the infamous supergrass Gianfranco Tizzoni, as well as a top cop. His classic account now includes excerpts from the unpublished memoir of Mackay's widow and a dossier on the involvement of controversial federal minister Al Grassby. Moor asks why 'Aussie Bob' Trimbole was allowed to flee the country and was never brought back to face his crimes. He also questions how Trimbole's Griffith Mafia bosses – Australia's true Godfathers – are today able to maintain their links with the global drug trade as they continue to enjoy the view from their grass castles. Crims in Grass Castles is the true story of Trimbole, Mr Asia and the disappearance of Donald Mackay and is published to coincide with Channel 9's eagerly anticipated screening of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.

Estimated despatch 14-20 days after ordering.