On Saturday, 7 December 1963, Eric Lewis called around to 115 Bassett Road, Remuera, Auckland to collect the rent. After his persistent knocking went unanswered, Lewis let himself in. He was not prepared for the scene awaited him when he opened the door to the main bedroom: The bodies of his two tenants, George Walker and Kevin Speight. They had been shot dead. The machine-gun execution of two minor criminals on Bassett Road that day marked the end of innocence and the beginning of a new, more sinister era of crime in New Zealand. The two men convicted of the killings - Ron Jorgensen and John Gillies - became household names. Both the victims and their killers were deeply involved in Auckland's nascent criminal scene. But the real story behind the killings has never been told until now. Sly grogging, horse doping, prostitutions, drugs, rival gangs and bent cops - the story has all the hallmarks of a classic crime novel. Only it's all true and it happened here in Auckland.
