Real Crime with Adam Shand

In the 1970s and ’80s, Victoria was in the grip of an armed robbery epidemic. Banks, newsagents and small businesses were hit daily. Gunmen didn’t hesitate. Police were targets. And the Armed Robbery Squad was on the front line.
In this episode of Real Crime, Adam Shand sits down with former Victoria Police detective Rod Porter, a proud member of the Armed Robbery Squad during its most violent era.
Rod takes us inside a time when policing was raw, relentless and often deadly. He recounts the 1987 fatal shooting of prolific heroin-fuelled robber Mark Milano — a split-second decision that would haunt him for decades. He describes the surreal seconds after shots are fired, the trauma of facing a coroner’s inquest and the personal toll that high-stakes policing took on his marriage and family life.
He also speaks candidly about handling one of Australia’s most infamous criminals — Mark “Chopper” Read — who became his informer before the notorious Bojangles nightclub murder. The relationship would drag Rod into controversy and scrutiny, adding yet another layer of pressure to an already dangerous career.

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The disappearance of three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer from Fairy Meadow Beach in 1970 has haunted Australia for more than five decades. But the impact of that crime didn’t stop on the sand dunes that day — it rippled through generations of one family.
In this episode of Real Crime, Adam Shand speaks with Melanie Grimmer, Cheryl’s niece and the daughter of Cheryl’s brother, Ricky. Melanie shares what it’s like to grow up in the long shadow of an unresolved crime — carrying inherited guilt, fear, anger and grief for an aunt she never knew.
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On July 28, 1992, a meticulously planned armed robbery at Melbourne Airport ended in bloodshed.More than a million dollars was stolen from an Ansett Freight terminal — but the gang never made their escape.
In this episode of Real Crime with Adam Shand, Adam speaks exclusively with Steve Barci, the third member of the crew — a seasoned armed robber who has never spoken publicly about the crime until now. But this conversation goes far deeper than the robbery itself. Barci breaks his silence to defend Normie Lee’s legacy, responding to recent media claims linking Lee to the infamous Mr Cruel child abductions.
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Between the ages of 13 and 27, Dean King didn’t spend a single full year out of jail. A hardened criminal shaped by violence, addiction and the prison system, he was destined to die behind bars — until one explosive moment in rehab changed everything.
Dean recounts the day the floodgates finally opened, forcing him to confront decades of buried pain — a turning point that led him away from crime and into an extraordinary second life. Today, Dean is a successful businessman, author of King Hit and a living example of what radical self-accountability can achieve.
Get Dean King's "King Hit" book here:
https://www.kinghitbook.com/
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In this episode of Real Crime with Adam Shand, Adam sits down with Lewis Mbwela, an Iboga practitioner trained in the traditional West African medicine used for centuries by the Bwiti people. Unlike clinical Ibogaine treatments now appearing in the West, this experience involves the full Iboga root — a powerful plant medicine said to confront trauma at its source.
What begins as an observational journey becomes personal when Adam decides to undergo the treatment himself. He shares his unfiltered experience, the physical and psychological effects, and what he witnessed among Australian Special Forces veterans struggling to come home from war.
Learn more about Lewis here: https://www.instagram.com/ibogazw?igsh=MWViMWt5dndmYnpiMQ==
Lewis 'Mbela Badiango' talks IBOGA Plant Medicine
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