The Naked City podcast will take a journey into the dark depths of the Australian criminal underworld. In this series you will hear recordings of some of Australia's most dangerous criminals, all of whom have been remarkably frank in their recollections.

Graeme Alford was a smart, cunning and hard-working criminal lawyer with a loyal and regular client base all connected to the feared Painters and Dockers Union. It was a licence to print money.

He was the private school, top-of-the-class student who won a Commonwealth scholarship, excelled at Melbourne University and breezed his way into a city law firm. He was also a heavy punter and prodigious drinker – both vices that are not unknown in the legal fraternity.

Eventually, facing huge gambling debts, he stole from his legal trust fund and was short $80,000.

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He was charged with multiple counts of fraud and was sentenced to five years with a two-year minimum.

Out in 16 months – fit for the first time in years but still in denial – he applied for a series of jobs requiring a legal background and failed each time.

He drifted back to crime because, he said: “The money is good and the hours are short.”

It was October 15, 1982, when a half-drunk Alford donned a balaclava, grabbed his shotgun and with fellow armed robbers burst into the Chapel Street Prahran branch of the National Bank.