The Dark Side: The explosive story of corruption, greed and murder in the Australian drug trade

‘Each year at least $10 billion is laundered in and through Australia. Much of this money is derived from illicit drugs.’ Hooked on the limitless profits of the drug trade, organised crime has grown so powerful that it now poses a major threat to Australia’s national security. Clive Small and Tom Gilling show how Australian crime gangs, in partnership with violent international syndicates, have exploited lax law enforcement and corruption on the nation’s waterfront to import narcotics on a vast scale from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. The authors reveal for the first time the corrupt history of Mark Standen, the senior investigator at the New South Wales Crime Commission whose conviction on drug importation charges sparked Australia’s biggest law-enforcement crisis since the Wood royal commission. In the process, they expose the cover-ups, strategic blunders and missed opportunities that continue to make Australia a soft target for international drug traffickers. The Dark Side is a fierce and compelling exposé of organised crime in Australia and Australia’s multi-billion-dollar drug trade.

About the Author :
Clive Small is a former detective and Assistant Commissioner of the NSW Police. His investigations included the murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay, the Nugan Hand bank, the shooting of police officer Michael Drury, the murder of Cabramatta MP John Newman and the backpacker murders which led to Ivan Milat being convicted. Tom Gilling is an acclaimed novelist and non-fiction author who was born in England, but has lived in Australia since 1983. His first two novels, The Sooterkin and Miles McGinty, were New York Times notable books of the year. His non-fiction works include Bastard behind the Lines, The Lost Battalions and The Witness. He is also co-author with Clive Small of the bestselling true crime books Smack Express, Blood Money, Evil Life, and Milat. His most recent work of non-fiction is Start Digging, You Bastards!: Australian and New Zealand Forces' Desperate Battle with Rommel and the Axis at El Alamein (2025). Peter Hosking is an actor with 40 years of stage, film and television experience and has narrated over 160 audiobooks. He toured Australia with the stage show Certified Male, appeared on television in Blue Heelers and on-screen in Pride, Siam Sunset, The Wogboy and Razor Eaters. Now living in Europe, he has toured with stage shows within Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the USA and Egypt as well as filming in the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Canary Islands and Poland. He continues to record for Bolinda from his base in Prague.