41 episodes
Unravel ABC listen
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- True Crime
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4.7 • 633 Ratings
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Chinese restaurants are being firebombed in the dead of night. The police arson squad is racing against the clock to stop the next attack. Along the way, there are buried weapons, secret informers, punks, ninjas, and political manoeuvres. As the rest of Australia celebrates the nation's bicentenary, a campaign of terror is getting underway in Perth. Now, in this deeply personal season of Unravel True Crime, Crispian Chan investigates what really happened after his family's restaurant went up in flames
Unravel True Crime is the ABC's award-winning true crime podcast. Previous seasons include 'Blood on the Tracks', 'Barrenjoey Road', 'Last Seen: Katoomba' and 'Snowball'..
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01 | The Man Lin
Chinese restaurants are being firebombed in the dead of night. As the attacks spread, police scramble to work out what is happening in the city.
In this episode of Firebomb, host Crispian Chan sets out to investigate the events surrounding the fire that destroyed his family's restaurant. -
02 | The Posters
The city has been blanketed in threatening posters. The list of suspects narrows as the fire bombers' potential motivations become clearer.
In this episode of Unravel True Crime, Police become suspicious of a hardened and fanatical group of neo-Nazi activists, who are thumbing their nose at law enforcement and threatening Asian communities in Perth. -
03 | Punks and Ninjas
As police struggle to keep up with a wave of terrorism, unlikely defenders emerge to confront the city's gangs.
In this episode of Unravel True Crime, activists are badly beaten, and the neo-Nazi gang is starting to push its luck, but the police still can't nail anyone over the restaurant firebombings. -
04 | Operation Jackhammer
A risky undercover operation strikes at the heart of the firebombing gang. But in this episode of Unravel True Crime, hatred reverberates around the city, and lives are lost.
(Audio of Russell Willey courtesy of Anthony Buckley AM, from the film ‘Nazi Supergrass’) -
05 | The Gang Rises
A decade later, the gang reemerges. In this episode of Unravel True Crime, Crispian and Alex come face to face with a former follower of the gang at a men's health and yoga retreat, sparking a bizarre and emotional reckoning.
More Information
Host and co-reporter: Crispian Chan
Co-reporter: Alex Mann
Producer and researcher: Dunja Karagic
Research and fact checking: Johnny Lieu
Rollout producer: Amelia Mertha
Theme and music composition: Martin Peralta
Sound design and additional music: Simon Branthwaite
Commissioning editor: Alice Brennan
Executive Producer: Tim Roxburgh -
06 | Track Jack
Crispian and Alex hit the road to track down the gang's leader, Jack Van Tongeren. It turns out that Jack's past contains some big surprises. Meanwhile, in this episode of Unravel True Crime a former member of the gang reveals its secrets.
Customer Reviews
Psychological insight
Ollie had extraordinary psychological insight into Leslie. This was an engine that powered the podcast. But it also had a family element that is unusual. The final words from Greg are moving. I learned something about myself from this podcast.
Well Crafted Family Vendetta
The narrator’s family entered into a bad business deal, and has used ABC as a weapon against the woman they blame, as well as her parents. The patriarch of the aggrieved family admits to hacking into the alleged perp’s email account. Rather than saving screenshots (which could imply some level of authenticity), he chose to copy/paste text from this account as well as other email accounts that he claimed to have hacked. The narrator accepts his father’s account without question. It is most likely that the father, clearly obsessed with his misfortune, fabricated his copy / pasted email evidence. While I don’t question that the family felt victimized, this is an extreme example of someone with an agenda spinning a self-serving, one-sided story. There is no evidence that the woman they blame ever made any money from her “scam”. In fact the podcast offers nothing resembling evidence for any of their accusations.
Great Reporting!
Really important story that people need to hear and the reporting and production are very well done!