Life undercover in Cabramatta: the original drug capital of Australia
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- Опубліковано 24 кві 2022
- Journalist Charles Miranda unpacks life living undercover in Cabramatta in the middle of the suburb’s violent, gang-related drug-fuelled past.
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I use to jump On The Cabra Express be there at 6am & jump on the next train out of there 25 -29Years Back ,
Im proud to say Im 25 years Clean n Sober Now.
Yeah i used to do the same,get in and get out,i remember the flanno wearing cops,They grabbed my throat one time lucky i swollowed in time,Im 22 yrs clean now,i just stick with legal medical cannabis now,
I grew up in Cabramatta and it's so untrue the streets were dead at night. The restaurants were open until 1 or 2 AM, the streets were busy, we loved it!
You never had any problems if you didn't do the wrong things.
i was living in cabra in the 90 till now and it was the best suburb in sydney if you local no one bother you at all by 7pm it was a no go zone back there unless you lived there, cabra been thru crazy times but now is safe to go shopping or eat or wonder at night time is so peaceful now compare to before, love cabramatta for life🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Yeah cabramatta is the best suburb i could live at
I live near that area in the video too
@@nuttanichanuanrod7334 im in Fairfield now thou
@@nuttanichanuanrod7334 true love the fresh food and restaurants are amazing
outstanding content True Crime Australia. I broke the thumbs up on your video. Keep on up the very good work.
I scored almost every day from 96' til 99' at Cabra... It was so incredibly easy.... "You want cap, you want cap"...
Still like that around Richmond, Melbourne today. Very easy to get on.
@@lh7325Richmond is nowhere near the level of cabra trust me I used to be on the h
You right
I remember the first time I went there. Didn't even leave the station and a little 5t guy says "you right, what you want? Just what I needed when I had spent 3 hours vomiting on the train from Newcastle.
You right bro?,big size.
I got off the train once at Cabra and thought things were going well. Could not see any cops when departing the train. Got up the stairs on the railway bridge to find cops crouched down with drug sniffing dogs on the bridge! They searched me and found a $50 note in each pocket They then gave me a 'move on'. This was a thing where if you were suspected of being in Cabra to score drugs they would ban you from the area and put you back on the train to the city. If you were then seen by police again you would be charged. I believe that the state gov actually made a law specifically for this. Was so out of control.
Wow. that must have been so exciting for you.
LOL.😅
@@googleuser2609 def was,such a fantastic time!! Still on the program
What year was this? They hand out move on orders for just about anything nowadays
Mate that must have been the late 90s bc back in 93 94 95 they never banned u at all unless u got charged wit suply or possession,. the early to mid 90s were the best days mate trust me
I remember those days,i got grabbed around the throat by a flanno wearing detective,swolled it in time though,crazy times,
I had a relative living in Cabramatta and when I would visit I remember I would hear I once got off the train at Cabramatta Station was whistling and dealers would raise their eyebrows and ask if I was right, I would just say nah mate all good and then carry on. It was insane in the 90’s there.
used to allways go to cabramatta to score, been clean now for 17 years 👍 they were wild days
@that's ME!
I used for thirty two years, $250/$350 a day, moderate by some estimates, using/magistrates/hanging/rorting/deceiving/OD's/detox/violence/fear/pain/hatred/envy/destitution/insomnia/malnutrition/on the run/B&E's/shoplifting/sickness/Doctor shopping/getting ripped off/ripping others off/self loathing, and the rest of it, walking around feeling like you wearing a "cloak", thinking that you are giving the appearance of acceptability, but in reality the "cloak" has all the detritus of your drug habit just fair f-cking dripping off of it, I heard myself "wishing" for it all to change, and hearing myself I came to realise that it's about how I framed my perception of myself, how I described who I am too myself, and I changed the "shape" of how I thought of me, I needed to trust that I am responsible for me, I gave myself "permission" to do something different each day, starting with doing something kind to myself, saying something kind to me, and I found I was a kind person, people started feeling kind to me and I realised how much I cared about them, and I would catch myself "wishing" and learning how to laugh at it's attempts to deceive me into thinking that getting clean was unattainable, that getting clean was just something I "wished" for.
Good to hear that you have been clean for so many years now. I am about 6 weeks clean now myself.
@that's ME! Never stop believing that you can do it. The door will always remain open for you so long as you keep believing that it is possible
Well done bro ,same,hard rd, as soon as u got off the train ,u get mobbed by the Asians.hectic days.then straight up the Warwick farm I went.im glad I left the farm life behind.
Me too,i was last there in 1996,Good to hear its been cleaned up,Iv been clean over 20 yrs now,
He lives in Bondi. I remember a time in the mid 80s when the Astra hotel at Bondi Beach was notorious for gear. He could have stayed there and seen the same thing .
No no where was close to what cabra was. The whole suburb had thousands of dealers dealing right in the middle of the streets. No hotel can compare to a whole city full of dealers and users. Unless you've seen it u wouldn't believe it
@@joebelichio6974 Yer that's right But he still didn't need to go to Cabra . All low live.
My mate was a dealer at the Astra.
Now Cabramatta has changed so much. When I was a kid, the bad talk about Cabramatta was already a story. I've heard so many teachers, tutors, cousins and friends of cousins say that other people would always ask them if they are okay living/working in Cabra, but since mid 2000s ~ 2010, its been quite safe. Its very interesting to see those clips of the streets I know to have so many incidents that involve police.
Still a hole
There were never police thier you could get off the train and see deals of drugs happen everywhere in the open. In the 90s cabra was filled with siringes they were everywhere. I hope they cleaned that side of things up
Agreed, the night life, Pho and southeast asian restuarants cultinary. Nothing like the late 90's / early 2000's. I'm Dutch white & I grew up around here since 97' I love the food, I love friends who'd parents own bakeries. Cabra will always be close to me as a white boy :)
Grew up around Liverpool, but would come to Cabra to do shopping of fabrics for my Mum and visit the place (she was a dressmaker)
- did see so many things that blew my mind. Good to hear those days are over! Great story.
@@akabkruzsojudyoneill1968 exactly! The Vietnamese people are amazing - they always looked after my Mum when buying fabrics.
aussie aussie
Care to story tell about the things you saw ? I’m so interested in this places history
@@uhave-ctrl4957, thanks for asking. One memory that comes to mind is how inconspicuous the Asian gangs were with weapons. I don’t know if you are familiar with the back streets of Cabramatta and the surrounding suburbs - the streets are quite wide, and there were lots of large Eucalyptus trees that dotted the estates.. One time, whilst walking to my mates place, a car pulled up behind me, and out jumped a bunch of Asian blokes, and they quickly climbed up about 10 ft on this massive eucalyptus tree, and they pulled out all these knives that were cleverly concealed in the joining limbs of this tree. It was remarkable!
I would hate to think where they were heading for the next gang attack! It explained a lot!
@@lildrum78 wow that must’ve been so freighting knowing it could’ve been you that they were after but god willing it wasn’t , that sounds like an intense story and I’ve heard plenty about Cabramatta in those days and in trees ? That’s the first I’ve heard of that. I’ve lived in Cabramatta for 2 years 2017-2019 so I know a fair bit around the area but I’ve always been interested in Cabramatta’s notorious days and knowing that if all those things never took place. Cabramatta wouldn’t be as it is today which is very family friendly and just a whole lot safer especially with cameras and fair bit of police patrols
Great documentary 💯 🍿
The journalists description of Cabramatta back then is 100 percent correct. I worked security with a team at Cabramatta station back in the 90s and early 2000s and it was a wild jungle, we'd kick out junkies and dealers back then, I had to watch my back , the only great thing in Cabra were the meatball roll shops lol ... Now its cleaned up.
and pork rolls for $1.50
Yep the Vietnamese bakery was always good for a salad roll lol
I remember on of my first jobs was at Woolworths variety opposite the railway station and I was the storeman we used to have an upstairs loft were the lay by purchases were kept and there were windows overlooking the station and this was where the police also had a covert team set up round the clock, we were told to keep it in confidence and the teams only changed over before opening and after closing and only very few of the staff even knew they were there.
Cop's have similar set up at the cross just above the entrance to the train station they can sit up there and spy.
No doubt.
I remember the guy getting stabbed to death on the corner opposite Woolworths. Seen it happen, and legged it!
I was 15 in 1995/96 left school like a loser and scored a factory job in Lansvale so walked from Cabbra station to hume hwy every morning. I’ve never seen anything like it in Australia anywhere else. 5am get off the train about 10 lads ask ya if want to get on. Then upon exiting the station to walk to work literally thousands of used syringes everywhere on the road on the foot path in gardens sometimes I used to walk back to Canley Vale in the afternoon same there syringes all one the oval. Not just a couple, literally tens of thousands of them piled up. Insane, never seen anything like it again anywhere else. Was foul
I used to live in that god awful trailer park in landsvale. It’s not there anymore I heard.
Cabrramatta was a success story. Centralised, reliable supply of a narcotic.
$20 caps in the 80s.
the 80s now eh haha 'U couldnt by smack for under $50 in the 80s my friend 'trust me. unless u were smoking D lol
I was def getting caps for $20.. $50 for an eighth.
I agree if they had a safe injection centre there would have been far less overdoses and needles on the streets
Cabra still is herion capitol only difference today is people have mobile phones and dealers don't have to stand around all day waiting for people to buy drugs. Cabra Rock is all of sydney ATM
Monz - lol
Its been so long since iv seen a cabra rock 👅
Cabramatta was alive in the 90s! 💯% & so much product being pushed 🤙🏽
I remember property was cheap as chips because of its reputation. But now, the investors who bought into the area are laughing.
Cabramatta was wild and crazy back in the 80s 90s and early 2000s.
Cheering, about time we get Australian crime documentary’s.
Amelia put me to sleep with how slow she spoke zzzzz
I was around both cabra and north Richmond (Melbourne) they were certainly the good ol days, even the cops miss it.
crazy place back in the day
totally agree there big dogg
I used to live there.People I would actually talk to on the street tell me they were murderers.
Late nineties moved to Petersham from Perth for a couple of years. One of the first places I went to was Cabramatta. Not to score, just because of the notoriety. Very interesting. Not disappointed.
The sham,good pick
@@davechristian7543 Petersham,Lewisham area
More videos on the old 5T gang in Cabramatta would be great!
Yes crazy times back then, I did security at train station mid90s.
Needles where bad, they even covered the train tracks at times an the area was listed for clean up for 2000 Olympic's.
I used to think my name was Jason…
You know: chasin chasin ?
Jason Jason?
Worked out there a billion times over the years,everyone's been nice to me,eaten a ton of mad food
If they legalised all drugs none of the violence would happen.
Not all drugs🥴
Government would be out of a job,
Lawyers, Police, Judge's, Politicians...
@@jovanjacob203 yes all drugs, letvthe people choose
You are crazy!
Cabra has the best pork roll, miss that place
I remember the first time I went there late 90’s what a culture shock got asked to by drugs at least 10 times just walking over the overpass to John st then seeing junkies everywhere passed out on the side walk needles on the ground it was full on
glad I grew up in cabra when everything was better there are still some junkies and sketchy people but it’s only at night but it would be rare
@@justiny8519 yeah it’s a great place now
Only 10? Must've been a quiet day!
Tip of the iceberg!
Home💙
I lived there went to cabra public school high school was out late every night drinking with the Asians was good times miss the boys, no one would play with cabra back in the days seen big drama
I remember at night, the amount of junkies out there was insane, grew up with a lot of Vietnamese boys so i was out there a fair bit as well as Canley vale too and bankstown 😅 crazy crazy past, good times though, will never see this again
ride the train?😂
actually at night for the most part it was dead compared to between 9am n 5 lol as thats when the dealers were doing there stuff bc at night they were to exposed
The smack express
I wish I could live in a place like that forever and ever
Would be interesting to have them make a video on Fairfield back in the day
There's an old documentary called Once upon a time in cabramatta, try looking it up. Was an SBS documentary about the drugs and stuff back in the 90s.
@@Knoob_jockey I’ve seen it. I’m spoken to Tony hoang before. He’s told me so pretty messed up stories from back in the day. Things about finding a mate dead on a bus stop, his best friend committing suicide on his wedding day etc. It’s good to see how he turned his life around. I’ve got a lot of respect for the guy✊🏼
I remember some of the action from Cabra moving to Fairfield around the mids 2000s - early 10s. Around this time there would be street pros working in the reserve right next to the station. Late at night you would have street pros in the side streets opposite station . I knew two sisters that came down from the X and used to solicit near the Gilgamesh cafe. But I think that stuffs gone now.
@@yourummayscuz8521Yeah he lost six friends. Three committed suicide and three were murdered. He became a Christian and he goes around preaching and witnessing to young people and he warns them not to get involved in crime drugs and gangs.
As soon as you got off the train you had 10 dealers asking if you’re right back in the days
Good old McBurney Rd shops I miss the old area
I remember as a kid playing at my friend's unit, and the playground had so many needles,
I have wasted most of my childhood sitting at that station selling $30 caps then it went to $50 a QTR G I seen so many lives destroyed & them blue lights never really worked
There was no place like it the amount of money that went through the place the bread shop was open always and the same lady still working hard that was a life time ago
That lady still work there. Her husband the old man died tho. N it ain't open 24/7 anymore. They make the best chicken rolls. Only the yellow bread shop on the top of John St still open 24/7 now.
Yea I know that shop
I think you're talking about Kim. The shop on John St, right down the bottom ,near the corner? She was a legend! Best pork rolls in town!
Should do one on good old Footscray 😵
Or st albans where i live
Takes longer than 3months to be a local, or to be considered/accepted as one.
Being 50 I grew up around the Liverpool -Fairfield area as this was happening. It wasn't as bad as they are trying to make it sound.
Ikr. It was nothin at all. Lol.
True you wouldn't have a problem there unless you went for it.
You forgot to mention that it was the capital of the world for hepatitis C.
It will same in Sydney soon not only in Sydney will be whole Australia
NSW paid 22 million to encrypt the police radio network to digital
Yet why do private tow firms arrive at accident scenes if the network is encrypted ????
Some one making wads of cash
A cop or ambo would tip off a towie ...
and Bob Car spent 88 million on new crime legislation's to clean up Cabramatta n for the whole of Nsw which r still being enforced today.
I am not living in Cambramatta and my friend living in bondi. If you give me a penthouse apartment in Bondi , i still choose to live in Cambramatta than Bondi. Why ? There is a great sense of community and people in Cambramatta and you dont have mental illness living in Bondi. There home delivery for drug in Bondi and they drive BMW, Mercedes into the carpark. Dont mess with the Viet, we settle the score in Vietnam
@Tony Sheilds
My grandmar to old for school
Bro nothing better then getting on At Goran Kings place and smoking up in the Garage then when scattered going for a pork roll down the station
RIP Minh Tran leader 1994
Good bloke. May he RIP.🌹
Bad man it sounds like
His name was Tri we called him untri no he wasn't a bad man
I đi time with him in boy’s home 1992
@@genghiskhan3912 I remember when he was going on trial for those killings he was with that Lebo chick then who he had the son too I remember him as a kid cause my father owned a few of the brothels in Cabra & was a major importer till his arrest in 98 ppl will always hate on Tri but he was a good guy deep down too many say he stood over shop keepers which was incorrect he stood over the Chinese owners who were making the Viets pay super expensive prices for rent I was born n bred in Cabra I remember John Newman coming to family events before he was killed & everyone all says poor John Newman but no-one mentions the cheques & cash found on his body they were all in on the trade
Mr Charles Miranda let me inform you that in the 80s the Astra Hotel at Bondi Beach was worse than Cabramatta in the 90s ( that is the pure fact).
The gear was good but
Get Tony hoang on here to talk
Went to school with Tony
Bankstown Chinatown had the cheapest and best gear $2o caps
Sounds like vic st in Melbourne
Grew up on Cabbra Ave, Miller....
Nicknamed Cabra vietnamatta
Does anyone know the name of the guy mentioned at the start who was killed?
Morgan Graham
@@PrattttyCheers. Any idea what year it was? Can't find anything online.
this guy reckons 20 years ago...should of seen it in the 90s
this guy would of stuck out like a sore thumb...
Cabramatta hasn't been multicultural since the early 90's.
😆😆😆
I miss them days
How I didn't die thier in the 90s , shocks me.
No fentanyl, also asians move smarter than most other races. They will wait a long time for revenge.
🤣🤣🤣Me too,i overdosed a couple of times out there,crazy times,im clean now thank goodness,
I just realised you have the same name as my son
@@annettelacey7913 really .. that is different. Hope he is well and safe Annette.
@@annettelacey7913 same lol it was pretty good gear then.. I’ve been clean for about 13 years now. Hope all is well for u and stay strong girl.
gentrified now, gong cha bubble tea shops are the main dealers now..still the best place to get a feed
Department Of Social Security was on one side of the tracks, CES job centre was on the other, you had to go to CES to look like you'd gone for some jobs...then walk the ramp over the line to the DSS to process your form. half a dozen deallers would be lined up on the ramp asking each time, one day i went 'yeah i try this stuf out'😂😂😂😂😂😂
I grew up in Cabra good times 2166
So where did they all go?
I’m 35 now lived in cabra for many years now living on the goldy the drug the shooting’s the prosos the pimps the stabbings you name it it was going on at night I didn’t walk anywhere without a knife around cabra you just didn’t know what was going to pop out around the corner have friends that still live there today and love going down to visit but cabras totally different to how it was back in the day it’s mellowed out now but when I go down I still like going to the diggers and Mekong club and the old Cabramatta in to have a game of pool I still love Cabramatta
Use full stops in your sentences
@@tanthaman he's Serb its not in his nature to do such posh things.
I think Steve needs to come back to Mcburney Road Cabramatta where he used to stay
@@slavazoid8179haha nice comment.Where you from?
She's sounds like she had a shot before the show
Who went to sweethearts in the 80s ?
Not that one but I had breakfast at Sweethearts in 1990
Ahhh fun times.
I lived in the lovely Lansdowne Caravan Park
98-2001
It was a horrific place
Lol.
Lived there too
I miss the 90s
Do you know what happened to the park? I went past there about 12 years ago and there was a housing estate. I can’t remember the name of the owner of Meriton.
The caretakers at the time I lived there were called Ray, and I think her name was Cathy
@@philoconnell7706 it's still there I think. Pretty sure it is. I drive past there all the time and haven't really noticed tho. Not sure i noticed the housing estates tho. Gotta check it out if I go past it now,now I'm curios. Lol
More syringes than flowers down there
An Asian bloke thought he'd be smart and padlock our car in a flats Carpark and call police,,,guess he didn't count on us having boltcutters in the car,,
🤣🤣🤣🤣
‘‘Twas created by the Vietnam war… essentially…
I’m confused what tap heads have to do with junkies tossing needles in their lawns or shooting up in there lawns.
mix it with water
To get the water to mix up a shot.
I call cap on "baggies", bruh, cigarette foil inside water balloons.
You need to stop calling them junkies cause it's an illness & frug use starts with depression
depressed sick junkies
Cabramatta gangsters paradise. Much more violent than Middle eastern and bikes. Vietbamese don't mess around. Real G's
@JVP 888 mhm
The war in vietnam became the war in cabra
Its still the same just more undercover ask 1 person and you will get what you want.
what's the tap thing about? why would a tap/water stop a drug user from booting up in a front yard?
They need the water to put in their drug spoons. No tap, you won't use that yard.
They’d take the top of the taps off so you couldn’t turn the water on the mix your gear up
5 t still around in marrickville.. 14 dragons still around all old .. but smart no show ponys keep it low key
I saw them in dulwich hill too
Long hair etc
@Tony Sheilds You talking about 20 century story, these day they got a bit of money all of them return back to viet nam. wasting your time and your life living in Australia, even Australian expat living all over Asia , hundred of thousand of them and you guy dont know working 9-5 until you all die and spend weekend at the pub.
@Tony Sheilds I don't think they operate as gangs anymore just sole entity's doing business
This place was very safe if you were not involved in the gangs. The gangsters wouldn't let scumbags rob people. The surrounding suburbs were far more dangerous because that's were the junkies were going to rob and steal.
Grew up it wasn’t that dangerous
Sounds like St Albans back in the day
30 decades later and it seems they all moved to Melton
St. Albans cannot compare to Cabramatta
@@michaelmyers9267 Sure bro, you know it all
Springvale 95 to 99 was just as bad
@@benwilson9628 yeah bro
Mikel Mikel Hilton , Sydenham hwy
Like a true journalist exaggerates his story.
Stop needles let em smoke it .
eshay 2166 bahh
Not called Vietnamatta for nothing
5t
Don't Matter , cabba matta
Hill street and Hughes street, Cabramatta are still notorious for drug deals in 2022.This happens on a daily basis in the block of units opposite some of the restaurants.More police should be visible around these areas especially in the early mornings.I still don’t feel safe going to Cabramatta.
GORAN KING runs the place now.
Only drug deals that are going are the ones at bar 53 and bistro
BKK
This part of sydney is simply dirt.
New south Wales still very dangerous
Haha, you trippin bro
This was pretty bad I must admit, the things I seen there on the streets was pretty full on.
I dont know how i didnt die then,hectic times
Goodbye five T
God bless you all , Jesus loves you all only he can save u repent and turn from your sins and accept jesus as Lord and saviour and you will be saved. He is the only way to eternal life in heaven once you pass away its too late
Hello Beautiful You are looking well
Bruh