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Ice Nation - Cracking an ice syndicate: a detective's gripping inside story
'Ice Nation' is the blow-by-blow account by the lead investigating officer of efforts to stop a violent ice trafficking syndicate that operated in northeast Victoria and southern New South Wales as the scourge wrought havoc on his patch.
When the young and impressionable sons and daughters of rural Australia were promised power and riches beyond their wildest dreams by an older sadistic boss, they became a highly manipulated and dangerous group of drug dealers. Intent on distributing their own brand of ice and justice in regional communities, they were prepared to attack anyone or anything that stood in their way.
'Ice Nation' is a gripping snapshot of the epidemic that is taking over rural and regional Australia, following the spiralling trail of destruction as families and friends quickly find themselves out of their depth and out of control.
When the young and impressionable sons and daughters of rural Australia were promised power and riches beyond their wildest dreams by an older sadistic boss, they became a highly manipulated and dangerous group of drug dealers. Intent on distributing their own brand of ice and justice in regional communities, they were prepared to attack anyone or anything that stood in their way.
'Ice Nation' is a gripping snapshot of the epidemic that is taking over rural and regional Australia, following the spiralling trail of destruction as families and friends quickly find themselves out of their depth and out of control.
256 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 1, 2018
Ice Nation provides a front-line account of the investigative techniques and tenacity of the police in the war on drugs in rural communities in Victoria and border-towns of New South Wales.
The narrative flows like fiction akin to the Underbelly stories to capture the human-element of drug trafficking; the chapters encapsulating stories of the violent perpetrators, innocent and no-so victims, and family members.
Ice kills. That is the message of Ice Nation, and what better way to deliver that message than someone who has seen the affects up front and personal than author Jason Bray, a police officer tasked with bringing down a dangerous and unpredictable rural drug syndicate in the Australian state of Victoria.
Whilst not delving all that deep into the manufacturing side of the drug trade, Ice Nation does provide the reader with a detailed look at the way the drug affects the lives of the people directly or indirectly exposed to it.
My rating: 5/5 stars. Short, sharp, and punchy chapters provided context and depth to the members of the drug syndicate who fell into the black-hole of drug trafficking only to walk away with less than they started. Ice Nation is a great snapshot of the quick rise and fall of a drug syndicate in rural Australia.
This review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
The narrative flows like fiction akin to the Underbelly stories to capture the human-element of drug trafficking; the chapters encapsulating stories of the violent perpetrators, innocent and no-so victims, and family members.
Ice kills. That is the message of Ice Nation, and what better way to deliver that message than someone who has seen the affects up front and personal than author Jason Bray, a police officer tasked with bringing down a dangerous and unpredictable rural drug syndicate in the Australian state of Victoria.
Whilst not delving all that deep into the manufacturing side of the drug trade, Ice Nation does provide the reader with a detailed look at the way the drug affects the lives of the people directly or indirectly exposed to it.
My rating: 5/5 stars. Short, sharp, and punchy chapters provided context and depth to the members of the drug syndicate who fell into the black-hole of drug trafficking only to walk away with less than they started. Ice Nation is a great snapshot of the quick rise and fall of a drug syndicate in rural Australia.
This review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
March 25, 2020
Jason Bray is a former drug squad detective working in the North East of Victoria, Australia. This is his account of the year he spent, with the squad, tracking down and capturing the gang of ice dealers, headed by the notoriously violent ‘Boss’.
The Boss was an extremely well organised man, not the type you see in cop shows where they are stereotyped as losers, but a thinking man who kept control of his gang and could always manage to be several steps ahead of the police. Violent? Absolutely. He was not the man to go lightly on those who owed a debt, left his gang or shot their mouth off. Payback was usually swift and comprehensive.
For the year that the book outlines, the gang travelled extensively from town to town in Northern Victoria and Southern New South Wales, stopping for a matter of just weeks before moving on. Girlfriends, who were called Cleanskins on account that they were not involved in the dealing, made bookings for motels, rented cars and caravan parks under their own names and then the gang moved in. At each location they divide up drugs that were brought in, usually from Sydney, sold them off to a sway of dealers on the streets and then moved on.
Simultaneously two things happened. The gang started to get a reputation and get recognised by the public as bad people to stay clear of while at the same time The Boss began sampling some of his own merchandise. This was a cocktail for more violence, sloppiness and eventually capture.
I do enjoy a good true crime story and following this was enjoyable to a point but I always felt that the police, and especially Jason Bray as narrator, were far too egotistical and this does come out in his writing. A should point out to Mr Bray that these criminals were well ahead of his squad for some length of time and managed to sell a great quantity of Ice, Ecstacy and other substances before being caught.
Here I quote from the last page of the book. “The North-east of Victoria is a beautiful place. Wangaratta has always been and continues to be one of the safest and most liveable cities in Australia. It has at times been falsely perceived as having a rampant drug problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that if you arrest every drug dealer in town, which we did, then you’re going to make news and create drug arrest figures never seen before in the state, which we did.”
I’m sorry to say that I find the above statement both ignorant and narcissistic. We all know that drugs are everywhere and when police remove a kingpin another one steps up to take his place. To prove my point I have added a link to a news story. Keep in mind this gang, led by the Boss, were operating around 2012 and 2013. The news link is about “The Ice Queen of Wangaratta” Jessica Fogarty. She and her small crew were selling Ice in Wangaratta from 2010 until her arrest in 2014, essentially before the Gang started up and after they were broken up.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/vi...
News article courtesy of The Age newspaper in Melbourne, journalist tammy Mills.
The Boss was an extremely well organised man, not the type you see in cop shows where they are stereotyped as losers, but a thinking man who kept control of his gang and could always manage to be several steps ahead of the police. Violent? Absolutely. He was not the man to go lightly on those who owed a debt, left his gang or shot their mouth off. Payback was usually swift and comprehensive.
For the year that the book outlines, the gang travelled extensively from town to town in Northern Victoria and Southern New South Wales, stopping for a matter of just weeks before moving on. Girlfriends, who were called Cleanskins on account that they were not involved in the dealing, made bookings for motels, rented cars and caravan parks under their own names and then the gang moved in. At each location they divide up drugs that were brought in, usually from Sydney, sold them off to a sway of dealers on the streets and then moved on.
Simultaneously two things happened. The gang started to get a reputation and get recognised by the public as bad people to stay clear of while at the same time The Boss began sampling some of his own merchandise. This was a cocktail for more violence, sloppiness and eventually capture.
I do enjoy a good true crime story and following this was enjoyable to a point but I always felt that the police, and especially Jason Bray as narrator, were far too egotistical and this does come out in his writing. A should point out to Mr Bray that these criminals were well ahead of his squad for some length of time and managed to sell a great quantity of Ice, Ecstacy and other substances before being caught.
Here I quote from the last page of the book. “The North-east of Victoria is a beautiful place. Wangaratta has always been and continues to be one of the safest and most liveable cities in Australia. It has at times been falsely perceived as having a rampant drug problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that if you arrest every drug dealer in town, which we did, then you’re going to make news and create drug arrest figures never seen before in the state, which we did.”
I’m sorry to say that I find the above statement both ignorant and narcissistic. We all know that drugs are everywhere and when police remove a kingpin another one steps up to take his place. To prove my point I have added a link to a news story. Keep in mind this gang, led by the Boss, were operating around 2012 and 2013. The news link is about “The Ice Queen of Wangaratta” Jessica Fogarty. She and her small crew were selling Ice in Wangaratta from 2010 until her arrest in 2014, essentially before the Gang started up and after they were broken up.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/vi...
News article courtesy of The Age newspaper in Melbourne, journalist tammy Mills.
May 5, 2018
Another book that I couldn't put down. Found myself constantly wondering what was going to happen next.
This book is also a shockingly enlightening peek into the world of ice addiction and the people who become entrapped in its web.
This book is also a shockingly enlightening peek into the world of ice addiction and the people who become entrapped in its web.
April 5, 2018
Couldn’t put it down
I read this book and as a local not only is it extremely sad to read what was actually going on but the reach of the damage done was so widespread, some of these young kids were knee deep before they even realised.
The book, a debut for the author was extremely well written and very easy to read, at no time did I get bored and it was thoroughly engaging.
Sad topic but hopefully it will educate some of us re: the reality of its severity.
I read this book and as a local not only is it extremely sad to read what was actually going on but the reach of the damage done was so widespread, some of these young kids were knee deep before they even realised.
The book, a debut for the author was extremely well written and very easy to read, at no time did I get bored and it was thoroughly engaging.
Sad topic but hopefully it will educate some of us re: the reality of its severity.
February 20, 2019
Read this as a quick and easy read about a subject matter that interests me and I know a lot about. The subject being illegal drugs of fun and adiction. I wasn't wrong in assuming this book about about fellow Australian's who must also be interested in this subject matter on some level, at some time in the past, present and/or future. mAybe a 2.5 (two and a half) star out of 6 star book, but I don't think I could list it as this way, and besides this is once again some quick and brief notes that I may need to recall at some stage when listing some of my research undertaken on this subject matter that comes from published authors etc.....
The boss who is the protagonist in this book which is kind of a biography in some aspects (many actually), sounds like a real jerk who may still be in prison for selling ice. The reason I wrote this here is that I wonder if the author who apparently is a current police officer working for Victoria Police has embellished some of the facts in this book, and made some of what he thinks are educated guesses he feels are based in truth, but which I think possibly shows how this police officer is most likely a lot more naive and ignorant about his subject of expertise, which would be criminal drug dealers in this instance, which I think he knows a lot less about than he is aware of. I think he might be left deliberately naive if he really is an empathetic police officer trying to help keep communities and populations safe, and is not just doing his job as a means to get easy access to power and money etc.... Corruption in the police forces of Australia is wide spread at certain levels, I have witnessed this first hand, and whilst I'm not accusing the author or any other police officers of corruption that is written about or listed in this book, I have made some notes that I won't list online which help of my kowledge about police officers and how they work and operate, and what the expectations from the public are of this pubic service. Just brief unedited notes to help me remember reading this book that I may recall upon later, which I doubt will be of interest of use to anyone else reading these notes sorry. Happy to reply further and answer any questions if anyone would like me to - as I did actually read the whole book in quite a bit of detail and understood it all and it's fresh in my mind as I only finished reading it 1 or 2 weeks ago. So any questions addressed to me and I will try and answer as best as I can if this will help someone else who's wondering about reading this book etc,....... :) Happy faces for everyone, I love everyone especially law-abiding people! Love you all! :)
The boss who is the protagonist in this book which is kind of a biography in some aspects (many actually), sounds like a real jerk who may still be in prison for selling ice. The reason I wrote this here is that I wonder if the author who apparently is a current police officer working for Victoria Police has embellished some of the facts in this book, and made some of what he thinks are educated guesses he feels are based in truth, but which I think possibly shows how this police officer is most likely a lot more naive and ignorant about his subject of expertise, which would be criminal drug dealers in this instance, which I think he knows a lot less about than he is aware of. I think he might be left deliberately naive if he really is an empathetic police officer trying to help keep communities and populations safe, and is not just doing his job as a means to get easy access to power and money etc.... Corruption in the police forces of Australia is wide spread at certain levels, I have witnessed this first hand, and whilst I'm not accusing the author or any other police officers of corruption that is written about or listed in this book, I have made some notes that I won't list online which help of my kowledge about police officers and how they work and operate, and what the expectations from the public are of this pubic service. Just brief unedited notes to help me remember reading this book that I may recall upon later, which I doubt will be of interest of use to anyone else reading these notes sorry. Happy to reply further and answer any questions if anyone would like me to - as I did actually read the whole book in quite a bit of detail and understood it all and it's fresh in my mind as I only finished reading it 1 or 2 weeks ago. So any questions addressed to me and I will try and answer as best as I can if this will help someone else who's wondering about reading this book etc,....... :) Happy faces for everyone, I love everyone especially law-abiding people! Love you all! :)
May 10, 2022
Overexadgerated, fabricated and lied to by piss ants and whores who weren't even apart of our crew! A dog copper wrote this book to be a hero from a small town and make money off other ppls misery and hard times in their life an none of it is correct i should no im the wife! Having ur story told in the wrong way 5 years after the events occurred is damaging towards the family's involved and there children and for what? We were all punished we shouldn't b put threw the ringer again everyone paid for there crime and did there time. It is NOT a self help book merely a trophy for a cop that wanted a promotion and some extra cash! Fuk this book i no the truth! The people involved loved money and they weren't manipulated, they all had choices and without us they would b nobody's living out of there mums she'd never done anything in there lives. Jason bray ur a joke and next time get ur hierarchy stats right and my dog was not at all vicious she was a angel 🧡 my child will neva read the lies written about her father it discusts me that I wasn't able to sue these dogs Bcoz they didn't use our real names.... in such a small country town u don't need to
... some of us needed to heal and forget the bad times move on with our lives and this fuking dog took wat wasnt his story and shared a part of my life that I wanted to bury with the past. Cheers to all the dog coppers and wannabe ones u really don't help anyone.... taxpayers money going to waste yet again... protect and serve...fuk rite off! Serve urself a donut bray every dog gets there day doesn't matter if they wear a uniform #nocomment #fukwattheysay #copsfukkids
... some of us needed to heal and forget the bad times move on with our lives and this fuking dog took wat wasnt his story and shared a part of my life that I wanted to bury with the past. Cheers to all the dog coppers and wannabe ones u really don't help anyone.... taxpayers money going to waste yet again... protect and serve...fuk rite off! Serve urself a donut bray every dog gets there day doesn't matter if they wear a uniform #nocomment #fukwattheysay #copsfukkids
September 11, 2025
Detective Jason Bray writes of his experience in bringing down “The Syndicate” trafficking and dealing the drug Ice in VIC/NSW border towns. He writes of how the insidious drugs seeps its way into small rural towns and ruins lives. Its highly addictive nature means that from first puff your life can be ruined. Sure, it may start out fun, but soon it will consume your entire life costing you money and so much more. For thise who came into The Syndicate’s sphere, they were promised riches and the good life but quickly were controlled by addiction and violence. Working for The Boss meant you risked your freedom during each job, or pain & death if you dared stand up to him. The Police force worked tirelessly gathering evidence and disrupting The Syndicate until they could eventually arrest and hold them responsible. Unfortunately, the moment The Syndicate was behind bars, new dealers step in to fill the void and the whole process starts again.
An easy read and a basic story, but interesting to see how Ice affects small towns.
An easy read and a basic story, but interesting to see how Ice affects small towns.
June 23, 2025
Jason Bray can tell a story and maintain interest, or his subject matter can. Ice Nation at times reads like police procedural instructions, or a cover story from the Herald Sun, or even the Truth if readers are old enough to recall this salacious rag.
As I grew up in Wang I was very familiar with the setting, and I think this afforded me more investment in the tale
Peppered with dad jokes and some unsavoury characters, it's a decent Aussie true crime read
In their epilogue, Bray mentions how governments tobacco reforms were effective and don't ring quite true now given the state of play in Vic with illicit tobacco, even Wangaratta subject to store bombings
As I grew up in Wang I was very familiar with the setting, and I think this afforded me more investment in the tale
Peppered with dad jokes and some unsavoury characters, it's a decent Aussie true crime read
In their epilogue, Bray mentions how governments tobacco reforms were effective and don't ring quite true now given the state of play in Vic with illicit tobacco, even Wangaratta subject to store bombings
July 29, 2018
This was schn okay book to read. Sure it gives you an insight into the history of ice, and what affects the drug has on the individual, their family and life completely. Some of the things the Boys did is messed up. To say, that he needed to make a living and support himself, is no excuse for the things that he did to others, like the former syndicate members, dealers, users and anyone who had any dealings with him.
July 25, 2019
Aussie true crime is, I hate to admit, usually lacking in writing finesse. This one, I'm pleased to report, while not about to win any prizes is better than most. For a detective, Jason Bray is as handy with a pen as he is a camera (read the book).
Here he's busting an ice dealing syndicate led by the deranged "Boss", a "nerdy looking geek in glasses" and his rag tag motley crew of losers that go by names like The Baker, The Butcher. No Candlestick maker but Bray does put a wick under them.
This one is as it says : a gripping story. I just wished it was a touch longer.
Here he's busting an ice dealing syndicate led by the deranged "Boss", a "nerdy looking geek in glasses" and his rag tag motley crew of losers that go by names like The Baker, The Butcher. No Candlestick maker but Bray does put a wick under them.
This one is as it says : a gripping story. I just wished it was a touch longer.
October 29, 2018
Very factual and lost me a couple of times obviously the Inside Story from those inside the actual gang would have been a better read, still interesting to know about 1 part of the Ice problem in Australia
April 6, 2018
Eye opener into the “real world” ice epidemic. The author demonstrates how The drug impacts all the community as a whole and not only the user. Great read, easy to follow.
July 6, 2018
This book hooked me from the start, and I struggled to put it down!
July 19, 2019
Very regimented, like a police report.
September 9, 2019
A shocking and entertaining insight into the goings on around my current home town. I've a renewed appreciation for the law enforcement officers and their dedication.
February 22, 2019
Interesting look inside a police drug operation - lots of tips here for young people interested in running regional drug syndicates. The writing is quick and occasionally very dryly funny - although there are a few chapters which are about how ice is bad, which to be honest I was already somewhat across.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews