Cabramata is a suburb of Sydney, Australia, located 30 kilometres, or 18 miles southwest of

the Central Business District. Only about 30% of the 20,000 residents of Cabramata were

born in Australia. It is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the country. The largest

percentage of residents are Vietnamese, followed by Chinese, Thai, Cambodians and many other

nationalities. In the late 80s and 90s, Cabramata was a hotbed for crime. Heroin was rife

throughout the suburb. Cabramata railway station was known as the Junkie Express, with

users pouring in from all over looking for their fix. And where there is a huge drug problem,

there is crime, violent gangs, home invasions, robberies, bashings, extortions, kidnappings,

and murder.

John Mormenko was born in 1946 in Austria. He moved to Australia with his parents when

he was four and they settled in Cabramata. John attended Cabramata Primary School and

to later Liverpool Boys High School. In 1969, at the age of 23, he became one of New

South Wales's youngest trade union organizers. In 1972, John changed his name by Deedpole

to John Newman and in 1973, he got married to his wife Mary. Two years later, they had

their son David. In 1977, John's political career officially began as an ornament for

Fairfield Council, which covered Cabramata. Only a few weeks before Christmas in 1977,

John's wife Mary and their son David were killed in a car crash. Mary was handing out

pamphlets for the upcoming Fairfield Council elections. She was also pregnant at the

time with their second child. After this tragedy, John threw himself completely into politics.

He worked day and night. He was reelected as an ornament for Fairfield Council in 1980

and again in 1983. In 1985, he became Fairfield's deputy mayor and in 1986, he was the acting

mayor. On the 1st of February, the same year, John

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