'I think that every now and again our wonderful system cocks up, and this was one of those times.' Former ALP Senator Graham Richardson
Cabramatta was embroiled in a heroin epidemic, gang wars and demands to deport Vietnamese gangsters when local MP John Newman was gunned down in the driveway of his home.
Newman's murder was billed as Australia's first political assassination and the killer was identified within hours as the politically ambitious Vietnamese refugee and Deputy Mayor, Phuong Ngo.
Ngo was found guilty of killing Newman to take his seat in parliament and sentenced to die in jail. But there have always been questions about his conviction.
Why did it take seven years and three trials to find Phuong Ngo guilty? Why were the names of so many witnesses and so much evidence kept secret? How could Ngo be the murder mastermind when both of the men accused of shooting Newman were acquitted? Why is the killer still at large? And why do some of the most senior politicians of the day say they never believed Phuong Ngo was guilty?
For the first time, Phuong Ngo tells his story, and The Man Who Couldn't Wait unpicks one of the country's longest and most secretive investigations.
'Superbly told - a story that gnaws at the conscience of the country.' David Marr
Author's Note
Publisher's Note
Prologue
1 A Political Assassination
2 Down the Rabbit Hole
3 A Judicial Inquiry
4 'From the Mouth of the Horse'
5 Vietnam
6 Escape
7 Cabramatta
8 Accidentally Elected
9 The Heroin Capital and the 5T Gang
10 Party Games
11 The House of Guangzhou
12 The Night of the Murder
13 First Witnesses
14 A Media Frenzy
15 First Police Interviews
16 Taskforce Gap
17 Making Sausages
18 The NSW Crime Commission
19 The Inquest
20 A Rusty Pistol
21 The Committal Hearing
22 Phone Evidence
23 Exit Bob
24 The Albert Ranse Red Herring
25 Three Police Interviews
26 Albert Ranse Is Confused
27 Stinking Fish
28 Rolling Over
29 A Third Crown Witness
30 A Cultural Statement
31 The Running Sheet
32 The Truck
33 A Disastrous Witness
34 A 'Rogue' Juror
35 The Final Trial
36 Quang Dao
37 A Joint Enterprise of One
38 Emancipated
39 Richo and Della Bosca
40 The Grills and Gates Cafe
Postscript
Acknowledgements
Notes
Debbie Whitmont is a journalist and lawyer, a former Middle East Correspondent and reporter for the ABC's Four Corners program for more than two decades. She has won two Walkley Awards and three Human Rights Commission TV Awards.
