For more than 45 years, John Silvester has been reporting on Australia’s criminal underworld.

Some notable figures, like Mick Gatto, a key player in the gangland wars that were immortalised in the popular TV series, Underbelly, are now implicated in an investigation that has rocked the highest offices in the country. That of alleged corruption in the CFMEU, one of the most powerful unions in the country.

Why have so many of our politicians allegedly turned a blind eye to underworld figures running a cartel-like operation in the union?

Today, John Silvester gives us an inside look into the psychology of the underworld figures who have managed to charm and intimidate the rich and the powerful.