KEY POINTS:
Australian actor Matt Newton is reported to have signed to play one of New Zealand's most notorious criminals, drug lord Terrence Clark, in a prequel to the Australian TV series Underbelly.
Channel 9 was silent at the weekend about casting details and plot lines, but the series will follow Sydney's underworld in the 1970s and 80s, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The Australasian crime world was dominated in the 1970s by Clark, formerly of Gisborne, when he was the ruthless head of the "Mr Asia" drug syndicate, which imported heroin into New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
A string of people died as Clark forced himself to the top of the syndicate. He was eventually jailed in England for ordering the murder of former Aucklander Marty Johnstone after a Thai drug deal went wrong.
Journalist David Lomas, who followed the case for several decades, reported in the Listener that Clark's deputy, "Diamond" Jim Shepherd, told him Clark had a lust to kill and "you can put all the drug problems in Australia today down to one man - Terry Clark".
Clark died in prison in 1983, officially of natural causes, but speculation arose that he was secretly murdered.
The Telegraph reported that actor Andrew McFarlane was tipped to play anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay, and Roy Billing is expected to step into the shoes of crime boss Robert Trimbole.
Filming for the series will begin in Sydney this week.
- NZPA
