Confessions of corrupt policeman Jack Herbert, whose evidence in the Fitzgerald Inquiry was to bring a police force to its knees. Jack Herbert's sensational confessions helped send a police commissioner and a cabinet minister to gaol. They led to the most sweeping shakeout of a police force in Australian history.
Now, Herbert - the notorious bagman who rolled over to the Fitzgerald Inquiry - tells his story for the first time. Part memoir, part interrogation by best-selling novelist Tom Gilling, The Bagman reveals little-known facts about Herbert's childhood, his early career and the tragic loss of his first child.
The authors explore how Herbert was recruited into the seemingly impregnable culture of greed and corruption, collecting $3 million in protection money and pocketing more than a million himself. Initially on the run from the authorities, Herbert ended up in witness protection, where he could hide from other corrupt police.
As he fought a terminal illness, Herbert - a self-described liar with a photographic memory - offered up his final confession: this book.