Carl Williams

Barwon Prison's maximum security unit, 19 April 2010: Carl Williams is beaten to death with the stem of an exercise bike by a fellow inmate. And so, the last moments of this convicted contract killer and key figure in the Melbourne underworld echoed the rest of his life: violent, chilling, brutal.

Bestselling author Adam Shand takes us into the world of Carl Williams, dealing with the family background that created Carl and his brother Shane. This book recreates the earlier generation when the path of the Williams family was set. It deals with the class system that operated in the underworld which regarded Carl, George and Shane as nobodies. It delves into how the big money in drugs destroyed the hierarchy and 'democratised' the criminal underworld, allowing the rise and rise of Carl Williams.

From Williams' early forays into the drug trade, the gunshot wound to the stomach that sparked a bloody gangland war, through to the car-crash fascination of his relationship with Roberta, Shand shows us the man behind the sly grin, and examines how and why he met his grisly end.