Matthew Charles Johnson, the man who killed gang member Carl Williams, is considered one of Australia’s most dangerous men.
But he also wrote to John Silvester regularly to criticize his news stories, in the form of poetry.
In one that Johnson titled ‘Condemned’, which Silvester shares on the latest episode of the Naked City podcastJohnson writes of being “thrown to the wolves” in the Williams murder case.
Another poem mocked a TV show Under the stomach for how it showed “Fat Boy” Carl Williams eating buckets of fried chicken.
“Justice Betty King, who, as a prosecutor and judge, dealt with all the underworld people, said ‘only one person ever scared me, and that was Matty Johnson’,” Silvester says on the podcast.
“Johnson had 150 convictions as a youth. He was in adult prison at a very young age. To give you an idea – and he was acquitted of this offense – it was alleged that he killed a man by cutting them open, poured gasoline over his body and mouth, set him on fire, and this was over a $20 drug debt.”
In this special period of naked city, the host is Tammy Mills and is only available to subscribers, crime reporter John Sylvester answers questions asked by readers and listeners. Several questions were about Silvester’s relationship with Mark Brandon aka Chopper Read.
Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player below, or read on for another edited excerpt of the episode.
Read was a kind and brutal killer, who became famous in the world because of the movie about him, in which he was played by the Australian actor Eric Bana.
And it was Silvester, and co-author Andrew Rule, who shot to fame when they turned Read’s prison letters into a series of best-selling books.
Mills: One of the first questions from your listeners and readers came from Adam Jones. He wanted to know, “Your old friend Chopper was responsible for the murder of Sidney Collins. After just reading one of Chopper’s books, he denies that he did it (it’s not unlike a criminal to lie!) . I’d like to know your opinion on it.”
New Year’s Eve: He protested his innocence, but when he was terminally ill, Mark gave his last interview, which was a paid interview, and Mark, who was always worth money, confessed to Collins’ murder to give the media a headline.
Mills: Nick asks, ‘Did you ever worry about developing first-name relationships with criminals during your career (like Chopper?)’ Where did you draw the line between getting the access you needed to do your job and being too close for comfort?’
New Year’s Eve: “I would try to remind myself, if this phone was tapped and a transcript was produced and I testified in the Supreme Court, would I be embarrassed? And you have to understand that there are very clever people in the underworld who would befriend the press for a number of reasons.
“One is don’t underestimate how much people like to have their names written in the paper, and there were fraudsters who saw the need for their fame to be known by the general public.
“There are some who see journalists as a resource, so they cannot get information from the police, but they know that a certain reporter can know things, so they are able to speak without saying anything while asking questions about the investigation.
“And we know, from the phone taps, that there have been some reporters who were thoroughly investigated for conspiracy to discredit. In the calls they looked like, you know, let’s just say they weren’t professional.”
John Sylvester is a columnist Age. He has covered Melbourne’s crime and justice system since the 1970s, winning numerous awards, including three Walkley Awards and six Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards. He has written or co-authored more than 30 books, including Under the stomach series, which was made into a TV series.
Get on the seventh season of the crime podcast City Nakedwhere Silvester talks to the police and criminals.
Tammy Mills is the head of advertising for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Tammy worked for over a decade in crime, court and legal reporting.Connect through X, Facebook or email address.
