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Evil Life: The true story of the Calabrian Mafia in Australia
The Calabrian mafia is Australia's oldest, largest, and most ruthless crime syndicate, trafficking drugs worth billions of dollars and laundering the proceeds through sophisticated international networks. Enforcing discipline with age-old tools of violence and intimidation, the Calabrians have been responsible for nearly 40 murders in Australia since the mid-1970s and many more before that. Mafia families in Australia report directly to bosses in Calabria, and profits are funneled back to the mother organization. Yet despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Federal and State law enforcement agencies have long assured the public that there is no Calabrian mafia in Australia. With powerful and uncompromising clarity, Evil Life shatters this myth. Drawing on court documents and unreleased intelligence reports, as well as interviews with well-informed sources, the authors reveal how the Calabrian mafia evolved from its beginnings on the north Queensland cane fields in the 1920s to establish cells in every major capital city, making Australia a key outpost in the world of global organized crime.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 27, 2016
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About the author
Clive Small
9 books6 followersClive Small is a former detective and Assistant Commissioner of the The New South Wales Police Force, the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 4, 2019
I made a slow start to this book, but as the murders and bastardly accrued, I just wanted to get through it as quickly as possible.
Two features of this account of the mafia strike me: Fear is used as an important tool by this organisation. And our civil institutions are profoundly compromised by their corrupting influence.
I found the reading pretty troubling. Positive attitudes I was raised with towards Italian people, having not been tainted by suggestions that there 'might be' an Italian mafia involved in organised crime, needed to be reassessed after reading this book, given the pervasiveness the Calabrian gangsters seem to have within the Italian community more broadly, but especially among the Calabrian Italian community.
The Calabrian mafia or 'ndrangeta have been in Australia around 120 years. They got a foothold in the Queensland cane fields, extorting money from fellow workers and providing prostitutes. Later they established themselves in every major city, running insurance and immigration rackets and corrupting the Victoria Market commission agent role.
Clive Small, a former NSW Assistant commissioner, collaborated with a journalist Tom Gilling to write this book. The public are often protected from the realities police must face, and this compilation builds as a litany of crimes. The historic aspect, while fascinating, is limited in scope, and it is almost like three seperate histories, as the 'Ndrangeta modernises, moving firstly into marijuana, and then harder drugs like heroin, excstacy (MDMA) and amphetamines as part of international networks.
The last thing I want to be is an apologist for the mafia, but I do object to the narrow focus of the historic context, neglecting social conditions in Italy during the early formation of the society - extremes of inequality and harshness of law, created the conditions for their emergence. It is my admittedly ignorant impression of Italian politics, that it was not until the tyrant Musollini that some kinds of civil rights were afforded the Italian peasantry - like education and equal treatment before the law. Given the brutality violence of the second world war, it is no wonder so many uneducated peasant people decided to emigrate to Australia when the chance arose. But they left behind a transforming, modernising Italy, and brought instead, to Australia, ignorance and an a harsh rural ethic.
Woodward and Fitzgerald inquiries have exposed the Mafia penetration of police and government, however this is largely kept from the Australian public - to reveal it would put pressure on authorities to do something about and it all seems too hard. Unions, in particular the Painter's and Docker's and the ALP came in for quite a bit of schtick from Small for accepting dirty money from dubious characters. Although Small also criticises the Liberals, I fell he is a bit partisan in his reporting, given the huge money organisations like Crown Casino derive indirectly from the drug trade.
Italian Organised Crime syndicates are hard working, entrepreneurial and viciously ruthless. With the astoundingly large amounts their illicit businesses generate (often funnelled into legitimate businesses to 'clean' the money), they have the economic power to open almost any door for themselves and their families.
Two features of this account of the mafia strike me: Fear is used as an important tool by this organisation. And our civil institutions are profoundly compromised by their corrupting influence.
I found the reading pretty troubling. Positive attitudes I was raised with towards Italian people, having not been tainted by suggestions that there 'might be' an Italian mafia involved in organised crime, needed to be reassessed after reading this book, given the pervasiveness the Calabrian gangsters seem to have within the Italian community more broadly, but especially among the Calabrian Italian community.
The Calabrian mafia or 'ndrangeta have been in Australia around 120 years. They got a foothold in the Queensland cane fields, extorting money from fellow workers and providing prostitutes. Later they established themselves in every major city, running insurance and immigration rackets and corrupting the Victoria Market commission agent role.
Clive Small, a former NSW Assistant commissioner, collaborated with a journalist Tom Gilling to write this book. The public are often protected from the realities police must face, and this compilation builds as a litany of crimes. The historic aspect, while fascinating, is limited in scope, and it is almost like three seperate histories, as the 'Ndrangeta modernises, moving firstly into marijuana, and then harder drugs like heroin, excstacy (MDMA) and amphetamines as part of international networks.
The last thing I want to be is an apologist for the mafia, but I do object to the narrow focus of the historic context, neglecting social conditions in Italy during the early formation of the society - extremes of inequality and harshness of law, created the conditions for their emergence. It is my admittedly ignorant impression of Italian politics, that it was not until the tyrant Musollini that some kinds of civil rights were afforded the Italian peasantry - like education and equal treatment before the law. Given the brutality violence of the second world war, it is no wonder so many uneducated peasant people decided to emigrate to Australia when the chance arose. But they left behind a transforming, modernising Italy, and brought instead, to Australia, ignorance and an a harsh rural ethic.
Woodward and Fitzgerald inquiries have exposed the Mafia penetration of police and government, however this is largely kept from the Australian public - to reveal it would put pressure on authorities to do something about and it all seems too hard. Unions, in particular the Painter's and Docker's and the ALP came in for quite a bit of schtick from Small for accepting dirty money from dubious characters. Although Small also criticises the Liberals, I fell he is a bit partisan in his reporting, given the huge money organisations like Crown Casino derive indirectly from the drug trade.
Italian Organised Crime syndicates are hard working, entrepreneurial and viciously ruthless. With the astoundingly large amounts their illicit businesses generate (often funnelled into legitimate businesses to 'clean' the money), they have the economic power to open almost any door for themselves and their families.
April 22, 2022
Revolvers and daggers, multiple shots at point blank range, acquittals at trial; police rewards for information met with silence. We hear of “Giuseppe ‘Fat Joe’ Versace” stabbed 91 times in the suburb of Fitzroy and entirely disemboweled. Godfather status achieved after a knife fight between claimants; a world “beset by internal rivalries and bloodlettings.”
The book offers terse, meticulously detailed accounts of criminal doings. Its dry style is perfect: the authors let the events speak for themselves.
We are told of the origins of the Honoured Society in the 1860s, formed in southern Italy amid prisoners and bandits. The Society followed Italians into the north Queensland cane fields. Cane growers faced verbal threats, then water pollution, stock poisoning, cane burning, “all ancient and traditional Society tactics in Calabria and Sicily”. Then if required bombings, woundings, murder.
It spread throughout Australia. Extortion, prostitution, illegal drug trafficking, forgery, illegal gambling. Amidst all this, rivalry and vendetta. “In the late 1920s one immigrant had been butchered in Brisbane for cheating on the daughter of a mafia figure in Calabria. He had been followed to Australia by mafia murderers, who cut out his heart”, which was then reportedly returned to Italy to show the wronged woman.
And social change. The authors quote one writer who compared older, traditional godfathers “who still lived in the fibro homes and avoided publicity” to the newer younger ones who “couldn’t move into their mansions fast enough”.
There is very little, however, about the broader social history of Italians in Australia. For example there is almost no mention of the internment of Italians during World War Two, except as a factor disrupting criminal activities.
Perhaps the most interesting and significant theme in the book is the role of those in high places. State governments step in to moderate the impact of court decisions; deportations of criminals are waived from on high. In the 1950s, a major player in extortion rackets is made a Justice of the Peace. Reports might find “unambiguous” evidence of systematic crime, while politicians and police authorities find none.
The book offers terse, meticulously detailed accounts of criminal doings. Its dry style is perfect: the authors let the events speak for themselves.
We are told of the origins of the Honoured Society in the 1860s, formed in southern Italy amid prisoners and bandits. The Society followed Italians into the north Queensland cane fields. Cane growers faced verbal threats, then water pollution, stock poisoning, cane burning, “all ancient and traditional Society tactics in Calabria and Sicily”. Then if required bombings, woundings, murder.
It spread throughout Australia. Extortion, prostitution, illegal drug trafficking, forgery, illegal gambling. Amidst all this, rivalry and vendetta. “In the late 1920s one immigrant had been butchered in Brisbane for cheating on the daughter of a mafia figure in Calabria. He had been followed to Australia by mafia murderers, who cut out his heart”, which was then reportedly returned to Italy to show the wronged woman.
And social change. The authors quote one writer who compared older, traditional godfathers “who still lived in the fibro homes and avoided publicity” to the newer younger ones who “couldn’t move into their mansions fast enough”.
There is very little, however, about the broader social history of Italians in Australia. For example there is almost no mention of the internment of Italians during World War Two, except as a factor disrupting criminal activities.
Perhaps the most interesting and significant theme in the book is the role of those in high places. State governments step in to moderate the impact of court decisions; deportations of criminals are waived from on high. In the 1950s, a major player in extortion rackets is made a Justice of the Peace. Reports might find “unambiguous” evidence of systematic crime, while politicians and police authorities find none.
March 14, 2019
3.5 stars. This book is very well-researched, and there's some great photos and insights (particularly the examination of the relationship between Australian politicians and the 'Ndrangheta), but too much of the book is just a dry (and eventually mind-numbing) recounting of various crime reports. The places where the book really shines are when the authors spend more time digging into the various people involved. I was hoping for more of that kind of background and analysis.
I'm putting this book down for a while (I'm about halfway through). I may come back to it later when I'm looking for particular facts.
I'm putting this book down for a while (I'm about halfway through). I may come back to it later when I'm looking for particular facts.
January 18, 2018
Just goes to show how corrupt Australia has been
Enjoyed this book
Enjoyed this book
April 21, 2021
A fascinating review of mafia infiltration within Australia - that is ongoing
August 31, 2020
Interesting book. Sometimes quite lengthy with reporting detailed crimes and all the people involved I found I needed to skim parts to move it along . Worthwhile read however. I was suprised to learn of the 90 year history of mafia activities in Australia. More surprisingly, that a few names were familiar and living in my home town. More a factual piece than a narrative . Recommended 👏
February 21, 2016
Very good read - the book shows how the mafia came to power in Australia starting off on the sugar cane fields in Queensland. Reckon it would make a great movie
March 23, 2016
Excellent reference book for anyone interested in the history of Mafia in Australia.
March 17, 2018
A pretty comprehensive and decent overview of the Calabrian Mafia's history in Australia. Doesn't glorify the mobsters like other books have and provides some good insight into big investigations that have occurred in Australia.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews