They're violent and scary, some of them are madmen and others are convicted killers, but the gangsters who control organised crime syndicates in Melbourne are mostly just stupid, according to veteran crime reporter John Silvester.

Veteran crime reporter John Silvester has been covering gangland wars, armed robberies and serial killers in Melbourne for almost half a century.

Over that time, the city has changed dramatically from a big town, where organised crime was isolated to suburbia, to a 24/7 global city with global city problems.

But one thing has stayed the same—the type of characters who run the seedy underbelly of Melbourne city.

Some of them are madmen, some are murderers, but according to John, most of them are too stupid to stop their egos getting involved in their business.

And so every 20 years, the same cycle of territory wars and gangland violence starts again.

John's latest book, Dark City, is published by Pan Macmillan

This episode of Conversations explores Melbourne, organised crime, gangs, mafia, triads, yakuza, underbelly, police, cops, serial killers, true crime, drugs, fatherhood, writing, books, Chopper Read, Carl Williams, Tony Mokbel.