The Perth Mint Swindle is the popular name for the robbery of 49 gold bars weighing 68 kg from the Perth Mint in Western Australia on 22 June, 1982. The bullion was valued at A$653,000 at that time (2011:$2.02 million). As of 8 January 2018, the value of the 68 kilograms of gold would approach AUD $3.7 Million.

According to police at the time, three brothers, Ray, Peter and Brian Mickelberg, orchestrated the robbery. The three went to trial and were found guilty of the conspiracy and sentenced in 1983 to twenty, sixteen and twelve years in jail respectively.

All three convictions were overturned in 2004. To date the case remains unsolved and continues to be fought by the Mickelbergs who maintain their innocence and allege a conspiracy by the Western Australia Police to frame them.

Note: Some Information on the Perth Mint Swindle not mentioned in Wikipedia

The Late and former Detective-Sergeant Don Hancock, who was later promoted to head of the State Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB)
came around to a person's apartment in Perth ( before the police tried to frame the Mickelbergs) at 6 am a few days after the 22nd June, 1982 with two car loads of detectives, to search this person's house and take him away to try and frame him for the Perth Mint Swindle. Because it seemed that it would be too difficult to frame this person for the Perth Mint Swindle, the WA Police headed by Late and former Detective-Sergeant Don Hancock, decided that the Mickelberg brothers were easier to frame for the Perth Mint Swindle, for a number of reasons. The full story is being published in a new book called..
The Dark Secrets in the History of Perth, Western Australia (The Untold Story).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Mint_Swindle

Mickelberg Brothers

Soon after the robbery police investigations focused on the Mickelberg brothers. According to the police, the brothers stole cheques from a Perth building society and then fooled the mint into accepting those cheques in exchange for gold bullion which, it was alleged, the brothers had a courier pick up.  The gold was picked up by a security company who delivered it to an office in Perth and then to Jandakot Airport, from where it seemingly disappeared.

In a separate matter, in September 1982, the three brothers, their parents and another man Brian Pozzi were charged over a matter relating to a manufactured gold nugget known as the "Yellow Rose of Texas". Perth Businessman Alan Bond had purchased the nugget for $350,000 in November 1980. It was later found to be worth less than $150,000 and Raymond Mickelberg and Brian Pozzi pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to fraud at their June 1984 trial.

After serving nine months of his jail term and having his conviction overturned on appeal, Brian was released from jail but died in a light aircraft crash on 27 February 1986, when the twin-engined Aero Commander he was flying ran out of fuel near Canning Dam on the outskirts of Perth. Whilst in prison, Ray and Peter embarked on a series of seven appeals against their convictions, essentially on the grounds that their confessions had been fabricated by police investigators. Ray and Peter served eight and six years of their sentences respectively before being released on parole.

In 1989, 55 kg of gold pellets, said to have been from the swindle, were found outside the gates of TVW-7 (currently Channel Seven Perth), a Perth television station, with an anonymous note addressed to one of the station's reporters—Alison Fan—protesting the Mickelberg's innocence and claiming that a prominent Perth businessman was behind the swindle

Police Officers

Don Hancock

The senior investigating officer in the case was Detective-Sergeant Don Hancock who was later promoted to head of the State Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). Hancock and a friend, Lou Lewis, died in a bomb explosion outside Hancock's home in Lathlain in September 2001. Hancock was murdered by Gypsy Joker Sid Reid in revenge for the murder of Billy Grierson, allegedly by Hancock after Grierson "made obscene comments in front of his daughter." A subsequent (2003) prosecution of an alleged accomplice was unsuccessful. 

At the 2006 inquest into the October 2000 shooting death Billy Grierson, the coroner stated: "There is a significant body of evidence which suggests Mr Hancock may have been the shooter," but the Gypsy Jokers "could have a large number of enemies." he was unable to determine who Grierson's killer was because Hancock was now dead, police had failed to conduct routine forensic science tests and had failed to search Hancock's home. The relevant senior investigating officer was Kim Gage, head of Kalgoorlie detectives, who had reportedly spent the day drinking with Hancock and others. Reid was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in jail which was reduced to 15 years for helping police in the failed second prosecution.

Tony Lewandowski

In 2002, midway through a State Royal Commission into police corruption, a retired police officer, Tony Lewandowski, who had been at the centre of the case, made a confession of his involvement in fabricating evidence which was used to help frame the brothers. Lewandowski's senior officer during the investigation was Don Hancock. The two were the only people present at the brothers' interviews following the Mickelberg arrests. 

"(On that day), Don Hancock came into the room and told me to make Peter strip naked. Don then went up to Peter and gave him two or three quick punches in the solar plexus. The statements purportedly taken from Peter Mickelberg on July 26, 1982, were in fact not taken in Peter's presence that day, but were a fabrication made by Don Hancock and myself shortly after September 2, 1982. I gave evidence at the trial and numerous appeals. All that evidence in relation to the so-called confessions was false." —Statement of Tony Lewandowski

Lewandowski was subsequently charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, making false statements, fabricating evidence and perjury.  In May 2004, just before facing trial, Lewandowski apparently committed suicide,  but there has been some speculation as to whether or not that may have been staged to cover his murder.  Although now dead, Lewandowski's confession directly implicated Hancock in fabricating evidence in the Mickelberg case. 

Convictions Quashed

In July 2004 the Western Australian Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the brothers' convictions after seven unsuccessful attempts. The judge ruled that with the suppression of their sentence, they were entitled to a presumption of innocence. The Assistant Police Commissioner, Mel Hay, expressed disappointment with the decision which prompted a threat of a defamation lawsuit from the brothers. The brothers subsequently sued the Western Australian government for libel, and as part of the settlement, the West Australian police issued a public apology in December 2007.[10]

After lodging claims for compensation, in January 2008 State Attorney-General Jim McGinty offered $500,000 in ex-gratia payments to each brother for the "injustice done to them".  The payment followed $658,672 paid to cover legal costs of their two appeals. The Mickelbergs' lawyer had asked for $950,000 in compensation for Ray and $750,000 for Peter.

Books on the Case

Author Avon Lovell wrote a book about the case in 1985: The Mickelberg Stitch, which alleged questionable investigation practices by the police, including production of unsigned confessions and a forged fingerprint.  The police union collected a levy of $1 per week from each member to fund legal action against Lovell and his publishers and distributors to suppress publication of the book. It was estimated that between one and two million dollars was raised. The book was banned by the State Government, but was still freely available to be read at the J S Battye Library. The ban was eventually lifted.

A second book by Lovell, Split Image, was published in 1990  and met a similar fate to the first. This ban was also lifted later.

In March 2011, Lovell launched a third book on the case, Litany of Lies,  at about the same time that Antonio Buti wrote on the subject.

In Popular Culture

Two telemovies based on the swindle have been made.

• The Great Gold Swindle (1984), directed by John Power and written by David White; featuring John Hargreaves (Ray Mickelberg), Tony Rickards (Peter Mickelberg), Robert Hughes (Brian Mickelberg), Bryan Marshall (Hancock), Chris Haywood (Peter Duvnjak), Steve Jodrell (Chris Hunt), Robert Faggetter (Det. Sgt. Hooft) and Bill McCluskey (Terence Henry). This version was also broadcast in Brazil, under the title A Grande Fraude, and was released on video in France as Les mercenaires de l'or.
• The Great Mint Swindle (2012), directed by Geoff Bennett, written by Reg Cribb and Paul Bennett; featuring Grant Bowler(Ray Mickelberg), Todd Lasance (Peter Mickelberg), Josh Quong Tart (Brian Mickelberg), Shane Bourne (Hancock), John Batchelor (Lewandowski), Maya Stange (Sheryl Mickelberg) which aired on 11 March 2012.

One actor, Caroline McKenzie, appeared in both features, playing Detective Ljiljana Cvijic in the 1984 version and Peg Mickelberg in 2012.

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE: Trailer

CJZ

Published on 28 Feb 2012

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegreatmint...

Twitter:https://www.twitter.com/mintswindle 

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE is an extraordinary tale about the Mickelberg brothers who become embroiled in the most famous gold heist in Australian history.

It is a mysterious 20-year saga about the fight to clear their names over a crime that has never been solved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCNwLbPkZow  

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 1

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 2

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 3

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 4

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 5

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 6

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 7

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 8

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 9

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 10

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 11

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 12

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 13

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 14

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 15

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 16

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE - The Movie Part 17

$1m for brothers framed in 1982 Perth Mint Swindle

The Sunday Times - January 15, 2008

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/m-compo-for-framed-brothers/news-story/1a6afd18675499dd5ce8264e93833ab0

THREE brothers who were wrongfully jailed for the 1982 Perth Mint Swindle will get $1 million because police lies and fake evidence framed them.

Ray, Peter and Brian Mickelberg were framed by police and convicted in 1983 for defrauding the mint of $653,000 in gold bullion in exchange for worthless cheques, the WA attorney-general says.

The convictions of Ray and Peter were quashed in 2004 after they had served eight years and six years respectively behind bars over the scam.

Brian, who died in a light plane crash in 1986 after serving nine months in jail, also had his conviction quashed.

Today, WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty said the state would give Ray and Peter $1 million in ex gratia payments related to their acquittal by the Court of Criminal Appeal in July 2004.

"The brothers will receive $500,000 each, which is in addition to the $658,672 they have already received to pay for legal representation during their appeals in 1998 and 2004," Mr McGinty said.

"The aim of an ex gratia payment is to provide some recognition for the injustice that has been done, without attempting to provide full compensation.

"There is no legal entitlement to ex gratia compensation and there must be special or extraordinary circumstances before an ex gratia payment will be considered.

"Former Detective Tony Lewandowski admitted that police had fabricated statements and committed perjury which resulted in the jailing of the Mickelberg brothers.

"What the police officers were found to have done, can only be described as a perversion of the system of justice of the worst kind.

"No amount of money could ever compensate the Mickelbergs for the treatment they have received within the justice system."

Moments after the West Australian Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions on July 2, 2004, then assistant police commissioner Mal Hay expressed his disappointment at the decision, still blaming the brothers.

Last year, WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan apologised to Ray and Peter as part of a confidential defamation settlement over those statements that was reached between the brothers and the state government.

Mr McGinty said the Mickelberg brothers want more substantial compensation - but this would not happen.

The attorney-general said the brothers were free to pursue civil claims against other individuals who were involved in the investigation of their case.

The knots in the Mickelberg stitch

https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-knots-in-the-mickelberg-stitch-20020612-gduakf.html

The Age - Melbourne- Australia

June 12, 2002 

On July 26, 1982, Peter Mickelberg was driving to his home in the northern Perth suburbs when a car pulled across in front of him, forcing him to brake suddenly. It was the police - more specifically, detectives involved in investigating the spectacular swindling of the Perth Mint. Peter Mickelberg was bundled into the police car and taken, curiously, to Belmont Police Station.

Little more than a month earlier, three separate couriers bearing three false cheques had arrived at the mint, been admitted, and not long after driven out with 49 gold bars worth about $653,000. The gold had then been delivered by the unsuspecting couriers to an office a few kilometres away. The couriers then disappeared.

The crime caused a sensation around Australia. It had all the ingredients of a Hollywood heist - it was daring, complex, carried out with almost military precision - and no one was hurt.

The crooks had also carried it out with ridiculous ease, taking advantage of the incredibly lax security procedures at the mint, which was smack bang in the middle of the city. Leading the investigation was one of the hard men of the Perth CIB, Detective Sergeant Don Hancock, or "the grey fox" as he was known at the time.

Through circumstantial evidence, the Mickelberg brothers - Peter, Brian and Ray - had come to the attention of police. They were basically cleanskins, with Peter having been fined $50 for possessing an unlicensed firearm.

Nevertheless, Ray Mickelberg was no soft touch - he had served in the SAS and Vietnam and once described the selection process for the Special Air Services as "a crushing of the weak". Police believed him to be the mastermind.

So it was that Don Hancock was waiting at Belmont Police Station one rainy day when Peter Mickelberg, the youngest, and whom police believed to be the most vulnerable of the brothers, arrived.

With Hancock was another officer, a more junior detective named Tony Lewandowski.

As author Avon Lovell records in his courageous 1985 book, The Mickelberg Stitch, Belmont was a curious choice of venue given there was a special operational headquarters set up in the city.

Stranger still was that by the time Peter Mickelberg arrived, all the officers stationed there had gone, except the officer in charge, and he left soon after. That officer, Bob Kucera, is now the WA Health Minister. The opposition yesterday called for him to stand down pending an inquiry.

Mickelberg was left alone with Hancock and Lewandowski. For the best part of two decades the WA Police, up to the commissioner himself, have strenuously denied Mickelberg's version of what happened next. It is central to the claims by the three brothers that they were framed for the great mint swindle.

According to Peter Mickelberg, and as recorded in Lovell's book, detective Lewandowski grabbed him by the throat and said: "This is where you die you little fucker."

When Mickelberg asked for his solicitor, Lewandowski replied: "You're on another planet, no one knows you're here. As far as they're concerned, you could be dead."

Don Hancock then entered the room and said to his colleague: "Make him strip." Naked, he was handcuffed and seated.

"It was then that Hancock punched me in the solar plexus on at least two or three times . . . I was pretty shocked. He then chopped me . . . in the throat."

Peter Mickelberg said in the 1980s, and says to this day, he never confessed at Belmont to any involvement in the swindle. Nor did he implicate his big brother Ray, who police claimed was the strong man behind the operation.

Of course, the police, Hancock and Lewandowski, had a different version - Mickelberg had confessed and made statements implicating himself and his brothers, although they were unsigned.

Given the times, it's perhaps not surprising the jury believed the police. Peter, Ray and Brian were found guilty of swindling the mint, although Brian was later acquitted on appeal after serving nine months. Ray got 20 years, Peter 16.

The courts, initially at least, accepted the police version of events without too many qualms.

In November, 1989, seven years after the robbery and a great deal of publicity, the WA Court of Criminal Appeal rejected Peter's appeal against his conviction and sentence.

The police commissioner, Brian Bull, said the decision "totally vindicates the actions of the police in their investigation into the Perth mint swindle".

Brian Mickelberg died in a helicopter crash in 1986. Ray, the Vietnam veteran, served eight years, Peter ended up doing seven. After the two brothers were released they campaigned relentlessly to convince the courts and the public they were framed, although many believe the police had good reasons for "loading them up".

In the meantime, Don Hancock went on to become head of the Perth CIB, partly on the back of his "solving" of the high-profile case.

Enter Tony Lewandowski, the former detective who was with Hancock at Belmont Police Station.

His stunning admission that he fabricated the evidence is a development the brothers would never have dreamed of.

Lewandowski now tells a version of events that fits with the one told by Peter Mickelberg, and published by Avon Lovell, way back in 1985. In an affidavit to Western Australia's Director of Public Prosecutions last week he recalled the incident at Belmont Police Station on July 26, 1982: "I said to Don Hancock that I didn't believe we had enough evidence and he said to me: 'Don't worry, it will get better.'

"(On that day), Don Hancock came into the room and told me to make Peter strip naked. Don then went up to Peter and gave him two or three quick punches in the solar plexus. The statements purportedly taken from Peter Mickelberg . . . on July 26, 1982, were in fact not taken in Peter's presence that day, but were a fabrication made by Don Hancock and myself shortly after September 2, 1982.

"I gave evidence at the trial and numerous appeals. All that evidence in relation to the (brothers') so-called confessions . . . was false."

An insight into Hancock's character and his modus operandi emerged in late 1982 in a conversation involving Hancock, Peter and Ray, just before they went to trial. Secretly recorded at Ray's house, Hancock says at one stage: "Don't ever challenge me to do something because I'll f---ing well do it, all right. You can rest assured about that."

Peter: "You're mean Don."

Hancock: "I'm not a mean person, but I'll tell you what: I've done things in my life that you never did, and harder things, worse things, and if I've got to do them again, well, I'll do them again."

Ray: "In the line of duty?"

Hancock: "That's it, yes. What I believe is my line of duty - to get the job done."

Ray: "With violence if necessary?"

Hancock: "Well, maybe not - tried everything else!"

That conversation was not tendered during the trial, although it later emerged in another matter. Don Hancock's reputation is encapsulated in that tape recording - a hard, tough cop who knew how to get things done, to get results.

Retiring as head of the Perth CIB, and having grown up in the Goldfields, he went to the hamlet of Ora Banda to run the local pub. But in October, 2000, things started to go terribly wrong. Members of the Gypsy Jokers outlaw motorcycle gang started abusing the barmaid - Hancock's daughter - and he threw them out.

Later that night, one of the bikies, William Grierson, was shot dead as he sat around a campfire and the Gypsy Jokers immediately blamed Hancock.

In September last year, he and his mate, Lou Lewis, were blown up by a car bomb. Right to the end, Hancock refused police protection.

According to Lewandowski, it was the death of his former boss that freed him to tell the truth after all these years. "When Don Hancock was alive there was no chance of me going against his wishes. A couple of times I wanted to come clean but there was no way I could go against Don."

Apparently a broken man, he added: "I have had 20 years of hell. I lost my business, I have lost my wife, I have lost my son. I have gained nothing out of this, I am now telling the truth."

"Now that Don Hancock is dead I cannot harm him . . ."

Some of the material used in this article has been drawn from Avon Lovell's The Mickelberg Stitch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Mint_Swindle.

The Perth Mint Swindle is the popular name for the robbery of 49 gold bars weighing 68 kg from the Perth Mint in Western Australia on 22 June, 1982. The bullion was valued at A$653,000 at that time (2011:$2.02 million). As of 8 January 2018, the value of the 68 kilograms of gold would approach AUD $3.7 Million.

According to police at the time, three brothers, Ray, Peter and Brian Mickelberg, orchestrated the robbery. The three went to trial and were found guilty of the conspiracy and sentenced in 1983 to twenty, sixteen and twelve years in jail respectively.

All three convictions were overturned in 2004. To date the case remains unsolved and continues to be fought by the Mickelbergs who maintain their innocence and allege a conspiracy by the Western Australia Police to frame them.

Mickelberg Brothers

Soon after the robbery police investigations focused on the Mickelberg brothers. According to the police, the brothers stole cheques from a Perth building society and then fooled the mint into accepting those cheques in exchange for gold bullion which, it was alleged, the brothers had a courier pick up.[1] The gold was picked up by a security company who delivered it to an office in Perth and then to Jandakot Airport, from where it seemingly disappeared.

In a separate matter, in September 1982, the three brothers, their parents and another man Brian Pozzi were charged over a matter relating to a manufactured gold nugget known as the "Yellow Rose of Texas".[2] Perth Businessman Alan Bond had purchased the nugget for $350,000 in November 1980. It was later found to be worth less than $150,000 and Raymond Mickelberg and Brian Pozzi pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to fraud at their June 1984 trial.

After serving nine months of his jail term and having his conviction overturned on appeal, Brian was released from jail but died in a light aircraft crash on 27 February 1986, when the twin-engined Aero Commander he was flying ran out of fuel near Canning Dam on the outskirts of Perth.[3] Whilst in prison, Ray and Peter embarked on a series of seven appeals against their convictions, essentially on the grounds that their confessions had been fabricated by police investigators. Ray and Peter served eight and six years of their sentences respectively before being released on parole.

In 1989, 55 kg of gold pellets, said to have been from the swindle, were found outside the gates of TVW-7 (currently Channel Seven Perth), a Perth television station, with an anonymous note addressed to one of the station's reporters—Alison Fan—protesting the Mickelberg's innocence and claiming that a prominent Perth businessman was behind the swindle.[4]

Police Officers

Don Hancock

The senior investigating officer in the case was Detective-Sergeant Don Hancock who was later promoted to head of the State Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). Hancock and a friend, Lou Lewis, died in a bomb explosion outside Hancock's home in Lathlain in September 2001. Hancock was murdered by Gypsy Joker Sid Reid in revenge for the murder of Billy Grierson, allegedly by Hancock after Grierson "made obscene comments in front of his daughter." A subsequent (2003) prosecution of an alleged accomplice was unsuccessful.[5]

At the 2006 inquest into the October 2000 shooting death Billy Grierson, the coroner stated: "There is a significant body of evidence which suggests Mr Hancock may have been the shooter," but the Gypsy Jokers "could have a large number of enemies." he was unable to determine who Grierson's killer was because Hancock was now dead, police had failed to conduct routine forensic science tests and had failed to search Hancock's home. The relevant senior investigating officer was Kim Gage, head of Kalgoorlie detectives, who had reportedly spent the day drinking with Hancock and others.[5] Reid was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in jail[6] which was reduced to 15 years for helping police in the failed second prosecution.[5]

Tony Lewandowski

In 2002, midway through a State Royal Commission into police corruption, a retired police officer, Tony Lewandowski, who had been at the centre of the case, made a confession of his involvement in fabricating evidence which was used to help frame the brothers. Lewandowski's senior officer during the investigation was Don Hancock. The two were the only people present at the brothers' interviews following the Mickelberg arrests.[7]

"(On that day), Don Hancock came into the room and told me to make Peter strip naked. Don then went up to Peter and gave him two or three quick punches in the solar plexus. The statements purportedly taken from Peter Mickelberg on July 26, 1982, were in fact not taken in Peter's presence that day, but were a fabrication made by Don Hancock and myself shortly after September 2, 1982. I gave evidence at the trial and numerous appeals. All that evidence in relation to the so-called confessions was false." —Statement of Tony Lewandowski

Lewandowski was subsequently charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, making false statements, fabricating evidence and perjury.[7] In May 2004, just before facing trial, Lewandowski apparently committed suicide,[8] Although now dead, Lewandowski's confession directly implicated Hancock in fabricating evidence in the Mickelberg case.[9]

Convictions quashed

In July 2004 the Western Australian Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the brothers' convictions after seven unsuccessful attempts. The judge ruled that with the suppression of their sentence, they were entitled to a presumption of innocence. The Assistant Police Commissioner, Mel Hay, expressed disappointment with the decision which prompted a threat of a defamation lawsuit from the brothers. The brothers subsequently sued the Western Australian government for libel, and as part of the settlement, the West Australian police issued a public apology in December 2007.[10]

After lodging claims for compensation, in January 2008 State Attorney-General Jim McGinty offered $500,000 in ex-gratia payments to each brother for the "injustice done to them".[11] The payment followed $658,672 paid to cover legal costs of their two appeals. The Mickelbergs' lawyer had asked for $950,000 in compensation for Ray and $750,000 for Peter.[12]

Books About the Great Perth Mint Swindle

Author Avon Lovell wrote a book about the case in 1985: The Mickelberg Stitch, which alleged questionable investigation practices by the police, including production of unsigned confessions and a forged fingerprint.[13] The police union collected a levy of $1 per week from each member to fund legal action against Lovell and his publishers and distributors to suppress publication of the book. It was estimated that between one and two million dollars was raised. The book was banned by the State Government, but was still freely available to be read at the J S Battye Library. The ban was eventually lifted.

A second book by Lovell, Split Image, was published in 1990[14] and met a similar fate to the first. This ban was also lifted later.

In March 2011, Lovell launched a third book on the case, Litany of Lies,[15][16] at about the same time that Antonio Buti wrote on the subject[17][18]

References

1. ^ "MICKELBERG v. THE QUEEN [1989] HCA 35, opinion of Deane, J., Para 33". High Court of Australia Appeal. Retrieved 9 February 2015.

2. ^ "Mickelbergs sue policeman". ABC 7:30 Report. Retrieved 23 November 2009.

3. ^ "Mickelberg Dies". Sydney Morning Herald. 28 February 1986. Retrieved 23 November 2009.

4. ^ Liza Kappelle (11 June 2002). "Mint robbers were framed". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 May 2010.

5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Marks, Kathy (30 October 2013). "Biker gang chief cleared in police murder case". The Independent. Retrieved 10 February 2015.

6. ^ "Gypsy Joker sniper shooting mystery". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 April 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2015.

7. ^ Jump up to:^a b "Mint swindle officer seized". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 October 2002. Retrieved 7 September 2005.

8. ^ "Mickelberg brothers find unlikely ally". ABC 7:30 Report. 18 January 2008.

9. ^ "Don Hancock and the Perth Mint Swindle". MelbourneCrime. Archived from the original on 3 September 2005. Retrieved 7 September 2005.

10. ^ "Police apologise to Mickelberg brothers". www.ninemsn.com.au. 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 16 December 2007.

11. ^ "Mickelberg payment satisfies neither brothers nor police". thewest.com.au. 16 January 2008. Archived from the original on 18 March 2008. Retrieved 17 February2009.

12. ^ ABC News online Micklebergs cleared over Perth Mint swindle

13. ^ "This time, the stitch is by Lovell". Post Newspapers. Archived from the original on 16 August 2002. Retrieved 7 September 2005.

14. ^ Lovell, Avon (1990), Split image : international mystery of the Mickelberg affair, Creative Research, ISBN 978-0-908469-24-6

15. ^ Lovell, Avon (2010), Litany of lies : a true story of gold heists, bombings, feral cops, greed, murder & revenge, bookscope.com.au, ISBN 978-0-9808715-0-0

16. ^ See the blog overview of the book launch - http://blog.elizabethsbookshop.com.au/?p=311

17. ^ Buti, Antonio (2011), Brothers : justice, corruption and the Mickelbergs, Fremantle Press, ISBN 978-1-921888-47-2

18. ^ Sheehan, Kate (13 January 2012), "Buti, Antonio. Brothers: Justice, Corruption and the Mickelbergs.(Brief article)(Book review)", Xpress Reviews, Library Journals, LLC, retrieved 9 October 2016

19. ^ IMDb, 2012, The Great Gold Swindle (1984) TV. (30 March 2012)

20. ^ IMDb, 2012, The Great Gold Swindle (1984) TV – Release Dates. (30 March 2012)

21. ^ "Going for gold with Perth crime saga The Great Mint Swindle". The Australian. 3 March 2012.

22. ^ http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/13123839/the-great-mint-swindle/

23. ^ IMDb, 2012, Caroline McKenzie (I) (30 March 2012)

Justice for the framed and shamed

By Michael Idato

March 8, 2012 

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/justice-for-the-framed-and-shamed-20120307-1uivt.html

Show of the week: The Great Mint Swindle, Channel Nine, Sunday, 8.30pm

The wrongly convicted Mickelberg brothers (from left). Brian (Josh Quong Tart), Ray (Grant Bowler) and Peter (Todd Lasance).

LINDY Chamberlain, Gordon Wood, Gabe Watson … to measure the way television has changed our perception of crime, look no further than the way coverage of high-profile trials fuels backyard barbecue debates over people's innocence or guilt.

In 1982, however, a television trial was a very new thing. And the arrest and conviction of three brothers - Ray, Peter and Brian Mickelberg - for robbing the Perth Mint was one of the first crimes catapulted by television from the crime pages of the newspaper into living rooms.

''The police allowed, for the first time, television cameras into the raid and they filmed the police ripping up floorboards, so it brought the crime into people's homes,'' says Paul Bennett, producer of The Great Mint Swindle, which airs on Channel Nine this week.

The crime was the theft of 49 gold bars and the enduring TV image was the discovery of gold under the Mickelbergs' floorboards. The gold was legal and the Mickelbergs had receipts to prove it but, Bennett says, ''those television images are powerful. People see it on television and they ask, 'Why would you have gold under the floorboards?'''

Ray, Peter and Brian Mickelberg were found guilty and sentenced to 20, 16 and 12 years jail, respectively. What makes the case so compelling is that in 2004 all three convictions were quashed, a twist given particular resonance given the recent acquittals for Gordon Wood and Gabe Watson and the fourth inquest into the death of Azaria Chamberlain.

The Ten Network produced a telemovie in 1984, The Great Gold Swindle. It presumed the brothers' guilt and was caught up in the first of seven appeals by the brothers, not airing until 1986.

The genesis of Nine's telemovie, however, was an earlier Cordell Jigsaw biographical series, The Two of Us. The Great Mint Swindle co-producer Russell Vines suggested Ray and Peter Mickelberg as subjects and then, he says, ''immediately regretted it'' because it was hard to cover a 20-year saga in half an hour of television. But it did lead to ''the big drama that we have now done''.

Written by Perth playwright Reg Cribb, the $3 million telemovie tells the story from the perspective of the youngest brother, Peter (Todd Lasance). It stars Grant Bowler as oldest brother Ray, Josh Quong Tart as Brian and Shane Bourne as Detective Don Hancock, who framed the brothers for the theft. It was filmed in seven weeks last year at Fremantle Prison, the Perth Mint and other locations.

Bowler describes the story as a great mystery. ''To this day nobody knows where that gold is,'' he says. ''But it's also a human story because the family are so tight.''

Bowler was also struck by what he felt were distinctly Australian qualities in the story. ''It's one of those great Australian stories about getting shafted, which, all the way from Breaker Morant, is something we pay attention to,'' he says. ''Ned Kelly, who is considered an icon, was also a lunatic who tried to blow up a train, Chopper [Read] becomes a star here. Criminals [in Australia] tend to be either very, very quiet, or there is something quality in them we use to redeem them.''

In the case of the Mickelbergs, the only crime they were ultimately guilty of was the so-called Yellow Rose of Texas case, in which a manufactured gold nugget was sold to Alan Bond for more than twice its value in 1980. ''My Australian DNA goes, that's awesome,'' Bowler says. ''We all love that - that's the little guy getting the big guy.''

Vines agrees. ''What people love about the Mickelbergs is that they took on the establishment, and in particular an establishment that couldn't admit its mistakes.''

Quong Tart adds that the case has particular resonance in Perth, which has an uneasy relationship with its judiciary. ''It starts before the Mickelbergs, with people like Beamish and Button [both wrongly convicted of murders in Western Australia in 1961 and 1963, exonerated 44 and 39 years later], all the way through to more recent cases.''

These include the cases of teenager Patrick Wearing, accused of rape and jailed in 2006 for almost a year before being proved innocent, and Andrew Mallard, wrongfully convicted of murder in 1995 but not exonerated until 2007. ''There is significant concern in this state about judiciary. If you can't trust the system, what can you trust?'' he says.

And that, Bennett says, is the pivot on which the story sits. ''This could happen to you,'' he says. ''Ultimately, people want to believe the system is strong and works and is on your side but stories like this make you doubt the system and when you do that the fabric of everything starts to fall apart.''