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Naked City

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The big stories that dominated headlines in 2024 included the High Country killings trial, mushroom deaths, tobacco store fires and the charges laid in the decades-old Easey Street murders.

The A to Z of crime, 2024 style

From the torching of tobacco stores to High Country killings, mushroom mysteries and cold cases solved: John Silvester reviews the year in crime.

  • John Silvester

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Adass Israel Synagogue on Tuesday.

Finger-pointing and blame: The ugly attempts to gain votes from a terror event

For some reason, the most urgent issue after the Ripponlea synagogue firebombing was to declare a terrorist attack, even before investigators finished examining the crime scene.

  • John Silvester
Banks have vast intelligence capacities to track the behaviour of customers that can be used to trace local and international criminals.

The high-tech sleuthing banks are using to help cops catch crooks

Former AFP officer turned bank executive Chris Sheehan says banks and law enforcement have a common interest.

  • John Silvester
Transporting criminals.

Schoolies for detectives: When police and suspects are on the loose

In the more robust days, a trip interstate or overseas to grab a crook was a liquid holiday. Which proves one of the iron rules of crime: never get between a detective and a good rort.

  • John Silvester
Alec Martin lecturing young detectives.

The war hero who became a father of fingerprints

A gang of diamond thieves looked to have pulled off the perfect heist in Melbourne, until a resourceful detective started to softly breathe on the metal surface of a door – and found three perfect fingerprints.

  • John Silvester
Tony Mokbel being led into court on Monday.

Pass the pita: Where does the Mokbel fiasco go from here?

Retrial, deal, compensation? John Silvester on what could happen in the Tony Mokbel saga.

  • John Silvester
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John Silvester with Mark “Chopper” Read. Happier days.

It’s a cliche that prisons are ruled by the laws of the jungle, but also true

Some crooks see jail as their natural domain, but most have no sense of history so are doomed to repeat the mistakes of other generations.

  • John Silvester
Retiring superintendent Tim Day. He solved the cold case murder of six-year-old Bonnie Clarke, killed in he Northcote home.

The cop, the career and the cold case that exonerated a mother

The original investigators believed they knew the killer of six-year-old Bonnie Clarke, but lacked sufficient evidence. They were horribly wrong.

  • John Silvester
From left: John Kearney of Victoria Police; Lori McPherson of the US Marshals Service, Elizabeth Wright from Interpol and Frank Barfuss, Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Police setting up global net to catch child abusers

Law enforcement agencies around the world came to Melbourne this week to discuss ways to prevent abuse and pursue those responsible.

  • John Silvester
Generic IT, security

Bodyguards for billionaires: Inside the secret world

The super rich are spending big on super security, including elite protection teams with counter-surveillance skills to thwart kidnappings, and panic rooms marketed as nuclear and germ-warfare resistant.

  • John Silvester

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/naked-city-jbi