My name's David Farrier, and I'm a journalist from New Zealand.
Five years ago, I started writing
what I thought would be a very simple quirky story.
But here I am, half a decade later,
still trying to make sense of it all.
I'm driving to an abandoned psychiatric hospital
in the middle of nowhere...
which is funny, because I do feel like I'm losing my mind.
What's he doing in there?
I'm just gonna park up where we were.
Or further on.
- I'm not going by them.
I don't even know who I'm here to meet -
I just know that somewhere in these crumbling buildings
lie the answers I need -
at least that's what I hope.
- So, two people got out and walked in.
- Can we see who is in that car? — No.
What the fuck are you up to?
I guess you could call the city I live in
the Beverly Hills of New Zealand.
And on one of its most expensive streets
sits this high-end antique store, Bashford Antiques.
During the day, it's quiet, uneventful;
blue skies and canoodling pigeons.
But as the sun sets, and the store closes,...
things get crazy outside.
- You were given every chance to pay.
- We're trying to pay you money.
You saw me go and get the cash. You saw me.
- I haven't seen you get anything.
- Yes, you did. You are a liar! You saw me go and get the cash.
- No, I saw you walk past here.
- Excuse me. - Yes, to go and get the cash,
where you told me the cashpoint was.
- The owner of the antique store is Jillian Bashford,
and she's making a bold stand
against anyone who dares park outside when it's shut.
- When I bought this building over 15 years ago,
there was no parking issues round the area.
Ah, how times have changed!
People think they've got a sense of entitlement
to park in somebody's private car park.
- To fix the problem,
she's hired a man to watch her car park like a hawk.
When people park there, he waits till they walk away,
then swoops, . . .
Placing a clamp on their wheel
or blocking them in with his van.
- There was car parks. - You are not...
- When they come back, the aggro begins.
- I told the police that you- - It's all right. Leave it-
- ...were given every- - You're an absolute crook.
- Because it's private property, this is fully legal.
So if people want to leave, they have to pay him.
And I realised this car park is
quite the money-maker for Bashford Antiques.
- I'm literally trying to give you 400 bucks cash,
which is what you asked for, and you want to-
- No, it is $760.
- Oh my God.
- Charging $760 for half an hour's parking
is ludicrous to me...
so I start writing about Jillian and her bonkers clamping.
- You go to Westhaven, you'll be clamped there too.
- No problem. And I'm willing to pay.
- So go and park at Westhaven and be clamped there.
- Ooh! - Ooh.
- I know. - Tale of a bully.
- Pretty soon, she's on the prime-time news.
- This week, we heard that a full-scale war was breaking out
on the streets of an Auckland suburb, and...
- Diners told us they were being preyed on by a wheel clamper,
who was then demanding they pay to get their vehicles back.
- Hannah parked in front of Bashford's Antiques
on Williamson Ave.
- Something in this report gets my attention -
I've seen Jillian and her clamper together a lot now,
and yet here she is saying she doesn't know anything about him.
- I have nothing to do with Premiere.
They're purely the people that do the clamping for me.
- I don't understand why she's lying about this,
so I give her a call.
- Oh, hey, Jillian. It's David Farrier speaking.
- It's David Farrier.
I'm a journalist from The Spinoff.
- Yeah. Hi.
- Where?
- Part of the reason why we're...
- As their victims increase into the hundreds...
Jillian takes things up a notch.
Her legal representatives sends threats in all-caps
to people who are speaking out about it.
They're signed by an MDA Organ.
I try and find him to interview him,
but there's no lawyer with that name -
he doesn't exist.
The only Organ I can find is this Organ,
who once made headlines claiming to be a blue-blooded prince.
I stare at the prince...
and I see the clamper staring back at me.
The prince, the clamper and the lawyer;
I think they're all the same person - Michael Organ.
This is exactly my kind of weird mess.
I know there must be more to this car-park terrorist.
Something else is going on here, and I want to find out what.
- Yes? - Oh, hi.
It's David Farrier speaking.
I'm a journalist based in Auckland. How are you doing?
- I'm fine. I'm good. - You're good.
Hey, it's a bit of a random call out of the blue -
I'm looking into the background of Michael Organ.
- Oh, do me a favour.
Now, you've asked me a question about Michael Organ,
but I'm gonna ask you to do me a quick favour,
and you're gonna answer this very, very quickly for me,
straight off the bat. When were you born?
- I was born on Christmas Day, '82.
- Nice one. You are David Farrier. OK.
The reason why I ask you that is because
this is something that Michael would do,
so you'll forgive me if had to check you there a little bit.
- This paranoid voice belongs to Jazz,
a man who lived with Organ in the late '90s.
- Yeah. Um... - I was just wondering if you'd
talk me through, like, the day-to-day of, like,
- living in that place. - Man. It was hell.
Every single day with Michael Organ is like hell.
Um, it's like high-velocity hell.
He's the kind of guy that
if you're talking to him for 10 minutes,
that 10 minutes will turn into 10 hours.
And it's not a good 10 hours.
- I'd already heard of Michael before I moved into this flat.
- What had you heard?
Nothing nice.
It all was a bit, sort of, like... you know, like,
urban legend,
um, that this man was a Satanist and,
uh, part of the Knights Templar
and he was dangerous and he could put curses on you and...
um, and that he was part of a fraud ring
and all sorts of things like that.
You know, like, there was just all these stories about him.
- But because of the stories and the speed that he's doing it,
he kind of captures you into it, and you kind of get...
you know, you kind of get taken along for the ride.
It's like being in love. You know,
a lot of people go through it - you're in love,
and you don't realise just how bad the relationship is,
until you step away from it, cos you're in it.
Once you step away from it, you realise how crazy... shit got.
- There's clearly more to Michael Organ
than just being a vindictive clamper.
When he was living with Jazz in the '90s,
Organ ran a sex shop called Taboo.
When he stopped paying rent, the landlord changed the locks,
evicting him.
Organ wasn't happy and decided he'd get back at the landlord.
This is the landlord, Rene Dunn.
He's sitting on his yacht, the Matia.
- So, you know, revenge sets in.
So he's got Matia in his sights.
And it was... you know, it was tied up to the pole mooring,
and one night,
Michael Organ went aboard the boat and tried to steal it.
You know, I mean, you can't just steal a boat. Right?
But this is the gall of the guy -
he tried to do it.
And the only reason why it failed
is because Jamie Lockett threw him off.
- I was not expecting Jamie Lockett to be a part of this.
Jamie hit the headlines in 2007,
when police accused him of being a terrorist.
- This is the man police alleged talked of training
for guerrilla warfare and taking out white men with no manners.
- He's known to be an intimidating man,
which is why I'm a little nervous to meet him.
He lives three hours north, off the grid,
moving from house to house.
The fact he was somehow involved in this story had me curious.
- Jamie.
- How are you?
Sorry?
Oh, we'll go down. That's all right.
- Yep. - Nice to meet you, sir.
How are you going?
- Rene came to see me and said, 'Jamie, you know, we've found
'the boat. It's in Westhaven. We want you to get it back.'
Yeah, Rene had organized, another yacht, a friend's yacht,
where we all were on that,
and we cut the motor about a kilometer away
and just cruised in in the early morning,
so you couldn't even hear us coming. And, of course,
I did my old Bruce Lee jump on to the boat...
and just went downstairs, and there was Michael Organe.
He just couldn't believe me coming down the companionway.
So, he had a phone in one hand...
and, um...
he started trying to call somebody,
so I just knocked the phone out of his hand.
And pretty well just...
you know, cos I've been doing this all my life.
OK? That's what karate's all about. And so...
what you do, in situations like that,
when I have to manhandle another human being,
now, if they've got hair on their head,
I'll come in and grab their head, their hair.
- Right. - And cos this is so strong,
that I actually can pull the skin up tight,
and the brain goes into a... like, into a zombie mode.
So I come in and just go...
On his head, and I've got it.
So I had him in my... you know, I had him in my grip.
And he's just gone into an instant fright.
So I then have to manhandle him...
cos he can't manhandle - he's in a... the whole body's stopped,
cos I've got his - this here; this here's so tight,
and for good measure, I just did a nice, uh...
heel, uh, kick on his phone, and that broke,
which is probably I shouldn't have done that, but, you know...
So I got Organe... into the dinghy.
We even provided a dinghy...
just in case he didn't have one, which I don't think he did.
So we had our own dinghy, and I put Organe into the dinghy,
and I looked him in the eyes, and I said,
'Don't speak.'
And then we saw all the police cars going over the bumpity
bumps down Westhaven.
There was about eight of them.
So, you know, I'd committed no of fence.
I got him out of the boat, um...
I actually accidentally stood on his cell phone, I suppose.
But, you know, besides that, I used, um...
not excessive force to get him off that boat,
and I got him off that boat quickly.
No mucking around. That's why, you know,
Rene wanted me to do it.
I don't think anybody else could have done it like I did it.
You should have seen him. He was running up the A Pier screaming,
'Argh!' in his underpants.
- Michael was sentenced to three years in prison
for stealing the Matia.
This is the article that got me hooked on Michael -
the one that also mentioned he was a prince.
Well, the thing is, Michael Organ
is constantly doing wildly strange things with his name.
He often misspells his first name.
But then he gets more elaborate, claiming to be a prince,
sometimes a count.
I know about this because he's doing it all in court,...
a lot.
- He, uh,
arrived with a big box, and it was very, very important.
It was held out as if to say, 'I'm very, very important.
'Be careful with this.' You know?
Uh, and at the appropriate time in the case,
when he was trying to drive home how important he was,
he opened up the box and presented a crown
and said that it was given to him by royalty
and he's dined with royalty and...
- Did he pop the crown on his head in the courtroom?
Or just hold it? - I don't think he actually got
to the point where he was allowed to,
because I think the judge almost instantly said, 'Put it away.'
You know, she just...
The ending of the case was the interesting bit,
because she said to Michael...
uh, 'I'm going to ask you to leave first.
'And I'm going to walk you to the elevator,
'and I'm going to watch you go down.'
So I thought, 'Ooh, that's...
'odd, interesting.' So she walked out,
and John and I were sitting there alone for a few minutes.
And I thought, 'OK. I wonder why that was.'
And then she came back into the room and said,
'I'm sorry about that.
'Michael Organ might not have recognised me,
'but I most certainly recognised him.'
And she advised that we, not just walk out of there, but run.
And she said, 'Don't ever look back.
'Don't ever have anything to do with that man again.'
- I wonder if I should listen to the judge's advice.
The fact Michael's known to the legal system here
speaks volumes - he's obviously a litigious nightmare.
But not because he's a lawyer - he's not.
I've checked his legal qualifications,
and he doesn't have any.
But that doesn't stop him acting like he's a lawyer.
And as I look through other cases Michael's
been involved in,
I can't help but think of his behaviour clamping cars.
- The problem with Michael is once he gets on to you,
he won't let go.
— If he perceives someone's giving you information,
if he gets any inkling of who it might be or whatever,
I'll tell you what - he'll go after them.
- Are you there? - Yes. Hello.
- There you are. What do you wanna talk about tonight?
- Well, my name is Michael Organ, and I'm, um,
the chap who's been, um,
cited in the media,
um, in regards to the clamping in Ponsonby —
the journalist, David Farrier.
- He's calling talk back radio about his bonkers clamping,
and he's read my articles.
- With clamping, there are no real rules.
And in your situation,
you were basically allowed to do whatever you liked.
And what I'm saying- - No, no, no, no. Jeremy, no.
We- We- We- No, no. - ...on your property, you can-
— Farrier - and this is one of the things-
_ NO- - ...that we have considered-
And it's a matter of record.
- So the very first time- Hold on, mate. Hold on. Hold on.
Hold on. - We have proof of that.
- The very first time you clamped someone -
not the 50th time or the hundredth time,
or the fourth time David Farrier did an article on you —
the very first time. - Every single time.
- The $760 for half an hour of illicit car parking.
- Uncontrolled, um, exorbitant,
uh, and sometimes intimidating behaviour.
- Bashford Antiques, they were called.
- Thanks, in part, to Jillian's extreme stance on clamping,
Parliament is now debating
whether the law should be changed.
- I just simply can't get
my head around that sort of practice
and that sort of behaviour.
And it is time to bring an end to it.
- The question is that the motion be agreed to.
Those of that opinion will say 'aye'.
- MPs: Aye. - To the contrary, no.
The ayes have it.
- No more clamping...
and no more Bashfords -
the clamping mania has scared a lot of people away,
and Jillian shuts the shop down.
All that's left behind is the old sign.
I take it home as a memento to the madness.
I guess this is my final piece, the eulogy...
but my mistake - Bashfords isn't dead.
- You're talking to me about allegation of the theft of
business signs from Bashford Antiques,
and that these are your rights here that I need to read you.
So you have the right to remain silent.
You do not have to make any statement.
Anything you say will be recorded
and may be given in evidence.
- It looks like Jillian wants me charged with theft.
This is fucking crazy, because the sign was just trash
for a store that no longer exists.
Then I get a court summons from Jillian.
She's taking legal action.
It's so ridiculous,
because the broken old things are just under my house -
I could've just given them back.
Reading her court filing,
Jillian says we've met to talk about all this,
but we've never met.
I tried calling her when all this started,
but she just hung up.
- I don't understand why Jillian is doing this,
going to all these extremes.
And I wonder if it's really her...
or if something else is going on.
When Michael stole that yacht, he had an accomplice -
someone he'd moved in with;
someone he had made forge documents
to make it look like Michael Organ owned the boat.
- He was persistently gaslighting me...
and everything I did was wrong.
There was a, sort of a... you know, I was forever being...
Um, it was like, uh...
Uh, I felt as though I was groomed to begin with.
- So you're saying it was a really calculated decision by
him to really get into your life and groom you in that way?
- You couldn't think -
I couldn't, and when you're under that stress,
in that situation, you can't make sensible decisions.
That's what was getting to me -
I couldn't be the master of my own destiny.
I mean, that's the worst space to be in.
It was really getting me down. I had...
one or two people I could talk to over this. And, of course,
Michael was trying to separate me from my friends; like,
some of them were prohibited from visiting.
He nagged at me one day to...
to help him forge a signature on a contract.
I was in such a space then,
I would just do anything to keep him quiet.
I just said, 'Oh well. If this'll shut him up for...
'you know, for half a day, it's worth it.'
- When Organ got arrested, Simon went down with him.
- It was just my darkest time.
All the other parts of my life that were dark, you know,
sort of, watching the parents die or whatever;
but, no, this was a dark year. It was a tough year.
I'm glad that the...
yacht theft happened,
because that gave me an out.
It was the price I had to pay.
Um, yes. Being arrested,
sitting in a jail cell, doing my community service -
that's what I had to go through
to... to, uh, get away from it-
get away from him.
I was surprised he was let out so soon.
He... I remember coming to a traffic...
you know, a pedestrian crossing, and there he was,
across the street, sort of making this gesture.
And I went like this - I went, 'Oh my... I don't believe it.'
- It's clear to me that Michael Organ really affects people -
he can tunnel into their lives,
draw them into his schemes.
And he refuses to let anything go.
OK. So, I'm walking down the side of my house,
which is where...
you get to the, uh, underside of our house.
And up until two days ago...
uh, the Bashford Antiques signs were...
right there.
And they're gone.
Just in time for my court appearance,
the signs have gone missing from under my house.
It's a six-hour drive to Whanganui,
a small town in the middle of nowhere.
This is where Jillian filed her legal papers,
so it's where I have to go.
As I wait outside court,
a figure appears.
It's the man I've been learning so much about;
the clamper, the prince, the yacht thief -
Michael Organ.
He's not the disheveled man I saw clamping cars -
he's now in a velvet suit and deadly serious,
arguing the signs I took weren't rubbish,
but precious and valuable.
He talks for hours.
He's incredibly comfortable in the courtroom,
and despite not being a lawyer,
he absolutely wipes the floor with me.
Because those signs vanished into thin air,
I can't give them back,
and so I lose the case.
And I'm ordered to pay nearly $3000...
for these.
- Thank you, Anna. - Thanks. Bye.
- Cheers. Bye. Oh, it's gonna be hard to beat that.
- Hi, Mike, good morning.
- So Michael's a director at
Jillian's now non-existent antique store,
and he's back on talk back radio, gloating that he beat me.
Now, this is clamp - the clamping of people's wheels?
- Yeah. Now, because this is before the courts and it's-
- Well,
can we just get away from-? Hey, Mike, Mike,
can we just get away from David Farrier -
you wanna talk about clamping in general?
- I stay in town for a few days,
to try and figure out what this unlikely pair is doing together.
When Jillian moved to this small town,
she bought this beautiful old bank building.
But who's got the keys? Michael Organ.
Where he goes,
she follows.
At this point, it's clear to me that the clamper
she once denied knowing is deeply involved in her life.
- Yeah?
- What? - They're there.
- They're right across the road. - OK.
I need answers,
so I invite him to my hotel to talk.
For the last year, he's refused to speak to me.
That courtroom was the first time I'd met him,
and all I got was animosity.
I figure there's no way he'll turn up.
But then...
meet Prince Organe-ski.
- I was furious, cos I had my hair coloured this morning,
and the guy said, 'I'll do your beard.'
And I've never had it done before,
and he left all this residue, which is visible.
So if you want to save me from being embarrassed,
don't come in on my face from this side.
- Can I plug it in in the spare room, inside? Or do you...?
- You're doing a bloody feed. - Do you want to record
- anything? - No, no. It's fine.
- Yeah, so what's gonna happen - this is Danny.
- He works on sound. - Hi, Danny.
Anyway, when this was done, I said, 'That's it.'
I said, 'I don't want you to cut my hair.'
- I like it. It looks good. - It actually put me off. No.
- It looks great. - Because he did something I
didn't want him to do. He talked me into it the first time.
Now, this is your chair, Jillian. Over here.
And plus I already had a headache,
and the smell of the chemicals he put my face,
I just about bloody... - Yeah. Am I sitting there?
Where's Michael sitting? - ...it was toxic.
- He's over here. - This is a radio microphone.
- Unless you wanna take part.
Cos the camera is gonna have Michael there.
How did you two meet?
How did you come into each other's lives?
Are you both married? What's your relationship?
That's private, David.
- You're not much of an investigative journalist,
if you don't. Or is this a rhetorical question?
- Oh, I thought I'd put it straight to you.
I mean, you'd know,
so I thought I'd ask you directly.
- Is this not a...? Well...
we're going to say that's private.
Mm.
- I thought it would be a straightforward yes or no.
So what's it's... I... What I'd like to cover here is...
- I don't wanna waste your time if you can't-
- But there's one thing. There's nothing more irksome,
if someone is controlling - trying to control the narrative,
when you're the person who should be doing it.
Where they hopefully will.
- Yeah. You've got no particular reason to trust me.
- But there are things that you may not realise fully
the ramifications, because I'm not telling you
everything that I know and have evidence of.
I'm not telling you that, cos you don't need to know it yet.
David, do you know this?
If this was in front of a tribunal or court of law...
- Mm. - ...or just a,
um, debate, in so much that
people had to make an assessment on point of fact...
- Yeah. Mm.
- There's not one thing that you've asserted -
not one thing - that would stand up.
And I'm not just talking about you couldn't prove it -
I could actually prove, beyond all reasonable doubt,
that that assertion was false.
Because there's a difference between
you not being able to prove something is true
and me being able to prove that it's false.
- Why do think I've got everything wrong -
from your side? - Uh, wrong?
— It's quite weird sitting in a room together.
- No, you didn't get anything wrong, David.
You knew right from the start what you were doing.
You didn't know all the facts, but, you know,
you knew what you were doing.
- But what... Like, what does that make you think of me?
- Uh, I just look at it objectively,
and, uh... Jillian's laughing.
Jesus.
- I mean, I think I've...
I've described you as a reptile to people.
- Yeah. - Mm. As a reptile?
Is that fair?
- But, you know, it's such a shame,
because you probably
would have been quite an interesting person to know,
if you weren't such a cunt.
— Your life's quite chaotic, Jillian.
It's quite extraordinary.
- Well... - It must be quite
extraordinary, having Michael around.
- Well, he is a genius.
- Yeah. - I'm not joking.
- Does he grow on you over time?
- Sorry? - Does he grow on you over time?
- Oh. He's an absolute genius and...
to be highly respected in every way.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- He has an extraordinary talent.
-Hmm? - I'm just telling David that
you're a genius - that's all.
— Oh, well, no, that's just...
Don't get into that stuff, Jillian, please.
- What's your life been like since
Michael's come into your life?
- Uh, Michael has
enriched my life immensely.
Mm.
Every day. - Oh, well, that sounds lovely.
Mm.
- Well, he's a very caring person.
He is very, very kind to animals,
and he's very kind to people.
- And it is late. I'm just gonna grab that out of your pocket.
- You've gotta unhook me. I'm gonna be taking off
with your microphone.
Well, it's quite interesting because, like...
- Mm. - I mean, David's 37; I'm... 67.
So there's a 30-year age gap.
- You know, it's quite... - Mm. Yeah. There is.
- I mean, that's quite a big age gap, really, isn't it?
- Do you have any life advice for me? I've got a bit to go,
as do you. - Oh, I've got heaps.
- What would be your main thing, what would be your takeaway for
me, as a sprightly 37-year-old?
- Oh. Well, I think you already know -
winners never give up.
And happiness is a place to come from,
- not to get to. - No, Jillian.
- Well, thanks for meeting with me, Michael.
- I know you find it a little... you know,
it's all very well being jocular, but
this is actually the man whose helped, um,
fuel the fires of, um... - Well...
...of in some cases,
hatred.
- You know, and you must take responsibility for that.
I'm not being necessarily duped to fall for anything.
But anyway, it's an eye-opener for you with a few things.
- It is. - OK.
- Oh, look, and it's raining. - Goodnight.
- OK. - Be safe out there.
- Goodnight.
What? Ha.
- Fucking hell. - Holy shit. What happened?
I dunno.
He's such an odd... He's likeable when he wants to be liked.
He's funny - he's, like, a real funny fucker.
And Jillian's quite funny as well.
It's just a very different situation to, sort of,
what you expect.
But I don't know what I expected with them, really.
I don't know.
I don't know what just happened.
This whole situation just doesn't make sense to me.
The ex-con clamper has embedded himself in Jillian's life,
and while neither of them wants to clarify anything,
they seem perfectly happy.
Maybe I'm the problem, blowing all things out of proportion;
annoyed I just paid this man nearly $3000.
- Over the next few months,
I talked to over 30 of Jillian's friends,
and they're all terrified of Michael.
- Just the lawyers had your name to call.
_ Um-
- New Zealand is a small place,
and they think if they talk to me, he'll come after them.
Only one person agrees to go on the record -
Jillian's son.
- He's just in your ear.
He's like the little devil on your shoulder;
he just churns away at you.
He managed to just drive a wedge between all the close friends;
slowly chipping away-
More or less just scared them, to the point where
they didn't wanna come in the door.
- When Michael Organ got out of prison,
he filed for bankruptcy.
It was October of 2007.
Like, do you remember when
Michael did turn up on the scene?
- It was October 2007.
And I remember it quite vividly.
I walked in to the shop,...
and here was this character sitting there...
eating lunch with Mum.
And I felt this, um...
As you do, I just sort of almost walked into it - an aura.
And, um, she just fobbed it off, 'Oh, he's harmless.
'He's just a... just, you know,
'he's just coming in for lunch every day of the week,
'and he's quite clever, and he's really good at antiques,
'and he knows his stuff,
'and I'm really enjoying conversation with him.'
That was, sort of, really, the initial meeting.
And I just felt, straightaway, this aura that was totally
really creepy and evil.
- I wonder why no one tried to get rid of Michael.
But here's the thing - they did.
- I've clone it twice. Twice,
I've actually formally trespassed him,
packed all his belongings into boxes and delivered it to him,
wherever he was residing at the time.
- And so where did he go and live in that time?
- And I believe that's probably, thinking about it now,
that's probably around the time that he went to
those guys and said, 'I've been beaten and abused.'
And, 'Poor me! Woe is me! Help!'
- We'd obviously got
into a conversation about homophobia or...
whatever it was, and I had relayed the story
of my growing up in a homophobic family.
Uh, and then a little while later...
his story matched mine.
Uh, but it was aimed at Jillian Bashford —
Uh, you know, 'Oh, yes, I get treated like that every day;
'I get homophobic comments, and she beats me,
"and she hits me and...'
The story resonated with me so much that I thought,
'Oh. If there's any...
'any truth to that whatsoever, then I've gotta help out.'
And, uh, a couple of days after he'd moved in,
I thought, 'Oh, my God...
'this is trouble.'
It was a very weird out-of-body experience.
I couldn't make head or tails of it.
It was frightening. It was, uh...
He had this sort of control and hold over you,
and you found yourself
doing all these things and putting up with various things
and... But, yeah, I...
I didn't know how to handle it;
I didn't know how to get rid of him. It was like this,
you know, puss-y thing on you that won't go away.
- A fairly desperate kind of situation that you're stuck in?
- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
I was pretty suicidal at the time anyway.
And that just, sort of, was pulling me over the edge,
because I just thought, you know,
'This is a... What crazy world have I landed in here?'
Yeah. I mean, I... I... There was a few attempts;
one that I shouldn't have survived.
And I wondered why, when I did survive it.
I was very angry about that. I thought, 'No. I can't...
'I can't keep waking up in this world.
'I don't want to be a part of this.'
- Right. So you'd be in a pretty terrible way around him,
and he'd just have no... - Oh, no.
- Nothing? Not, 'How are you going? And...'?
- No. Never got a 'Hello' or a 'How are you,'
or 'Can I make you a cup of tea? Are you OK?'
No, no, no. I was just the manservant.
- But, I mean, obviously, when you were traumatized by that,
I mean, you would have almost been dead,
where was he? What was he doing?
What?
- Telling his stories. - I don't know.
- Yeah. But he's in the house with you?
- Yeah. Yeah.
Just ordering me around.
Getting me out of bed.
- Happened to be driving down Ponsonby Rd,
and there was the van coming towards me. And I thought, 'Oh.
'Here - this must be Mum, and...'
Sure enough, it was two weeks later, and there he was...
in the van; wangled his way back in.
- I think once Organ latches on,
he doesn't let go.
It's why he thrived clamping cars.
It was never about the money;
it was about physically trapping people,
so he could torment them for hours.
I don't believe Jillian ever wanted her signs back -
I believe it was Michael who wanted me in court.
And thanks to that case... he's got my number.
- Sorry? - Which I still...
— What? I'm curious who...
- Oh, so you're saying you've got a key to my house?
- That does seem quite weird. I mean,
I'd prefer you didn't have a key to my house, you know?
So, yeah. Well, it's...
I don't know what the point of any of it is.
Like, if he has a key for my house, it's like...
- if it is a key to your house, that's very bizarre. Like, who...?
- It's weird. But, like, the story is so, like... it's so...
But what he's done has now made me think,
'Holy shit. Who do I know...
'has turned on me?'
And if it is my key,
then he's either fucking stolen it somehow,...
which is, um... makes me sound crazy.
Like, if I told anyone this - if that key opens my house,
if I explain the situation to anyone,
it makes me sound like I've lost the plot,
cos it makes no sense. Or I spend the rest of my life now,
looking at every friend and, like, every crew member,
going, 'Who gave Michael Organ my key?'
- Well. Don't actually look happy,
because we should be quite stern in front of Mr Farrier,
considering how- - Well, I'll film it.
- ...terrible he's been towards us.
Oh, are you going to film it? Well, I hope it's all right.
OK.
- So, like, explain to me what is going on now,
cos this is an odd scene. - Well, as we discussed earlier,
and no doubt you recorded,... — Mm.
— ...um, this was a key that was given to Jillian and I...
about three months after we vacated Ponsonby.
— It's super-weird. I'll admit that. Like, you know.
- Well, you trigger this, you see.
And you've triggered it in our life, because this man came into
our life because of you,... — Mm.
- ...personally, and because of what you've published.
- Why did you tell me about this?
- Because it tied in
with some of the things that you were saying
in our conversation an hour or so ago,
that sometimes people, when you know them,
or they get close to you,
or in your circle through other people you know,
may actually be- I don't use the term wolves in sheep's clothing,
but that's what they can actually be.
- Right. - You know, they can even sit
there, they can eat your food,
they can sit at the table with you, share your wine,
they can smile when they greet you - all those things.
- These people are amongst us. - And at the end of the day,
there is that side to some people.
— Just don't know why anyone would want you in the house,
or to give you the opportunity to come into my house.
It's just a super-weird thing. - Well, I think I know.
But that's supposition. - Why? What? You're saying what?
- That might be for a documentary that I do.
I mean, and the thing is you haven't played ball,
and you've been printing bloody twaddle for years.
- OK.
Well, thanks for giving my key back to me.
And I appreciate that. - Yeah. Yeah. Well-
- So thank you. - You know.
- And are you OK, Jillian?
- I'm very well. - Well, that's...
- Very well. - Yeah.
Knowing what I know about Organ...
I worry about Jillian.
And now I'm worried that Michael Organ
somehow has a key to my house.
I don't know. I don't. It's like my...
- And It looks like your key? - Yeah, it does.
Yeah, it does look a lot like my key.
I think he does have the key to my house.
Um, I just don't know how it fits in with the story at all.
And I mean, what the fuck is going on?
Back at my house, away from Michael Organ...
I try the key.
Fuck!
Michael knows I'm making a film about him,
and I think he wants to be a part of it.
I wasn't expecting to be in this position,
but I figure that if I spend enough time with him,
he'll show some cracks.
So me and Michael, well...
we start to hang out.
- We're just getting you - we're not...
- Well, what- - No, he doesn't wanna...
So he, urn...
- OK, we'll put the camera down.
Despite inviting me and my crew in...
he's hot and cold about us filming.
He seems to enjoy the power he has over me.
- You see - he's filming in here.
- Yeah, but we're bringing it down now.
Once we enter, it comes down. - Out of interest -
I don't want to control your editing of it,
but I'd love to see what -
cos you can play it back on it, so just show me a few excerpts;
- Yep. - I'm curious.
- He hates being filmed, but he also loves it.
To the key...
- I'm not going to tell you, at this stage, about the key.
- ...will you tell me at some point? Cos I think that's, like-
- Perhaps, but that's not a promise.
- ...a bit of a game. - No, it's not a game,
because the person who provided that key...
um, would expect confidentiality.
It wasn't promised them, but they'd expect it.
And they're not the kinds of people you want to cross.
- He refuses to expand on why he's got my key,
or say anything, really.
He avoids naming anyone or being specific.
- Are you a monarchist, David?
- I'm not particularly, no, to be honest.
- Mm. Are you right- or left-handed?
- I'm left-handed. - Damn.
- OK. I can have this one here? - Yeah, we'll give you that one.
So you can't escape, you see.
— Thank you. Thank you, Michael.
No poison in this?
Just“. - Hey. Don't imply such things.
I'm not into that.
Cheers.
- Cheers.
Without being... snobby,
I'm proud of my ancestry.
There's Crown charters in which
my ancestors are referred to as nobles.
We're talking about from the earliest days of
the Norman Conquest.
And then things like the sheriff, you know, um...
sheriffs of London,
Keeper of... of... of the seas.
Keeper of the seas in the medieval period.
And, like, that was the king.
- I get what you're saying. Yeah. No, totally. And I get-
- You know, and I'm actually proud of that.
And there's more stuff behind- besides.
- 'It's really hard, just listening and nodding to
'Michael; taking in his insufferable topics,
'like his disproven noble lineage.
'For my own sanity, I try and steer the conversation
'towards things I actually want to know about.'
I've never taken anyone to court myself.
- Mm. — You've taken, I think,
more people to court than I have, and you're -
I think you're quite good - from what I can tell,
of looking through cases - like,
you're quite formidable in there and quite good at it.
Is that a fair call? - Uh, I'll only take...
I only wanna get involved in legal action as the last-
as a last - or close to last - resort,
because you can be...
represent yourself or your case as best as possible.
But you then... It's the vagaries of,
um, whoever's hearing the case.
Um, it's amazing how much...
things come into play that really shouldn't.
- No one knows this more than the people
who end up in court with him.
They all talk about the wild stories Organ spins,
his defense to even the simplest of allegations
taking on fantastical twists and turns.
- He knows his shit,
including how to filibuster a pretty direct,
'You stole that stuff from me; can I have it back?'
And turning that into an international espionage...
like, deep plot.
He went into this big, long tirade about how the Russians
and Norwegians were fighting
over the rights to drilling in the North Sea.
And that due to my family contacts and studies,
I was obviously spying on behalf of - I don't know -
one of these two great world giants.
It was, like,
that took up most of the hearing, to be honest.
- Mm. - And he was, like,
pontificating like he was in fucking Supreme Court.
He just... And he just wasted the court's time, basically.
We can laugh at it now, but in the moment,
he's there to intimidate you.
My friend who went to court with me,
he actually left halfway through.
He asked, 'Can I go? I'm scared of this guy.'
And I was, like, 'Yeah. Well, totally. I understand.
'He's scaring the shit out of me too.'
If you're in that position, you can't be cowardly.
You can't falter.
- Mm. - And you've got to be on...
on your toes as best as possible.
I mean, especially if people are lying through their...
their... their teeth.
- You'd be a good lawyer in another life.
Cos you're good at this stuff. You were good in that tribunal.
Like, I didn't- you know, you were, uh...
- If I'd represented myself in the yacht case,
I would never have been convicted;
it wouldn't have got past base one.
- Yeah. So if you have your time again,
yeah, you'd represent yourself? - Absolutely.
- Yeah. Yeah.
I'm reminded of those emails coming from Jillian's account
years ago, the ones signed off from a supposed lawyer,
MDA Organ, the man sitting in front of me now.
But according to him, he never wrote those legal threats.
- You ran with that.
I know who did it.
Jillian knows who did it. It wasn't me. It wasn't her.
It wasn't done with our consent.
Urn, you may have an inkling who it is. But that...
- No, I- - I'll disclose later.
- I'm just frustrated with him,
frustrated with his process,
frustrated with him not giving anything.
It's just a pointless exercise in talking to him.
Like, you can't crack him. He, sort of,
dodges around everything.
Used a lot of time in assuming I could out him in some way,
or, like, show what he's like. But it's...
he's better than me.
One thing he keeps coming back to is me -
me and the articles I wrote about clamping
when this whole thing started.
The more you reported it,
the more people were parking there.
And they all -
every one of them made reference to your articles -
every single one.
- Whenever he calls me about this,
it's at least an hour on the phone.
- There was something about those articles,
and the way it went through social media
that it became sporting for people.
It got very, very strange. - He's on mute.
- But that's the way it happens. - This is so boring.
— Most people would think, 'Oh God. I'm not gonna park there.'
But it was literally -
literally -
and, um-
- OK. - I really wish we had more, um-
- Yeah. He's on mute. Yeah. - ...applications of polygraph,
you know, the old lying detectors here.
- I'm trying to think where to go. Work him up more?
- ...because I actually have a great faith.
- Shall we see how long he talks for?
- In the last- As time went through with that,
- having to resort to clamping- - I'll go meet him soon.
...we used to let a lot of people off.
- This is such a weird
conversation. - It was the recidivist..
- And then the next time I see him, I get this.
- OK, well. Let's walk out. - OK. Oh!
Shit.
God.
How dare you, sir!
- You're an absolute maniac, Michael.
You're an absolute maniac.
- It's destabilizing,
as I don't know what version of Michael I'm going to get.
- The three of us were in our pyjamas...
and we were arguing over this receipt, and, um,
he followed me down to my bedroom.
And he punched me in the head six times.
So, yeah. I ended up leaving - as most flatmates -
with a police phone call.
So, in my case, he, apparently,
went straight down to the bathroom,
and there was not a mark on him. One of the flatmates
even told the police that he came out of the bathroom,
and suddenly had scratches on his face. He'd actually gone to
the bathroom and scratched his own face,
to say to the police that I had assaulted him.
But at that time, I had blatantly chewed nails
from the anxiety living with him. And I said,
'It's not fricking possible.'
And you're moving house at 3 o'clock in the morning,
get everything out on your trailer and everything.
The next-door neighbour, who's a registered teacher,
comes out in her dressing gown, says, 'Jesus Christ.
'When are they gonna put him away?'
And you're like, 'I know.'
- Michael's clearly capable of physical violence,
and yet he simply denies it all.
There is not one piece of footage substantiating
any allegation of threats or-
or a threatening behaviour from me.
There is nil.
- I've seen you driving a van and trapping...
...young females in that car park.
It's extremely threatening.
- The- No, it's not. The vehicle had a wheel clamp on it.
- Yeah, you've been extremely threatening to people.
And I've seen the video, and I've heard the stories.
And I'm gonna believe 20 people that talk to me about
their interactions they had, over what you're telling me.
I don't know why I would believe you over them.
- You have not seen any footage of me threatening anyone,
because it never happened. So that's how I know you are lying,
because it never happened. Ipso facto,
there cannot be footage of it. Never happened.
- I'm talking about your mannerisms
and you trapping people in with your van.
- Don't talk over me please, David. David!
If you wanna get some copy, which you're getting now,
be grateful for it and listen to what I'm telling you,
because it's fact.
Whatever the current version of reality is
spilling out of his mouth...
that is the current reality that he lives in,
and he expects us to all accept.
And pushing back against that reality
doesn't really do that much,
because it's like you're not even there.
It's fucked. Like, it's...
Yeah, I feel wound up by him, every dose I have of him.
Which is about, say, three hours at a time.
Living with him, like Simon has, and like Paul did
and like Jillian has for a very long time, I don't even...
I couldn't even imagine that.
No. Do you know where everything is?
- Yeah. We do.
- Oh, really? - One of those people...
I had really objected to,
because he had said in forum that Jesus - this is verbatim -
Jesus Christ was a sex pest with 12 boyfriends.
Do you know who I'm talking about?
- No. I don't, no.
- If he'd said Mohammed... and his disciples...
- Yeah. I would actually prefer if you didn't actually make
that- uh, yeah, no. - Mm. Yes. I know.
- Just, Jillian. I mean, honestly.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. — But he might have been. Well,
the Islamic people wouldn't put up with it.
- Just, you know, zip it. Because -
I'll just give you that as advice -
You just don't wanna go there. - Mm. I know, but, I mean-
- So no, no. I'm just saying to you, don't.
For your own personal safety. - Mm.
- As you're recording this,
then make sure that that's exempt,
cos I don't want that kind of thing being said.
Cos it'll take the wrong person-
- Mm. - ...and you'll end up...
You just don't wanna go there, OK?
Because there are people out there who could manipulate
that comment that you just made.
- Mm. - Just trust me.
Don't even make any reference to it.
- Mm.
- You're not even meant to say the name without a certain
preamble. - Well...
- OK? Which you didn't do. And you'll get someone potentially-
- It's what happens in Paris or France.
- ...who'll object to that. No, no, no, no. Don't.
In the context of what we're talking about. Please.
- Mm. - You know, that -
you just don't wanna go there.
- Cos, yeah, he's impossible.
Like, he's absolutely impossible.
Um...
and he'll keep being fine. Like,
he'll keep drifting through life doing this,
and it kind of works for him.
He's got more money than I have. He's done pretty well.
So yeah. That'll do for the day.
So, it's 12.20 am.
And I'm lying awake thinking about Michael Organ.
Fucking Michael Organ.
There's a gap in my blinds,
and I keep thinking he's gonna be, um...
like, when I open my eyes,
I'll see him staring back at me through the gap.
I know Michael had my key.
And I know somebody crept around
to take those signs from the back of my house.
I know he's capable of stuff like this...
as I find more and more cases of people Michael's gone after.
There's so much.
Gives me a headache just thinking about the number of
things to chase.
It's like everyone you talk to mentions about five other
people's names and says...
you have to talk to them. And it's, like...
It's, like, get anxiety just thinking about it.
- Hey, Michael. I'm good. I'm good. How are you doing?
- Spending time with Michael is a paradox; on one hand,
it's intriguing and fascinating.
But at the same time his stories are so complex and impenetrable,
I feel like I'm getting a lobotomy.
Everyone I've met talks about this side to him - he wears you
down by talking for hours on end about absolutely nothing.
...and the people would be quite capable...
-Absolutely nothing.
...of taking probably a successful action against me for
asserting them. But in this case, if I was to assert them,
I've got proof. And some of these things...
- You pay a soul tax every minute you spend with
Michael Organ. And when those minutes turn into days and
weeks, months and years...
well, that soul tax adds up.
- And a bottle. Thank you.
- As a film-maker, I'm used to finding amazing subjects,
but this is the opposite. Michael Organ is a black hole,
and I've fallen in.
Cos I- I- like, why...? He's- He's...
- He's what? - Well, I just-
I don't know what to do with him. He's like a void.
- Like... - Like, he, uh...
And I don't know how to express this.
Like, I- I don't know how to... Like, I don't know-
I don't quite understand why he winds me up so much.
Like, I can spend time with, like, a lot of dimwits, and,
like, a lot of people that are boring, but it's, like,
I can't be in the room with him.
I'm trapped. I- It's a weird situation for me,
cos I'm trapped with him. Like, if- if I was in-
in a friendship with him or something, or he was a flatmate,
like these other people who have encountered him,
I'd just leave... - Yeah.
- ...and go on with my life. But I'm literally trapped with him.
Cos I have to- - You just- No, you can't.
- Cos I have to make a film, right?
- Yep. - So there's no out.
Except to spend more time with him,
until something magically happens.
- YEP-
- Well, it's- I feel stupid being so wound up about it.
But it's just, like...
It's what, um...
It's like... A few people have talked to me about this.
They're, like, you think it's gonna be interesting,
but it's just, like, so boring, it drives you insane.
And it's like, I've kind of fucked up in...
like, I feel like I fucked up in, like,
pitching the film in the first place, because it's so...
like, it's so obvious there's nothing there. It's, like,
he's a fuckwit who bores people to death until they, like,
jump off a building.
But now I'm in his world, he just keeps calling me.
And he's back to the yacht case -
the one big court case he's lost, his downfall.
I want, at some stage, to get that, um,
the convictions pertaining to the yacht overturned.
Now, I'll tell you this for a fact -
if I had represented myself in that,
- OK... - Who was your lawyer in that,
um, case again?
- Um...
- YEP-
- So, has he got some sort of disorder,
or is he just a bit out there, or...?
What do you think his deal is?
Cos I've been spending a lot of time with him,
and I cannot make heads or tails of what's going on in his brain.
But, uh...
- So Michael's brother is a real lawyer,
Dean Organ.
I'd actually contacted him when I was trying to find
the fake lawyer - the mysterious MDA Organ.
Back then, Dean hadn't been forthcoming.
And all he said was something like,
'Don't know anything about this.'
It would have been nice if he'd said...
'That's my brother.'
Now I know he's family,
maybe he can provide some insight.
I drive to his office,
which appears to be just his house.
- Oh, hey, Dean. I'm David.
- Yeah.
- OK, I can... I've...
been looking into your brother, Michael, for some time...
- Yeah, no. I understood. Yeah, understood.
- Yeah. I definitely don't wanna create any angst.
- Yeah.
- No, and I certainly don't mean-
- No, no. Cos what I'm trying to do is try and figure out...
- I'm trying to learn about who Michael is, because the effect-
- ...Michael's had on people
over the years is what I'm interested in.
- OK.
- Yeah, I'm with you.
- Well, when I emailed you as a journalist -
I guess my issue was I emailed you saying, you know,
there's an Organ that's saying he's a lawyer; is this you?
And I guess, what would be so helpful at that point,
when I'm looking into something, is for you to go,
'It's not me, but it's my brother,
'and maybe just be wary,' or something, I don't know.
It was just...
- Hello. - Oh, hey. Is that Albert?
- Speaking. - Oh, hey. It's-
My name's David Farrier.
I'm a documentary film-maker based in New Zealand.
How are you? - Fine, thank you.
- Good. Hey, look, it's a...
a bit of an obscure phone call to get out of the blue, but
I've... I'm... I'm making a
documentary about Michael Organ.
- Ah, that'll do, thank you.
- You don't - I'm just trying to...
I'm just trying to figure- - No, thank you, um, I know.
I know your name, and I know your reputation.
And I'll leave it at that. Don't phone here again. Thank you.
- I just wanna try and figure out why your son is doing what
he's doing.
All right. I guess that's a 'no' from the parents.
It's about his brother Michael. It's a weird one.
I'm the guy that was, um... I'm David.
- I was writing about him a
little bit. But I- - Yeah. I don't- Look,
- No, no. And that's totally valid and fair.
And I just wanted to reach out-
- Yeah, she just felt... It didn't feel... She was...
I think she was different to Dean.
She was more, like, just pained by it.
Like, she was just, like, 'Oh, make this go away,'
was kind of her vibe.
And not necessarily to protect the family, but just, like,
kind of got the vibe that Michael had been a real
fucking arsehole or something.
She just felt a bit more damaged.
She didn't feel like she was being devious.
Um...
like, Dean was just straight-up making me the bad guy -
there was none of that from her. She was just, like, 'I think,
'like, oh, this is just awful. You should leave it.'
Yeah.
David, I can't talk now. Can you hear me?
Can you hear me? - I can. I can hear you.
- It's a council-related meeting, so we can't talk.
- Oh. Oh. - So call back after 2.
- OK. I'll call you back after 2.
Um, so if Michael is in a council meeting till 2,
that means Jillian might be home on her own.
So I think it's worth just going over and...
seeing if I can talk to her without Michael there,
which would be... like, a gift.
I think that's it.
Is that the front door?
I guess it is.
Hello!
I wonder if there's any...
No one home.
Hey, Michael.
- Hey, um, you might wanna film me doing this.
I'm just serving you with that. - OK.
- Because I didn't trust you
before, I was going to serve you at the last meeting. You've...
- OK. Oh, so this is a trespass notice for your house.
- I'll explain why to you.
OK?
- Wanted to go and catch up with Jillian.
-You...
— But no one was home, so we left.
- You're actually crossing the line.
Your excuses are that you're
giving us the right to reply.
My reply to you is you can get fucked. OK?
Actually, you are quite- - You know you know we've been
filming this documentary with you.
- You are quite prepared- - And you've been very hot and
cold on it. - You are quite prepared-
- And this is the cold bit. - You are quite prepared to
override...
law...
by committing conversion. As the court said...
- I find it really had to trust anything you tell me, because
even the simplest thing- - I'm not interested, David,
because you're not interested in the truth.
It's shown because of the shit that you misled Parliament with.
-I am.
I didn't mislead Parliament. — You misled Parliament.
- I've got you on camera saying that you were charging $760,
uh, to remove a clamp. I've got footage of you saying that.
You've been continuously telling me that you never said it -
I've got it. - It wasn't for a clamp;
it was for two clamps.
- OK, it was for two clamps; not one clamp - for two.
- Yeah. Yeah, exactly. - Oh, OK.
It's like, I know you stole that yacht, like I know those-
- Well, I didn't. - ...signatures were forged,
and I know you removed the yacht - like, that's a fact.
- Pardon? - Like, you stole that yacht -
like, that's just that a fact,
and so when you're continuously calling me-
- No, I didn't, David.
- It was you, Michael. - It wasn't.
- It was you. Come on. - You can say it as much as...
as you like - it's supposition, and it's false.
- That's all you're doing. I think you go through life
creating your own version of reality continuously.
- No. Unless you are calling a Jillian a liar.
Jillian has stated that- - I'm talking about you.
Before we part ways, do you wanna have a coffee, with just-
a casual coffee and a relax before we take off?
- Ah, yeah. That's fine.
That's fine.
- Let's just have a nice coffee.
What sort of coffee would you like?
- Probably an Irish one after this, but-
Excuse me, just for a moment.
- No, get in there. - Hello. Michael speaking.
- How did you meet Michael? - Pardon?
- How did you meet Michael? - Yes.
- Oh, Michael was a, um,
customer, a client, who came in
to buy antiques in the... in the store.
- Right. - Ah, sorry.
- Sorry-I.
Well, we're just- Could we come down and see you? Is that OK?
- What was your first impression?
- Oh, that he was very knowledgeable.
- OK. Well, that's good. Thank you.
- Very informed buyer.
- Mm. - Mm.
Did you ever lie, Michael, about anything?
- That, um...
is not relevant. Nor is it your business.
- It's pretty relevant. - I would say that that
would be a no. - No, it was pretty relevant.
You're calling other people liars a lot.
You've called me a liar, called a lot of other people liars.
- No, I said you've been dishonest, and that you've-
- Oh Christ. - ...hidden the truth from
people. - Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know. It's just...
I just- You accuse a lot of other people of a lot of things;
that's all. - Oh, if someone testifies
falsely in court, then they're a bloody liar.
- Right. But you've never lied? - And it's evil.
- In what context? - Just in life, you know.
- As I said to you, I'm not answering that;
it's none of... of your business.
- If I'm totally honest with you, Michael...
- You're sounding like you're a little bit piqued.
- I find it, like...
It- It's frustrating...
spending all this time with you,
because you do,
continuously...
lie... about everything.
- No. - And I mean everything.
I haven't been around someone like you before,
that does continuously lie. - What are you wanting me to do?
Are you wanting me to say I stole a yacht,
when I didn't steal a yacht?
- Is there anything else, Jillian, you wanted to add,
to any of this discussion? — Well, I can't think, really.
- Well, could I ever talk to you,
just on your own, just to get your take on everything?
- Well, not at the moment. I can't...
- Cos I feel I've talked to Michael a lot,
but I'd love to talk to you at some point, um...
if you're open to that.
- Well, not at the moment. Not today. It's all too much today.
- Yeah.
- The, um... If you want to sometime,
that would be really neat. - Mm.
- I've heard from a lot of people that you've come into
contact with over the years, that you have...
moved in on, in a fairly
systematic way to,
sort of, ingratiate yourself into their- their lives.
And... I think you've- - What a load of codswallop!
- I think you've left people behind who are, um,
incredibly damaged.
- Oh, what a load of rubbish!
- Who are these people? - And who are...?
It's absolute twaddle.
Rubbish. Absolute rubbish...
you know? - Someone like Brent Lewis.
Do you- Do you know Brent Lewis?
He owned- owned a bookstore, Nostromo Books.
- He was a very good friend of...
of ours.
- Yeah, right. Right, right, right. I'm with you.
- Right. Right, right, right.
- Yeah, yeah. I'm with you.
- Right. So that's where he met Organ?
- Yeah. Yep.
- The story, as I recall it, um,
was that...
Brent had been given... I think it was a model yacht...
to put on display in his shop window. And, uh,
Michael Organ then had taken a complaint to the police
that Brent had stolen it. Now, I know Brent -
Brent didn't steal anything. You know?
Um, he was totally honest.
Uh, and it was causing him
real anxiety.
- I think, Michael Organ - he...
accused him of...
stealing some model boat;
it arose out of something as simple as that.
And he accused Brent, and he worked on him
psychologically.
He was very fearful of him -
he was fearful. He thought that he would...
that he would cause him some harm;
get at him some way
and cause him harm.
It's really all I can say about it, I think.
Mm. - Was there anything,
any friends could do around him? Like, what was your...
what was your take that you could sort of do, you know?
Cos it's hard to know how to deal with someone
when they're scared of something,
and you really don't know whether that's...
- valid or not. - Well, it was...
It had to be valid, because he...
he felt it.
- I just remember the...
the haunted look in Brent's eyes when he-
when he talked about this. Nothing like this had happened
to him before. He was on medication to deal with it.
Uh, but for reasons that we don't clearly understand -
one night, um, I remember it,
back in 2009. I'd seen him just a week earlier;
He was staying in a flat on Symonds St,
on the seventh floor.
And he went on to the balcony and jumped off,
and that's how he lost his life.
I remember sadly looking at the...
the hollow in the ground that had been left by the impact of
his body when he jumped...
and just the overwhelming feeling, 'Brent,
'what was in your head that things had become so bad,
'that you thought you had to do this?'
Now, in his bookshop,
- Watching Organ being talked about at Brent's funeral is
surreal; this whole story I've just been told is surreal.
That Organ accused Brent of the crime he himself had carried
out - stealing a yacht.
It seems almost poetic, in a way.
But it's not poetic. It's horrible.
- And I just think it's to do with Michael Organ's...
uh, psychological interest
in manipulating Brent,
because he saw him as a ready victim.
And he got into Brent's mind
and, to a degree, dominated him.
- The Germans have that term, you know, dark mind, that, uh,
people get a satisfaction from spreading misery or seeing,
um...
um, somebody...
in some form of...
what they see is crisis or whatever.
- Oh, that sounds awful. Yeah.
'Suddenly, all the conversations I've had with Michael
'start to make sense.'
— Sometimes people, when you know them,
or they get close to you,
or in your circle through other people you know
may actually be-
I don't use the term wolves in sheep's clothing,
but that's what they can actually be.
You know, they can even sit there, they can eat your food,
they can sit at the table with you, share your wine...
they can smile when they greet you - they can...
all those things. - These people are amongst us.
- And at the end of the day, there is that side...
to some people.
- For years, I've been trying to get Michael Organ to tell
me who's behind all the crazy stuff I've been discovering.
- And I, to this day,
do not know what the name of that man is.
But if I was lined up, I could pick him out of any crowd.
If I told you what the person looked like and how he spoke,
um, then you would be able to ascertain who it was,
I would think.
- Of course I could, because I think they're all him.
It's my theory that anyone Michael doesn't name
is himself.
- The person who provided that key...
um, would expect confidentiality.
It wasn't promised them, but they'd expect it.
And they're not the kinds of people you wanna cross.
- He knew who stole my key,
the same way he knew who sent those legal threats
from Jillian's email account.
- Urn, you may have an inkling who it is. But that...
- No, I don't. - ...I'LL disclose later.
- 'And Michael gets very specific,
'telling me the person who set him up spelled his name wrong.'
- A tell with it was that what was written...
um, one of the things that was written,
someone spelled my name wrong -
I think they put E-A-L instead of A-E-L.
- But Michael's been signing his own name like this for decades.
And, of course, Michael Organ had told me
he knew who'd harassed Brent Lewis;
it was someone who sounded very familiar.
- And it was very strange, because there was a lawyer -
all I remember's he said he was a lawyer - I never had his name.
And... he started
becoming involved in doing this weird stuff with Brett,
and...
when I first saw him, he was quite disheveled -
and not that lawyers can't be disheveled - but I thought,
'Is this guy actually a lawyer?' And I thought at the time,
he seemed very dodgy.
- So, who is this guy, this disheveled guy?
- I don't know his name. Never knew his name.
- 'Even in our very last meeting,
'he started making allegations about someone else.'
- The police referred to him as predatory.
So as soon as I heard that, I thought, 'That's it.'
- Right.
We don't do predatory.
I wonder who we're talking about, eh?
Because you and I know we both know who we're talking about.
- I've got a suspicion of who we're talking about.
Yes.
- I thought all my time with Michael had been wasted,
that I'd learned nothing. But the truth is,
Michael had been telling me about himself
from the first day I met him.
He's a man almost detached from his own body;
occupying this unique place in society,
free from consequence, free from the law -
free to do whatever he wants to people.
I've been trespassed from all Michael's properties now - well,
his and Jillian's. Their house, the bank -
it's all off-limits.
But there's one place I can go;
another place Michael lived,
up until a few months ago.
While I'll never understand Michael's mind,
maybe this place will provide answers.
Kingseat was an old psychiatric hospital,
originally opening back in 1932.
Patients would later complain of abuse, tiny locked rooms,
deadbolts on the doors, physical and mental torture.
It shut down in 1999.
But some people still choose to live out here —
cheap rent, sprawling grounds.
Michael lived in one of the old psychiatric wards.
I wonder what he left behind...
who he left behind.
- Yeah, well, see, he had most of this whole interior
of the villa to himself, cos he was the...
head tenant. So he was letting out rooms to people,
getting them in to rent and that.
So...
this is, sort of, where the foyer is, urn, yes.
- This is all- It's a big place. - Yeah. Well,
they had a lot of people here at once, you know - they'd have
50 to a hundred people. They'd bring them in here
when they were running the mental hospital.
- So, where did he used to live? Where was his room?
- This is upstairs. We'll go upstairs and have a look.
I'll show you where he had his bedroom and their kitchen
and their lounge and that sort of thing. But he used to like to
spend most of his time dwelling around other people's areas -
being a parasite, he would come into their area.
It's been tidied up a lot. A bloody mess of a pigsty he had.
Yeah.
- You know, he poisoned me off.
He left me angry and crazy in the head.
That's what- That's his trademark.
You know? Soften them up, poison them off,
and then shoot them down in flames.
That's all you are. - And what do you mean by
poisoning people off? - What he does, he tries to get
inside their head and psycho-dysfunctional-ise them -
muck them up and dull them down and try and give them- you know,
stun them and turn them into a zombie, and then he...
- Ah. See,
I've been filming with him over the last couple of years,
and I've been feeling elements of that.
Like, it's hard to explain to people why you get that way.
But it's like he does- Yeah. - And that's what he does -
he just victimizes people; that's all he's all about.
Just crushes and chews and shits on people as he goes, basically.
- Mm.
- He wanted me to go and move down to, um, Whanganui with him-
- Did he? - ...and live there with him.
Yeah, he was trying to talk me into leaving here
and going and moving with him to Whanganui.
You may as well jump out the bloody window -
be better off. Hopefully you'd break your legs or your neck,
and you'd be dead; rather than go with him.
You'd end up dead anyway.
Cos he used to come in my room quite a bit. He loves to go
round when you're in bed asleep and get in your room.
- Jesus. - He's got this really...
He's got this really sort of weird,
sneaky, creepy thing.
- God, it's a certain vibe, isn't it?
Cos he... Yeah, he, um... sort of, long, very boring story,
but when the shop closed down,
I took some old signs that were by the bin,
and then he accused me of stealing them.
- That'd be about right.
- And then I was gonna give them back to him, and they
disappeared overnight from where I had them under my house.
- Yeah, he would have gone and taken them.
You live in, is it, um, Ponsonby?
- I'm in Ponsonby. — Yeah, yeah.
He's been round your house, sneaking round your house.
- How... How do you know that? - He prowls.
He goes and prowls and lurks after people -
that's what he does. He goes and he... Yeah.
Yeah, he goes round people's houses and that
and spies on them and that.
- So, how did you know that he'd been to my house?
- Cos he's talked all about you and said that he's on to you.
- Oh! Fucking hell. - Yeah.
And he's been going round. Apparently,
he's even got a key to your house. He's got a hold of it.
- Yeah, he does - he does have a key to my house.
- Yeah. Yes. That's actually illegal.
- How? But-
- He's not supposed to be doing that,
cos it's your house and your property.
- So he openly talks about this? - Yes.
He just- In his head, he gets delusions
about making victims out of people.
And once he gets the idea in his head about,
you know, he's going to go and go for someone,
or go after someone, that's the end of it.
What do you do? - Well, that's the thing -
what do you do? - Well, he needs- See,
in the old days, they sent people to places like that,
like here. And what they've clone now is
they just chuck them into the street.
- But he weirdly ended up here anyway.
But it's not a mental institution.
- Yeah, well, 20 years too late,
cos the doctors and the nurses aren't here any more.
But he could fill this place up on his own. Oh yeah. Yeah,
you just get him to go round the general population,
he could make plenty of, um, customers for this place.
Poisoning people off, making people mental, crazy,
destabilizing people — that's his function.
Yeah.
Fuck.
- He makes up so much muck about people,
like you're some evil person.
- Yep. Yeah. - Um, 'Oh, there's this bastard
'who's going round making this documentary about me.'
And on one sort of hand, you can, sort of, see that
he's loving it and he's getting his euphoric pleasure from it.
But the same time, it's bugging him or biting at him as well...
- Yeah. - ...uh, psychologically,
because it's the truth that really he's a bastard,
and he's gone round just poisoning the world off
and leaving everybody in a wake of destructive mess
that he leaves behind with everybody afterwards.
That's all he does. - Yeah. Yeah.
- It just adds up.
- Well, what his... Like I said, it's just what he did.
His whole life, he'll just spend expanding,
continuously goes along just getting people
and just trying to poison them off. That's what he does.
Possibly he's an evil spirit -
that's why he runs the way he does.
- Wonder where Michael will end up.
- Um, if he went down to hell... - Mm.
- ...Satan would be up banging on the door, asking God,
'Oh, please get me away from Michael.'
You have crossed the line,
in terms of civil threshold.
OK. The way you were speaking and making hateful comments,
your body language and your voice tone -
your voice tone come through, but your body language,
I mean... - OK.
- OK? - OK. Bye, Mike.
- See ya.
- So I just have...