In Three Crooked Kings we read about the shocking true story of Queensland and how a society was shaped by almost half a century of corruption. In Jacks and Jokers, the story continues as Terry Lewis becomes police commissioner and the era of corruption at the highest levels of the police and government continues. As the Queensland police become more connected with their corrupt colleagues in Sydney, the era of heavy drugs and crime also begins. Tony Murphy and Glen Hallahan, two of the original ‘crooked kings’, become more enmeshed with ‘The Joke’ which is run by bagman Jack Herbert.
Jacks and Jokers introduces new characters, more extraordinary behaviour outside the law by the law, and along the way it charts the meteoric rise of police commissioner Terry Lewis, documenting events up until the Fitzgerald Inquiry in the late 1980s.
Once again, award-winning journalist and novelist Matthew Condon has drawn from unprecedented access to Terry Lewis, as well as hundreds of interviews with key players and conspirators to craft the definitive account of the rise – and spectacular fall – of one man, an entire state and over a generation of corruption.