Colin McLaren

Colin McLaren is an Australian documentary film maker, crime writer and former police detective sergeant and task force team leader. A feature length telemovie about his life by Underbelly Productions, starring Sullivan Stapleton in the title role, aired in 2011 in Australia and other territories.

The major phase of McLaren's real life police career took place during the 1980s and 1990s. McLaren rose through the police ranks rapidly and when asked to join an elite covert surveillance unit, he began spying on drug importers and the ringleaders of organised crime, before going undercover and organising covert stings. As a member of some of the most high-profile task forces in Australia, McLaren, as a suit and tie detective, worked on the Walsh Street murders of police constables Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre, the Mr Cruel child rapes and the murder of thirteen-year-old Karmein Chan, and the bombing of the Adelaide NCA police headquarters where he was task force leader. McLaren then went undercover, where for two years he infiltrated Australia's mafia in the guise of a money laundering art dealer, in what is still the largest undercover sting in Australian history. Eleven Mafia bosses received sentences of up to 13 years each for major drug trafficking and racketeering. He also went undercover for another year to gain evidence on the Mafia responsible for the NCA bombing. Six mafia were jailed. He ended his police career as a permanent lecturer at the detective training school, his subject was 'crime scene management' and 'field investigations'.

After leaving police work, he developed his interest in Italian style gourmet food and wine, designing the Italian villa 'Villa Gusto' in the countryside in north-east Victoria, Australia.

It was during 2005 that Colin discovered that he could write. He commenced on his first, (best selling) book straight away. He has now penned 5 books to date. McLaren's first book, Infiltration, is the true story of his efforts as a suit and tie detective and the undercover agent who infiltrated the Mafia. McLaren followed this up with On the Run, a novel that details the exploits of Cole Goodwin, McLaren's real-life Mafia alias, which has been adapted to a screenplay. The story picks up with the Mafia sending a hit-man after Cole and his undercover girlfriend, Jude. Cole escapes a hit and goes 'on the run' with the assassin in pursuit; through South America, New York and eventually throughout Italy. The plot follows a massive drug importation as well and culminates with a face-off between the assassin and Cole, in the Mafia-controlled mountains of southern Italy.

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Wikipedia