Big Shots

'People reckon my life has been glamorous. Well, if this is glamour, then they are just off their heads' Unbeknown to both of them, it was to be Carl Williams' last conversation behind bars with his unlikely confident, reporter Adam Shand. Shorlty after saying these words the notorious, murderous drug boss was once again in the papers...but this time he was in a gold coffin. In the late 1990s, a feud raging between rival underworld families - a clash of a new generation with the criminal establishment - erupted in a spate of gangland slayings on Melbourne's streets. These 'gangland wars' are now familiar to everyone, largely due to the popular TV drama Underbelly. But this is the real story, as told to the author by the key figures - both the victims and the suspects - including Carl and Roberta Williams, and Mick Gatto. The author developed a surprising rapport with the Williams family and got closer than anyone to unravelling the complicated personal entaglements behind the shocking headlines. It wasn't a relationship without risks. Crackling with tension, Big Shots documents Shand's brave plunge into Melbourne's 'disorganised crime' scene. While uncovering the facts, he finds himself questioning his objectivity...and even whether he is being used to further murderous ends. This, fully revised and definitive edition of the book, concludes with notorious criminals transformed into red-carpet celebrities, and the brutal murder that Carl Williams always knew was coming...