Leadbelly by John Silvester and Andrew Rule

On a personal level, I love this book. On a reviewer level, I think the book needs to be updated and cleaned up a little. I’ll explain.

The gangland wars that took place in Melbourne, Australia between 1994-2004 were in a sense, movements by the next crew to take over and run the Melbourne underworld. This underbelly has a fascinating history and provides some of the background as to the how’s and why’s events unfolded as they did.

The Carlton Crew, who had taken over from the Richmond Crew, was the controlling force in Melbourne throughout the 1980’s. But all underworld stories in Melbourne start with the Painters and Dockers union and it is worth doing a little background because it is fascinating.

This book covers the demise of the Carlton Crew and the rise of “The New Boys”. The book is cobbled together from what was then current crime stories being published in local papers. In some cases, the names have been left out as court cases were still being heard when the book was written.

In that sense, it seems a bit pulpy and also unevenly written. The book also changes stylistically at one point and seems like there was some last minute add-ons to merely fill the book. There is more than enough information to write volumes on the goings on in Melbourne’s underworld so I think the book was pushed out quickly.

Time now then to go back and finesse the book putting in facts, names and other material that had to be left out at first print. If you want to treat yourself to the dramatized stories that the book tells, checkout the Australian series “Underbelly”. There are several seasons which are online or I found on Netflix. It will make the book more sensible.  However, it is still great crime stuff that hasn’t been over told in multiple books….yet.