(mysterious music)
(beep)
- After Dale is arrested, we're gonna need you to testify
about the meetings between him and you.
- Testify?
I can't testify.
In open court?
- We'll de-register you as informer 3838.
- No, no, no.
- And we'll refer to you only as witness F.
- They'll figure it out.
When they hear what witness F says,
everyone will know it's me.
- Even if they do, no one's gonna care.
You're turning on a cop.
- I won't testify at the committal.
I'm not doing it.
(dramatic music)
- [Nicola Voiceover] I promise you, on my life,
I am not and would not work
for the jacks, you know that.
- Talk.
(gun shots)
(dramatic music)
- One.
Two.
Three.
- [Carl] Talk.
(dramatic music)
- Are you gonna to do it?
- If you make me give evidence, when people find out it's me
all my cases will come under scrutiny.
Dozens of crims- - Nicola.
- Carl Williams will go free.
You'll be gone and I'll be dead, a bullet in my head.
- We'll protect you.
- Yeah, just like you're protected the Hodson's?
- So are you gonna do it?
(upbeat music)
- [Nicola Voiceover] Tony Mokbel was found
hiding out in Greece.
The Victorian police had put up a million dollar bounty
for information leading to his arrest.
Tony was finally arrested
by the Greek police in Athens in 2007.
In 2008, they put him on a taxpayer funded
Gulf stream jet back to Melbourne to face the music.
(upbeat music)
- [News Reporter] After an exhaustive joint operation
by federal and Victorian Police,
despite his attempt to thwart
extradition back to Australia, Mr. Mokbel is due to appear
before the Melbourne courts in the coming weeks.
(knock on door)
(mysterious music)
(knock on door)
- Hello?
Hello.
(dramatic music)
- [Nicola Voiceover] I'd like to say
you get used to this type of thing.
(phone rings)
- Detective Reichert.
- Susan, it's Nicola.
- [Nicola Voiceover] You don't.
- So Dale's committal hearing is set for early next year
before that we'll need relevant statements
for their hand out brief.
So if we could do that tonight.
- Witness F will be outed, golly gee.
- Yeah, it's possible.
And if that occurs, we think that you
should enter witness protection.
- Look at me.
Have you ever met someone more unsuited?
Wit sec is for people who blend in.
I don't blend in.
No matter where you stash me, I'll be recognized.
No, I'm staying put.
- Well,
that's your choice.
But I would keep as low profile as possible.
- How?
Tony Mokbel's back, he wants me to represent him again.
- You can't.
Tell him you have a conflict of interest.
- A conflict of interest?
You don't say no to Tony Mokbel.
- Well, you better figure out a way.
(dramatic music)
(upbeat music)
- There she is.
You look like shit.
- Thanks.
Coming from you, that's...
- What?
- I saw the wiggy war in Greece.
Front page photo, mate.
Did you get a blind person to buy it for you?
- That was the jacks.
They put it on sideways.
Well, but for a long time, it was my disguise.
- It was something.
- Did you come here to insult me or what?
- No.
I'm enjoying this.
- Yeah, me too.
Good to see you, Nic.
(dramatic music)
- I can't represent you anymore, Tony.
- What do you mean?
- Just with
everything.
Cops already think I tipped you off
when you jumped bail and went off ways.
- But you didn't.
And they've got no proof, so fuck them.
- Yeah, but...
Well, there are just too many
conflicts of interest
- What's going on,
Nic?
- Nothing.
- So you think you can just do this,
just
walk away?
- Yeah, I gotta.
I do.
- So you don't to think
I kept records,
tapes
of you and certain people in compromising fucking positions,
tapes of you fucking
certain people in compromising positions, Nicola?
- Go on,
try the tapes,
probably get me more work.
(dramatic music)
- [Nicola Voiceover] And that was the last time I saw Tony.
He's been locked away ever since.
After all, he didn't have me representing him.
Meanwhile, the Hodson murders remained unsolved.
- Task force Petra will take over the investigation
into the murders of Terrence and Christine Hodson.
I, personally will be on the steering committee.
We will not rest until the killers are brought to justice.
(news reporters chatter)
- [Nicola Voiceover] So the police were on my case.
- Miss,
let's get straight into it.
Let's not muck around.
How would you describe your relationship
with Terry and Christine Hodson?
- I advised Terry after the Oakley burglary.
- Up until his murder?
- Yeah, I had to start repping him after that.
Look, I liked Terry and Christine.
They were good people.
- Were you aware that Terry was a police informer?
- Yes.
- Did you have any discussions with people about that?
- Well, I wouldn't say I've gone out of my way
to ring people and tell them.
- If someone asked?
- If someone asked I might've said something maybe.
- To who?
Who did you just speak to?
- I don't know.
I can't remember.
It's not a criminal offense for me to discuss it.
- I'm just trying to establish who knew
that Terry was informing and how.
- Are you implying something, Detective?
- We believe that a hired killer did Terry and Christine.
And we're just trying to find out who hired the shooter,
who had a motive.
- So who knew Terry was a snitch?
- Yes.
- Well, then have you considered that a division
of your police force misplacing Terry's informal file
may have tipped a few people?
- Right now, we're more interested
in the company you keep, Ms. Gobbo.
- The company I keep?
- Criminals
- [Nicola Voiceover] But I wasn't the only one.
The police kept trying to pin it on Paul Dale.
I almost felt sorry for him.
- And how is it that you own a mechanic business
in Wangaratta and a large house on-
- I saved,
that's how.
- If you look at my finances,
I'm sure you already have,
there's nothing dodgy there.
- In 2004, you used a burner phone registered
under the name Darren Johnson to contact Nicola Gobbo.
- Did she tell you that?
- Well,
you contacted her over 150 times.
Is that to organize meetings between you and Carl Williams?
- I never met with Carl Williams,
not like he said.
- Then why so many calls to Ms. Gobbo?
- I used phones purchased under a false name to contact her
because we were having an affair.
- You were having a sexual relationship with Ms. Gobbo?
- I wouldn't call it a relationship,
it was more like a one night stand.
And I used a burner phone
because
I didn't want my wife to find out.
- Well, she denies any sexual relationship with you.
- You believe her?
(instrumental music)
- Thank you,
detective.
- Go fuck yourself.
- Do you think we're moving too fast?
Dale doesn't look like he's about to crack.
We only have three witnesses that put
Dale close to the Hodson murders.
- They're all criminals.
And the main one is Carl Williams.
(dramatic music)
Nicola Gobbo,
she puts Dale close.
She's the key.
- Yeah.
(instrumental music)
- Hey.
You don't look so good.
- People keep saying that.
At least they're telling the truth of it.
How are you doing in here?
- Prison is a barrel of fun.
I could tell you stories about the times in here.
You know how much I love a good story
but
I don't much feel like it.
- You're angry at me, Juicy?
- Why would I be angry?
- I was
forced
into it.
The cops made me turn on you.
- Did you send me to prison so that I'd hate you?
Were you that scared? - Juicy.
- Why did you tell them about the van?
- I was trying to help you.
- You got me fucking arrested.
- I got you an 18 month sentence.
- I'm not some client you do deals for.
It was me, Nic.
Me.
- Tudge is doing 15 years.
You were gonna get caught.
Get the same as him.
I got you out.
- It was my life!
I make those calls, not you!
(melancholic music)
Guard, get me out of here.
(melancholic music)
- Nicola, it has been so long.
- That's my fault.
- No, no, no, don't touch.
Don't touch, please, I'm sick.
Kids, you know what they should really be called?
Little germ bags.
Thank God, it's such a relief leaving them
with the nanny for a couple of hours.
- How many kids do you have now?
- Three.
You remember that.
- Yeah, of course, I remember.
Just so much going on.
I thought I might've missed one.
- It's nice to see you out of the house for a change, Nic.
Is everything okay?
- Yeah, great.
- Are you in trouble?
- When haven't I been?
You were right, Emma.
I am addicted to it,
the life.
- Oh, sweetheart.
- [Nicola Voiceover] After all these complaints
about me being an informer, it was sort of ironic
when the chicks came home to roost for Carl Williams.
- What's the matter?
- Nothing.
- You're looking at me like I've got a turd on my head.
Do I have a turd on my head?
- No.
No, there's no turd, mate.
- Then what's the matter?
- Rumors, mate.
- What rumors?
- Word is, you talked.
- You know I stick fat.
- Yeah, we know Carl, but just people have-
- You think after all this time I'd turn dog?
- You're looking at 35 years.
- Fuck you.
- I'm just saying-
- We've been mates 15 years.
- I know, but it-
- Don't say it again!
(dramatic music)
- You think the same, matey, you think I'm talking?
Look, I've been making some shit up,
stringing the jacks along, getting some perks.
Don't be like every other brain dead maggot in here
and believe jack rumors.
I chose to be in this unit with you
blokes because we're mates.
You know me,
I'm no dog.
(dramatic music)
You know that, right?
- Yeah.
- Right, matey?
- Yeah, Carl.
We're all good.
- And you bring me the next fucking prick who calls me dog.
- [Nicola Voiceover] For the moment,
Carl convinced them he was staunch.
But right about then his old mate, Rod Collins
was convicted for two murders he did 20 years ago.
He killed a crim and his wife.
Cops figured these past murders put Collins
in the frame for the Hodson's.
- It's the Abby's
and the Hodson's,
both execution style with collateral damage,
same memo as the Hodson murders.
- What, 'cause there's a bloke and a chic?
It's the only similarities I see.
So the fuck what?
- So the fuck you're in here for 32 years, Rod.
You're 53.
Do you wanna get out of here alive?
Carl Williams gave us a statement saying
that you did some work for him.
- What kind of work?
- Why don't you tell us?
- I think you mean around the house work,
did some gardening,
washed his windows,
hung his drapes, yeah? (laughs)
Housework.
- Are you finished, playing around?
- I'm playing around, am I?
How do I really know that you got a statement from Carl?
- Well, he's in here.
Why don't you talk to him yourself?
If you'd back up his statement,
maybe I can give you a future.
- You want a bit of the Hodson reward money?
- Well, if your information is on the mark,
I don't see why you can't split it.
- Split it, huh?
Me and Carl,
halfsies.
I don't think.
I hear the cop you had for the Hudson murders
has a really good alibi.
Aren't you're worried about that?
Or maybe haven't you ever thought like I do?
That when someone has a really good alibi
that just, just maybe
they got something to hide.
- [Nicola Voiceover] So Rod points the finger at Paul Dale
and the cops took the psychopath at his word.
(upbeat music)
- Let's go.
Hello Dale, we're here to arrest you
for the murders of Terry and Christine Hodson.
- There's no need to handcuff me, I'm not gonna run.
- Yeah, all right.
- Geez, who do you think I am, Ned Kelly?
- Do you have anything to say, Paul?
- Yes. I'm innocent.
I want to get that bit for once.
I'm being framed.
Print that for once.
It's fine (talk over each other)
This is all gonna be over.
Get your hands for once.
Go back inside this.
Fuck.
Mate, you're gonna have to pull over.
I've got to take a leak.
- [Driver] You will when we get to Melbourne.
- But that's three hours away.
I'm not joking, mate, I'm bursting.
I'm not gonna be able to hang onto it that long.
- [Driver] We're stopping in Melbourne, mate.
Are you pissing on the floor?
- Yeah.
- You'll be cleaning it up when we get there.
- You reckon?
(dramatic music)
- If you plead guilty, you'll get consideration
and possibly a lighter sentence.
- I'm not pleading guilty to something that I didn't do.
They got me in solitary confinement,
had me locked up next to fucking Muslim terrorists.
- Paul.
- Why would I kill the Hodson's
if I had nothing to do with the Oakley robbery.
It just, it doesn't make sense.
- But we have statements.
- Yeah, but from who?
From fucking Carl Williams.
He's lying.
He's looking at 35 years.
He's just saying whatever you wanna hear.
What deal did you give him to make that statement?
- Paul.
- Has David Miechel ever implicated me in the robbery?
He's doing in 15 years.
What would he never mention my name once
when he could have cut a deal?
- I'll tell you why?
Because he knows that I had nothing to do
with the robberies or the murder.
(instrumental music)
(phone rings)
- Nicola Gobbo.
- [Simon] Nicola, it's Simon.
We're close to moving forward
and with all that's going on,
we think it's best if you would
reconsider witness protection.
Your safety is our primary concern.
- Simon.
- Nicola.
- I've told you.
- Our assessment is word's out you're talking to us.
You're now at extreme risk.
- If I go into witness protection.
- Don't sit dog.
- If I go into wit sec, everyone will know.
No witness, if it's me.
My only way- - Nicola.
- My only way is to stay in the open,
hide in plain sight.
- Nicola. - My only shot.
Plausible deniability.
You know what that is, don't you, Simon?
(dramatic music)
- Hey, dog. (gun shot)
(instrumental music)
- [Nicola Voiceover] Amongst it all,
Juicy had served his time.
It was really good to see him.
I mean that.
- What do you wanna say to me?
- Just
after next week, I might be going away for a while
and
I wanted to apologize.
Make amends.
Bloody steps without being in bloody AA.
They pushed me around,
cops, crims, everyone.
- Nic, no one pushed you around.
You might think I don't, but I know you.
You love making things happen.
Being at the center was always about you.
What I don't understand,
why didn't you give us a chance?
- I like to surround myself with terrible men,
you know that. - Give me an answer.
- Did you ever really think we'd up together?
You settling down, with a dog,
a white fence
and
yoga classes?
- Not with a dog.
- It's not me.
It's not you either.
It's the three daughters with three women.
(melancholic music)
- You got my number.
We should grab a meal sometime.
- I'd like that, Kevin.
(melancholic music)
- [Nicola Voiceover] I was too scared to fight them anymore.
So I finally agreed to accept police protection.
(upbeat music)
But I didn't settle too well.
I was moved more than a dozen times,
38 flights in 10 months
$76,000 in hotel rooms
$43,000 in allowances.
Until finally,
they settled me in Bali.
(upbeat music)
For 24 hours a day, my police protection watched me
smash cocktails at the bar.
- You know who you remind me of?
What's his name from the Muppets?
Beaker.
That's it.
Look it up.
I'm not lying.
You know what I'm gonna do when all this is over,
when I'm rid of you lot.
I'm gonna to open up a juice bar.
No more grog.
No more laughing.
- Nicola, someone here to see you.
- A visitor.
I'm gonna need my car seat.
Hello, Chikka.
- I'll need to speak with her alone.
Hey.
- Hello.
- I was talking to someone in Melbourne.
- Yeah.
- He told me some things.
He said they're gonna present you as a witness
at Paul Dale's murder committal.
- That's the plan.
- He said you've been informing
against your own clients, is that true?
- Don't look so shocked.
I crossed that line a long time ago.
You know me, I'm an all or nothing girl.
- Who knows about this?
That you've been informing against your own clients.
- My handlers.
Simon Overland,
a few others.
That's it.
(dramatic music)
- Chikka.
- Susan.
Commissioner Overland, congratulations on your promotion.
- Thank you.
I heard
you spoke to Nicola Gobbo.
- Yeah.
- What did she say?
- How can you use Gobbo as a witness,
as an informer in her own case.
She was their lawyer.
- Well, she was never representing them.
She was one of them.
- A lawyer can't snitch against her clients,
that's as basic as it gets.
Every time we register an informer, there's a source test.
Will their evidence withstand scrutiny?
Would using it be ethical?
Gobbo doesn't satisfy any of that.
- You want me to use the greater good argument
or the desperate times, desperate measures argument.
- Don't patronize me.
- I'm not.
But you must understand that Nicola Gobbo
is the glittering prize.
The insider we've been wanting for years.
- She can bring Dale to trial
and she insists that she wasn't his lawyer.
- It doesn't matter what Nicola insists.
If Dale thought she was his lawyer then she was.
You studied law, you know that.
If her testimony is allowed, it will set a precedent
that Victoria will be stuck with forever.
You think a judge is gonna overlook
200 years of legal privilege?
- (talk over each other) her testimony
will withstand scrutiny and a judge will see it our way.
Yes, and accept it. - Oh come on.
- There was a problem.
And I put methods in place to fix it.
And it has been fixed.
- What you're doing goes against
the code of every police-
- They're killing in front of kids.
Killing innocent wives, crims have no -
- We're the fucking police,
we're supposed to be better than them.
And if her informer status comes out,
all the convictions in her cases will be thrown out.
Can you say
Royal Commission?
- Are you threatening me?
- No, I'm telling you straight up.
- I think you've made your point, Chikka.
- Get Gobbo back to Melbourne.
Bring her back now.
(upbeat music)
- [Reporter] Former drug squad detective Paul Dale
has been released on bail ahead of his trial
for the murder of police informer, Terrence Hodson.
We go live now to the gates
of Barwon prison for this special report.
- [Reporter] How does it feel
to finally get released on bail?
- How do you think it feels?
They kept me in there for seven months.
- What do you plan to do now?
- Prove I'm innocent.
You'll see.
- [Reporter] Do you have any last words for Victoria Police?
- I would just like to say Victoria Police lost its way.
When it walked into Barwon Prison with an open checkbook
and accepted the ravings of a criminal who is prepared
to say anything for a reduced sentence.
Excuse me.
- [Reporter] So Carl Williams is lying.
- Yeah.
Mate, yes, he's lying.
He made everything up
and I'll prove that at my committal hearing.
- Don't tell me to calm down.
- Nicola.
- Dale's out.
Why'd you let him out?
- The judge decided that after seven months,
bail was a suitable option.
- Fuck me, I'm gonna have another stroke.
- Well, don't do that.
You testify on Monday.
- Get out.
Get the fuck out of my house.
I'll look after myself.
- [Nicola Voiceover] Yes, of course,
I was scared of testifying.
Luckily, I didn't have to.
- Commissioner, you got a minute.
What's she done?
(siren)
- They say it's stress-related, I wonder why.
- I'm glad to see you're feeling better now.
- This looks better?
Simon, I think I'm having a nervous breakdown.
- You're not having a nervous breakdown.
- And I've been doing some thinking,
I can't work as a lawyer anymore.
It's gone, I'm finished.
So I've been thinking I need some recompense.
- Recompense?
- $20 million.
That should last the rest of my life.
- That's not...
There's no way.
- It's what I want.
20 million.
- [Nicola Voiceover] So the committal hearing was delayed
while the police figured out what to do.
But no one could have expected what happened next.
(upbeat music)
♪ Now I wanna be your dog ♪
- You'll make it the wrong place.
(upbeat music)
♪ Well, come on ♪
- What you doing, matey?
- I'm just airing it out.
(mysterious music)
(upbeat music)
♪ The devil, my conscience and I ♪
♪ Had a discussion about you ♪
♪ My conscience convinced me last night ♪
♪ To turn around and come back to you ♪
♪ The devil said ♪
♪ hey, how do you stick to one girl ♪
♪ Because I love her ♪
- Something terrible has happened.
Carl's dead.
- Carl hit his head.
♪ But there's many other girls in this whole world ♪
(instrumental music)
- [Nicola Voiceover] How does the highest profile
prisoner in Victoria get murdered
in the state's most secure facility?
Well,
let's just say it took almost 30 minutes
for the guards to respond.
(instrumental music)
No one ever did time because of Carl Williams.
Mokbel once dubbed Carl
the truth,
smart ass.
So the committal into Paul Dale
and the killing of the Hodson's was never held.
Paul got his life back.
As for me,
I had one last thing to do,
lawyer up.
(instrumental music)
- So we are agreed,
$2.9 million as compensation for loss of future income.
- I was assured that I'd be compensated
for helping Victorian Police, and be left no worse off.
$2.9 million is a bargain.
- We've all heard your arguments,
Ms. Gobbo and accepted the sum.
There's no need for more grandstanding.
It's in the best interest of everyone in this room
that the amount paid and your role
as a police informer is never revealed.
Overriding any personal grievances,
the most important concern for all of us
must be that the public doesn't lose confidence
in our police force or in our judicial system.
So would anyone like to add anything to the record?
- Yes, I wish to add something.
(mysterious music)
When we realized that, Ms. Gobbo must be called
as a witness, Victoria Police immediately
stopped using her as an informer.
I want that on the record.
- So noted.
- And I want it noted, the Victoria Police broke
no laws in using Ms. Gobbo as a source.
The first duty of any officer
is to preserve life and property
that is instilled in us at the outset of our careers.
I was trying to clean up the streets of Melbourne.
That was the right thing to do.
It was my job.
And I did it.
And if I may add, no matter what anyone says,
I was on the side of the angels.
(dramatic music)
- And if I may add for the record,
everything I did was done out of my sense of duty
to serve justice and not help criminals.
I was motivated by altruism rather than personal gain.
Anything told to me about crimes being planned
or committed cannot ever fall under
the protection of legal privilege.
That is just thieves, murderers
and drug dealers complaining.
386 people were arrested because of information I provided.
And $60 million in assets was recovered
by the state of Victoria.
I too was on the side of the angels.
(mysterious music)
- Do you think that,
that they're both on the side of the angels?
- It doesn't matter what I think
you've clearly made up your mind.
- Why do you think she did it?
- I think Nicola liked being in control
and it blew up in her face.
- If this comes out,
informer 3838,
their own lawyer working against them.
Can you imagine the shit-storm?
Crims would be jumping up and down to be set free.
- This will never come out.
♪ Just looking for a protector ♪
♪ God never reached out in time ♪
♪ There's love that is a savior ♪
♪ But that ain't no love of mine ♪
♪ My Love it kills me slowly ♪
♪ Slowly, I could die ♪
♪ And when she sleeps she hears the blues ♪
♪ Sees shades of black and white ♪
♪ Got to stay cool you hot, hot head ♪
♪ Count to a thousand before you sleep in bed ♪
♪ Read the news, pass the time ♪
♪ Drink the juice, feeling fine ♪
♪ Got to stay cool you hot, hot head ♪
♪ Count to a thousand before you sleep in bed ♪
♪ Read the news, pass the time ♪
♪ Drink the juice, feeling fine ♪
♪ At least you're not boring ♪
♪ No one wants to feel you this sad ♪
♪ Just looking for a protector ♪
♪ God never reached out in time ♪
♪ There's love, that is a savior ♪
♪ That ain't no love of mine ♪
♪ My Love it kills me slowly, ♪
♪ Slowly I could die ♪
♪ And when she sleeps she hears the blues ♪
♪ Sees shades of black and white ♪
(instrumental music)
- Nicola Gobbo.
(instrumental music)