This film ends on a grim conclusion by a reporter from the Melbourne Herald Sun that the Calabrian mafia are too sophisticated for the Australian law agencies to cope with. When we see a block of cocaine hidden inside a bible, ending up in Austria by mistake, we wonder who might be the stupider.
We all know that the old mafia loyalists, not able to think far beyond their village, are dying out in favour of a more cosmopolitan breed. But in any case, stupidity is not really the issue. It's to do with levels of corruption, tending to vary, year on year, depending how many police, customs men or politicians are currently on the take. This shows up in odd ways, for example one drug profiteer being invested with the Order of Australia, and another one excused from giving evidence after claiming that he had shot himself in the back of the knee.
The town of Griffith, New South Wales, is the traditional mafia capital, surrounded by well-irrigated land equally suitable for growing cannabis and the fruit and vegetables which have been mafia-controlled for generations. A plucky fruit distributor, receiving the offer he can't refuse, manages to bluff his way out of it, but this is a rare victory for the law. More often, they depend on luck. Like that block of cocaine finding its way back from Austria - it's been missing for so long that it's panicked the mob into careless phone dialogue, leading to major arrests. And when a desperate mother decides to snatch a new-born baby, she little realizes that it's the daughter of a mafia boss, who is now tempted into the open, and soon led away in chains.
Luck, too, must have been behind their locating of 30,000 cannabis plants hidden in a vast jungle, which are promptly cut down and burnt. Watching that smoke rising, I wondered how many of those cops might have been tempted to take the odd sniff!
We all know that the old mafia loyalists, not able to think far beyond their village, are dying out in favour of a more cosmopolitan breed. But in any case, stupidity is not really the issue. It's to do with levels of corruption, tending to vary, year on year, depending how many police, customs men or politicians are currently on the take. This shows up in odd ways, for example one drug profiteer being invested with the Order of Australia, and another one excused from giving evidence after claiming that he had shot himself in the back of the knee.
The town of Griffith, New South Wales, is the traditional mafia capital, surrounded by well-irrigated land equally suitable for growing cannabis and the fruit and vegetables which have been mafia-controlled for generations. A plucky fruit distributor, receiving the offer he can't refuse, manages to bluff his way out of it, but this is a rare victory for the law. More often, they depend on luck. Like that block of cocaine finding its way back from Austria - it's been missing for so long that it's panicked the mob into careless phone dialogue, leading to major arrests. And when a desperate mother decides to snatch a new-born baby, she little realizes that it's the daughter of a mafia boss, who is now tempted into the open, and soon led away in chains.
Luck, too, must have been behind their locating of 30,000 cannabis plants hidden in a vast jungle, which are promptly cut down and burnt. Watching that smoke rising, I wondered how many of those cops might have been tempted to take the odd sniff!