- Illness has forced a former detective and author who inspired an “Underbelly” telemovie to sell his gourmet retreat in Bright.
Bestselling author Colin McLaren, who is in his late 50s, has suffered complications since quintuple heart bypass surgery last year, his partner Alison Bruce, said yesterday.
The telemovie “Underbelly: Infiltration” was based on McLaren’s 2009 autobiography “Infiltration: The True Story of the Man Who Cracked the Mafia”.
The former Richmond detective went undercover in the 1990s to infiltrate the Calabrian mafia in NSW, almost single-handedly dismantling the heart of Australia’s drug trade.
His second book, “On the Run”, was a critically acclaimed novel about an undercover cop chased around the world by a mafia hitman.
He built Villa Gusto in 2001.
From 2007 he pursued his writing career, but returned to managing the restaurant with Ms Bruce last year. But Ms Bruce said he was no longer well enough to write or manage the business – Blanche Clark
