How Colin McLaren infiltrated Calabrian mafia and did drugs in Australia as an undercover cop

An ex-undercover cop has opened up about his toughest day trying to infiltrate the criminal underworld, revealing that he almost blew his cover when he was on a light plane with mob bosses and was forced to listen to them ‘brag’ about killing one of their number. his colleagues.

Colin McLaren, who was trying to open the Australian branch of the Calabrian mafia in 1994, was about to board a flight to Weipa in far north Queensland to confirm the arrival of a large cocaine deal.

It was then that Mr. McLaren heard the news that a colleague, Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen, had been killed in the bombing of the National Crime Authority office in Adelaide.

Lawyer Peter Wallis also lost an eye in the 1994 explosion.

Mr McLaren had to endure a long plane flight with criminals ‘bragging’ about the death of Geoffrey Bowen

“I was on the plane with two mob bosses and they were bragging about the bomb that went off in Adelaide and blew up the NCA building and killed a policeman,” McLaren told the outlet. Kyle and Jackie O show.

To avoid arousing suspicion, Mr. McLaren had to joke along with his sick celebrations about killing cops.

It was one of the hardest things he ever did.

“They’re bragging about it… I just wanted to pull out my gun and shoot them or throw them off the plane.”

‘I had to put up with his bull *** tough guy stuff and his swagger. But your training kicks in and you say to yourself “let’s get these bastards”.

McLaren’s undercover work was instrumental in obtaining enough evidence to jail 11 mob bosses for up to 13 years each for major drug trafficking and extortion.

For this reason, McLaren said that he will always be looking over his shoulder and worried about the mafia or gangs seeking revenge.

Undercover officers are legally allowed to take cocaine in the course of their work.

The attack on the National Crime Authority (in the photo) in 1994. Six gangsters were convicted

Mr. McLaren was handpicked by senior Victoria Police officers for undercover work and in his early days practiced catching minor drug dealers in the back rooms of Melbourne pubs.

McLaren said the first step in infiltrating the Australian mob was to create an identity criminals could believe.

Thus he became Cole Goodwin, a dodgy Melbourne art dealer who wanted to buy a kilo of cocaine to sell to his clients.

But to establish a good relationship with lifelong criminals, it was necessary to act like them.

That meant doing drugs and occasionally seeing prostitutes.

Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen (pictured) was killed in the bombing raid and suffered horrific injuries from the blast.

Dominic Perre (pictured being led by a prison guard) was found guilty of the bombing of the National Crime Authority.

He received guidance from police psychologists and doctors on what to expect and how to deal with drugs.

Her training taught her ways to try to avoid drug use, for example by suggesting to parties in a drug deal that they “move on” rather than sit around taking drugs.

“But if you’re Johnny on the spot and you’re in the Hells Angels clubhouse and they want to throw you a line or expect you to snort some speed or smoke some skunk, you’ve got to do it.

‘[Undercover police] you’re allowed to do it, you’re protected by law to do it.’

McLaren and his sidekick, posing as drug buyers, stayed with two prostitutes for the night from the Griffith mob, who wanted the women to find out if they were rich enough to complete the deal and if they respected their hosts.

While the young women joked about their ‘wog’ bosses to provoke a response, McLaren came forward and disagreed, saying he considered mob men ‘great friends’.

McLaren wasn’t just trained to drink and deal with drugs.

For other research he was taught to make them as well.

While on the trail of the NCA bombing, forensic experts discovered that a chemical residue from the crime scene was also present in the homemade amphetamines.

So for five weeks, Mr. McLaren and his team were trained to cook fast in ‘a world first’.

“Then we introduced ourselves as speed cooks in Adelaide,” he said.

His work also helped put six other mob members behind bars in connection with the NCA bombing.

The attacker, Dominic Perre, was charged with murder shortly after the attack, but the case against him was dropped six months later for lack of evidence.

He was arrested again in 2018 and in 2022, found guilty of murder and attempted murder.

McLaren began writing books about his three years as an undercover cop, and in 2011 one was turned into a four-hour TV movie, Underbelly Files: Infiltration.

In January he launched a podcast, The Sting.