Griffith wasn’t just vineyards—it was an industrial drug economy hiding in plain sight. As Donald Mackay vanished, a syndicate led by Robert Trimbole—with names like Sergi, Barbaro and Tizzone—was cultivating cannabis on a massive scale, protected by silence and influence. Raids came and went. Files moved. People stopped asking questions.

By 1977, law-enforcement estimates put the profits at $60–$80 million a year—nearly half a billion dollars in today’s terms—laundered through trucking firms, restaurants and real estate. This episode follows the money, the protection and the leaks that let the crops keep growing, and asks the question that still matters in 2025: when truth collides with power, who pays the price? For the Mackay family, the cost never ended.

Credits

Written & Produced by Stephen Johns

Sound Design & Editing by Stephen Johns

Archival Research by Alex G

Archival audio excerpts courtesy of ABC News.

Used under Australian fair dealing provisions for news, reporting, and public interest analysis.

© Compromised Podcast Series. All rights reserved.

Music licensed via Uppbeat:

• Like a River — Danijel Zambo
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• Blur — Goods Cargo
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• Endless Puzzle — AVBE
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• Spring Coming — Enrique Molano
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• A New Chapter — Luminbird
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• Don’t Let Go — Apex Music
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• Intriguing Case — Matt Stewart-Evans
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• Underworld — Revo
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• Maytan Risunchis — Arnito
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• Electromagnetic Interference — Adi Goldstein
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• News You Can Trust — Soundroll
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• The Heart of Silence — Arnito
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• Two Worlds — Tatami
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Justice Philip Woodward audio in part: Crime Investigation Australia: Conviction in Donald Mackay case. 2007. Foxtel

Al Grassby comments: ABC News archives Australia

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https://uppbeat.io/t/enrique-molano/spring-coming

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https://uppbeat.io/t/avbe/endless-puzzle

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