A Tale of Two Cities by John Silvester Read Free Book Online Page B

running so late that the surveillance had been eased. Even then, the syndicate speedboat had broken down and the cargo of 36 bags of Thai sticks had to be ferried ashore by rowing boat.
    Clark took delivery of 458,000 sticks. Johnstone cleared about $1 million plus the yacht. Eventually, Clark cleared about $1 million, too, retailing the sticks at $7 each over the following year. Two other partners – a local solicitor and a Greek businessman – made a handsome profit. At a time when people worked for $10,000 a year, it was enough money to set up a legitimate business and go straight. Clark, however, was already moving into heroin. In late 1975 he persuaded a woman called Valerie Kairua to smuggle some back from a Fiji holiday. But the two fell out, police raided Clark and he was charged with trafficking offences that carried ten years jail. Clark had no intention of going back inside. Instead, in the new year of 1976, he jumped bail and headed to the bright lights of the big city most New Zealanders go first … Sydney.
    IN Auckland, Clark had befriended several fellow inmates of Wi Tako prison, which was probably the single worst decision any of them ever made. One was Greg Ollard, by this time also in Sydney. Another was Wayne Shrimpton. Another was Errol Hincksman. Then there was Douglas Wilson, who had ‘moved’ $200,000 worth of buddha sticks for Clark. And, of course, the urbane Martin Johnstone. Ollard was already in Sydney when Clark got there, and the rest would follow.
    The attraction towards Clark and ‘Sin City’ was a dangerous one. No-one, even Clark in his darkest moments, could have guessed then that soon he would have arranged the murder of three of his old Auckland ‘mates’ (plus two women associated with them), stolen the girlfriend of another, and caused Errol Hincksman to be charged with one of the murders.
    Ollard was Clark’s first contact in Sydney. He stayed with him in King’s Cross when he got there. Unlike Clark, who despised addicts, Ollard used heroin as well as dealing in it. He had workedfor the EMI record company and hung around with rock groups, including Rose Tattoo and the New Zealand band Dragon, which by 1977 would be Australian
Rolling Stone
magazine’s ‘Band of The Year’. Ollard was a groupie; he loaned the band members money and picked up bills in return for reflected glory. Dragon’s drummer, Neil Storey, died of a heroin overdose in June 1976, most likely because of the free ‘smack’ Ollard handed out at parties.
    Meanwhile, Johnstone was living high on the $1 million he’d made selling the buddha sticks wholesale to Clark, whose ‘representatives’ in New Zealand were steadily ‘retailing’ them for him. Johnstone settled in Singapore and made his name as a profligate party-giver and ladies’ man. He once boasted of spending US$11,000 on one long weekend party.
    New Zealand police were still tracking him. ‘Johnstone lives in Singapore, again leading a lavish lifestyle, allegedly living in an expensive apartment, driving an XJ6 Jaguar car and creating the impression that he is a successful businessman. It is known he has spent vast amounts of money on purchasing ocean-going vessels in Singapore and has also spent a great deal of money in Auckland,’ they wrote.
    While the New Zealand police could see that Johnstone was moving onto the world drug stage, international authorities did not seem to grasp the size of the operation. They did not understand that the former shop assistant was positioning himself to wholesale the deadly white powder. On 23 December 1977 Johnstone was seen walking through Sydney airport with an Australian woman. Both were stopped and searched. The woman was found to have heroin valued at $1.5 million strapped to her body. She was arrested. He was released.
    Meanwhile, Clark was busy. He now had a third wife, Maria Muahary. On a visit to Malaysia and Singapore