Bent: Australia's Crooked Cops by James Morton, Susanna Lobez

Sport has always attracted organised crime. Huge sums of money are wagered in every arena, and rorts, swindles and unsporting behaviour have shadowed players of all codes. Cricket and footy are not immune, with Heath Shaw and Ben Cousins caught up in gambling and drugs, and NRL star Ryan Tandy in match-fixing. Plenty of punters have criminal connections—Alphonse Gangitano and the Moran brothers. Drugs play a major part on and off the fields of play (looking at you, Essendon Football Club and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks) with horses and greyhounds also routinely doped. James Morton and Susanna Lobez investigate the cheating underbelly of sport, from the first cricket pitch invasion in the 1890s through to the contemporary scandals that will leave you wondering if there is such a thing as a sporting chance.

Following the success of their bestselling Gangland Australia, James Morton and Susanna Lobez turn their attention to crime and criminals, both organised and disorganised, in Australia and New Zealand over the last century.

Robbers have always seen themselves as the cream of the underworld; the top of the criminal aristocracy in and out prison.

Tales of the great escapees who have driven, walked, pedalled, swum or sailed away from custody.