Interviewer: Derryn Hinch
Interview Subject: Carl Williams
Program:  Mornings on 3AW, Victorian radio
Broadcast Date: 2004

Part One:
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Part Two:
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Most people would be a touch apprehensive when speaking to a criminal let alone notorious Melbourne gangland figure, the late Carl Williams. Derryn Hinch, a notable Australian radio broadcaster, showed aggression and no limitations in a no-holds-barred interview with Williams over the phone in a drive-time radio interview in 2004.

Hinch doesn’t give Williams a chance to settle and fires demandingly personal questions. He asks him whether he had threatened to kill a police officer and the officer’s girlfriend.  He further infers that the sole reason as to why Williams was allowed bail was due to the threats.

Hinch asks Williams numerous times, ‘How do you make your money? How do you make your money?’ The radio host’s persistence forces Williams to crack, causing him to stutter as he thinks of a response that is worthy to be made on air that won’t corrupt his court case. Hinch’s perseverance in pursuing an answer causes Williams to hang up.

Williams all but openly answers the questions thrown at him that accompanies his ignorance and deceit which is obvious during the radio interview.

The exchange provides an entertaining insight to the wit and fearless nature of Hinch as he vigorously attacks someone who was one of Melbourne’s most infamous criminals.

Aaron Pabst is a first-year student in the Bachelor of Journalism at La Trobe University.

See the rest of upstart‘s list of 50 great interviews for journalists here.