Sunnie Gill
REVIEW
UNDERBELLY THE GANGLAND WAR - John Silvester
Review Written By
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Nearly everyone has heard of the Underbelly tv series. You've either watched it, or can't wait to see what the fuss was about if you live in Victoria.
Not everyone knows that the Underbelly tv series is based on the John Silvester and Andrew Rule book, Leadbelly. (A reference to the whole thing being kicked off by Carl Williams being shot in the stomach by the Moran brothers).
Underbelly: The Gangland wars is a revised and updated version of Leadbelly, released to tie in with with tv series. One of the major differences between the books is Underbelly: The Gangland War features photos of the major players in the gangland war placed next the actors playing the characters - some of the resemblences are quite remarkable.
If you haven't read any of the numerous Underbelly books, they are a no-nonsense account of the doings of the underworld liberally laced with irreverent humour. A must for anyone with even a passing interest in those events.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
BLURB
First he got lucky.
Then he got life.
They called Carl Williams 'The Truth' but the truth was he was just a fat kid with a pill press and a taste for fast food, fast women and fast bucks. He got lucky the day Jason Moran shot him in the belly instead of in the head. Carl didn't return the favour: one by one, Moran and his brother and father and their mates were shot dead during an underworld war that was really an extermination program.
But Carl's luck ran out when the Purana Taskforce came calling He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years. And that's the truth.
This is Australia's underbelly ... bullet holes and all.