Crooked

The plot revolves around the downfall of the real life Sydney gangster, Richard Gabriel Reilly, the owner of the infamous Kellett Club and early pioneer of the protection rackets, who, as the novel opens, is struggling to maintain power in the wake of the defeat of the State Labor Government in 1965. Many of the novel's characters and much of the action is historically based. Real life characters include well-known criminals such as the 'Mr Big' of organised crime Lennie McPherson, the police commissioner Norman Allan, the media mogul Frank Packer, and, of course, Bob Askin himself. Larger historical characters such as Lyndon Johnson make an appearance at the periphery. However, the central characters of the novel are entirely fictional. They are: Charles Gillespie, an ambitious and corrupt lawyer, and Gus Finlay, a fresh-faced young detective struggling to stay straight in a corrupt police culture. Corruption, prositution, gambling, bent coppers, crooked politicians, honest crims. Camilla Nelson skillfully evokes the era of baccarat clubs and pay offs in brown paperbags and shines a torch onto the underbelly of the crime world of another era.