Gangs, drugs, violence and the business behind it are all topics Jared Savage writes about in his true-crime book; Gangland.

Released in December 2020, Gangland shines a light into New Zealand's rising underworld of organised crime and violent gangs.

The brutal execution of a husband-and-wife; the undercover cop who infiltrated a casino VIP lounge; the midnight fishing trip which led to the country's biggest cocaine bust; the gangster who shot his best friend in a motorcycle shop: these stories go behind the headlines and open the door to an invisible world - a world where millions of dollars are made, life is cheap, and allegiances change like the flick of a switch.

Jared, an investigative journalist for the New Zealand Herald, recently sat down with BuzzWorthy producer Ross Crowley to talk about his book and career.

Reflecting on his 16 year career, Jared says he hasn't done the 'investigative stuff the whole time”.

'Obviously, you start out doing your rounds and paying your dues, but certainly the last five to 10 years.”

Jared says he had been covering the Auckland District Court reporting pretty regularly when he got a tip off to head up to the Auckland High Court about an interesting methamphetamine sentencing around March 2009.

'I head up with notepad in hand and these details about a pretty fascinating case unveiled in front of me.”

Jared says the case gave him a real good look at how organised crime was entrenched in New Zealand.

'I walked back to the office with quite a good story in my back pocket.

'That was my real first front page story for the Herald back in 2009.”

One thing lead to another and before he knew it, Jared was writing fairly regularly about those sort of cases.

'Here we are about 10 years later and I am still writing about it.”
In his podcast, Jared talks about the steps a crime journalist goes through from the moment they hear about a raid to the limitations of reporting on a case and the whole court reporting process.

Listen to it in full here or by clicking on the link below.