the last king of the cross book review

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Last King of the Cross review – true crime series too polished for its own good

Based on John Ibrahim’s memoir and starring Tim Roth as a crime boss, this drama about Sydney’s ‘mecca of sin’ is full of forgettable machismo

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Y ou know the drill: a hungry upstart sets out to make a name for themselves in a competitive industry, building networks and battling the old guard. It’s a hallmark of the entrepreneurial narrative, repeated for the umpteenth time in the 10-part series Last King of the Cross, with an Underbelly-ish twist – in that the protagonist associates with various shadowy personalities. The series was inspired by the memoir of John Ibrahim, a nightclub owner whose brothers Sam and Michael are underworld figures, though John (an executive producer of the show) has never been accused of any crimes related to his brothers’ offences.

The show stars Lincoln Younes as Ibrahim and, in an early scene, dramatises the subject’s 1995 appearance at the Wood royal commission into New South Wales police corruption. It’s one of several short titbits the writers crowbar into the show’s introductory moments, seemingly unsure where to begin.

The first scene depicts John and his brother Sam (Claude Jabbour) tending to their father on his deathbed, before the narrative jumps back to show the brothers during the civil war in Lebanon circa 1978. Then it returns to western Sydney in 1993, with various shady-looking blokes congregating for their father’s funeral and Tim Roth’s crime boss Ezra Shipman offering condolences.

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But the story doesn’t settle there. It then jumps ahead to the royal commission, then back to Kings Cross in 1987 – the fourth timeline change in less than seven minutes. When the camera descends on to a recreation of the Kings Cross strip – an actual set, constructed over 14 weeks in Sydney – you get the feeling this is where the show always wanted to be. That feeling is backed up by Matt Nable’s narration, describing the strip as “the only game in town if you want a naughty night out” – a “mecca for sin”.

Despite some faithful recreations – including the old Kings Cross Coke sign – the textures here are glossy and slightly unreal. The show carries a polished look but that’s not necessarily a good thing: these kinds of streetside stories are often more compelling when they look scuzzy – a bit rough around the edges.

The series’ Hollywood-ish lot brings to mind a Baz Luhrmann production, The Get Down, which – based in New York in the 70s – features far more impressive period recreations, albeit drawn from a much larger budget. In this series it isn’t until the third episode (all I’ve been privy to so far) that there’s a strong sense of location. By this point the protagonist has bought his first nightclub, cleaning it up and bringing a more professional managerial style than his predecessor.

The producers were presumably hoping to tap into the enduring appeal of stories involving wild-side-walking tough guys, here delivering lines such as, “I’m gonna get ’im for ya!” and “You tryin’ to start a fuckin’ war?” There are bursts of violence, drug deals, occasional shootouts and various acts of machismo floating through oceans of testosterone. Conversation topics include retribution, making mistakes, not following in somebody’s footsteps, yada yada; we’ve been here many times before.

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The style, in a word, feels risk-averse – which also applies to the performances. They are fine but unremarkable; nobody really stamps their foot on the accelerator. Younes holds his own as the subdued, street smart professional, while Roth comes across as oddly casual, both in his character’s hands-in-pockets demeanour and the way he faffs about on the story’s peripheries.

At times the show’s lukewarm tone made me want to grab the screen and shake it to life. There are signs it’s improving (with fewer timeline changes – that’s for sure) but who can justify sticking with a so-so series for more than three episodes when there’s so much else out there vying for our attention?

Last King of the Cross is available to stream on Paramount+

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Last King of the Cross

John Ibrahim

SOON TO BE A TV MINISERIES ON PARAMOUNT+ WINNER OF THE DANGER PRIZE 2018 John Ibrahim's incredible life story told in his own words. Last King of the Cross lays bare Australia's most notorious underworld figure. In the mongrel tongue of the streets, John writes of fleeing war-torn Tripoli with his family and growing up in Sydney's rough and tumble west - before establishing himself as a tough guy and teen delinquent, then a bouncer, enforcer and nightclub king on the Golden Mile. Bullets fly, blades flash and bodies fall. In a city of shadows, John builds his army and empire - partying like a playboy prince of darkness while staying one step ahead of the cops, the outlaw gangs and hungry triggermen, plotting to take him and his family down. Crazier than Goodfellas , more compelling than The Godfather , Last King of the Cross is a colourful crime saga like no other and powerful proof that truth is always stranger than fiction.

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'It's not a biopic.' The true story behind The Last King of the Cross.

The Last King of The Cross is our   most recent and possibly most expensive endeavour (an estimated $40 million) to bring Sydney's Kings Cross, circa 1980s and 1990s, to the screen. The Paramount+ production focuses on real-life nightclub tycoon John Ibrahim, the titular King.

Watch the trailer for The Last King of The Cross here. Story continues below. 

Corruption, bribery and violence are just the tip of the iceberg for what was happening in one of Sydney’s most dangerous districts back then, but how much of the truth will they be showing in the 10 episode series?

The series follows Ibrahim, one of four sons and two daughters who migrated to Sydney in the 1970s from war-torn Lebanon.

Eldest son Hassan, also known as Sam, fell into work enforcing business owners to funnel money into the local organised crime group. While Ibrahim was dissuaded into joining the violent lifestyle Sam had become a part of, at 16 years old he was involved in an altercation that left him stabbed and in a coma for three weeks. At 18, he opened his first club in Kings Cross. It was rumoured the club was a hub for organised drug activity. 

Today, Ibrahim is a property tycoon and linked to over 17 nightclubs. The last three decades have seen him accused by the NSW Police of drug trade, extortion, and various criminal activities, however he has never been convicted for them, earning him the nickname "Teflon John" because nothing sticks.

You might recall in 2010, Underbelly took on the project on dramatising Ibrahim’s rise in The Cross in the series Underbelly: The Golden Mile.  

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Kanye “Something Has Gone Terribly Wrong” West

This new 10-part series from Paramount+ is heavily inspired by Ibrahim’s  2017 memoir, also named T he Last King of The Cross . Ibrahim is directly involved with this project and is featured as a producer for the show.

The series does not hide the fact that it is a dramatisation of real people and events - expressly stating it's a "dramatisation inspired by the best-selling autobiography of John Ibrahim" and several characters and events represented "are entirely fictitious" - meaning that the violent crimes committed in the show can’t be considered a true reflection of what happened in reality... even though they very well might be. 

The series takes a lot of time to set the scene, showing the intricacies of the criminal activities prevalent in Kings Cross as well as the inherent character of 'the strip' itself and its eclectic mix of visitors. While it’s a 'dramatisation', we can assume Ibrahim took the time to breathe life into these small details plucked straight from his own memories and experience. 

Initially, the show’s timeline jumps between Lebanon in the 70s to Sydney in the 90s, covering a lot of Ibrahim’s early life.

The show takes pride in ensuring accuracy, building a to-scale replica of the strip of nightclubs that once lit up the streets in the 90s, including the iconic Kings Cross Coke sign that was built in 1974 and became known as 'The Gateway to the Cross.'

Lincoln Younes, who plays Ibrahim on screen, told   The  Sydney Morning Herald that he is not playing the "real" Ibrahim, but a fictionalised version of him.

"John the person is enigmatic, charming, charismatic, ambitious and perfectionist. And John the character is mysterious, charismatic, intense, internal and the last bit would be, probably, volatile," he said.

"It’s not a biopic, I’m not playing him. There was an essence from his memoir that was the inspiration for the show. And there’s obviously a lot of historical markers that are touched on in the show but, for me, the exciting part was the enigma of this character, the mystique and that for such a vibrant, dangerous world, he endured in it and thrived. And from nothing, he created this kingdom."

Last King of The Cross is currently streaming on Paramount+.

Feature Image: Paramount+/Getty.

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Last King of the Cross (Paramount+) review: solid world building with overplayed violence

Lincoln Younes as John Ibrahim in Last King of the Cross. Photo: Daniel Asher Smith.

Blame Martin Scorsese. He probably wasn’t the first to popularise stories about organised crime with a ‘it was fun while it lasted’ moral, but with Goodfellas and Casino he really hammered home the idea that there was a golden age of organised crime, and when it passed everything fell apart. Now Last King of the Cross is here to make audiences feel nostalgic for Australia’s golden age of bribery, bashings and police corruption: Sydney’s King’s Cross in the 80s and 90s.

Read : Goncharov, I hardly knew ye: how the internet invented a Scorsese film

The story of the Cross

John Ibrahim (Lincoln Younes) grew up tough. As a child his family came to Sydney from war-torn Lebanon; with his father absent, it was up to his brother Sam (Claude Jabbour) to support the family. Sam’s skills found an outlet on the streets of Kings Cross, where he became the strip’s top enforcer, making sure the club owners funnelled their kickbacks into a criminal system with Ezra Shipman (Tim Roth) at the top. Sam did his best to discourage his younger brother from following in his violent footsteps: no prizes for guessing how that worked out.

Over the last three decades, the real-life Ibrahim has been a highly successful nightclub owner and property magnate. There’s also been a number of accusations from NSW police about his links to the drug trade, alongside suggestions of extortion and other criminal activities. Not to mention renting a house out to his business partner Kyle Sandilands.

Read : Transfusion on Stan review: interrogating masculine clichés

So while this ten-part series is ‘inspired by’ John Ibrahim’s memoir (also titled Last King of the Cross ) and features Ibrahim as one of the producers, there’s also a lot of legal disclaimers up front to let you know this is ‘a dramatisation’ that is ‘inspired by’ actual people and events. Just in case anyone thought Ibrahim would sign off on a series that showed him blatantly committing a surprisingly large number of violent crimes.

Read : The Last of Us (Binge) full season review – A strong, worthwhile adaptation

Not our first rodeo

Back in 2010 long-running crime series Underbelly did their own version of John Ibrahim’s rise with Underbelly: The Golden Mile . This is a more polished series in just about every way; they even built a set to recreate the 90s-era Cross in a Western Sydney carpark. But at its seedy heart it doesn’t veer far from the earlier series’ well-beaten track. To be fair, it’s hard to imagine a series set during the golden age of The Cross that doesn’t feature a lot of strip clubs.

There’s a stellar supporting cast here, including Australia’s current favourite small screen tough guy Matt Nable as Shipman’s right-hand man and Callan Mulvey as the Cross’s top bent cop. But it’s Younes’ magnetic performance that grabs the spotlight in his every scene, making Ibrahim a convincing and charming character even as the series around him seems more interested in playing up the legend.

You’d think the Cross at its sleazy height might be a frustrating setting for a teenage boy. Fortunately Ibrahim is such a sex magnet the working girls are throwing themselves at him, especially when he’s lurking around their upstairs storeroom spying out the window to see how the Cross really works. Guess all those empty boxes really turn the girls on.

It’s a cliché to say ‘the setting is the main character’, but this does take its time explaining how the criminal ecosystem of The Cross works, complete with networks of favours, wads of old paper currency and crims with names like Skinny Steve and Ashtray Frank. It’s a better series for it; it’s the kind of solid world-building that gives the drama a firm foundation, and provides real stakes when it all starts to come apart.

Senseless violence

Last King of the Cross is a series about violent criminals, but if the series has a weak link, it’s the violent crime. It’s not badly handled, but it rarely offers audiences anything fresh. The climax of the second episode is a scene that could have been lifted from a Tarantino knock-off, where the body count rises dramatically and in the end Ibrahim symbolically burns his past to embrace his life of crime. It’s fine, just nothing special (even with a quirky snake cameo). We’ve seen it all before.

The episode’s real dramatic high point comes when Ibrahim bails up the owner of a struggling nightclub and, with a confidence we know he doesn’t really possess, runs through facts and figures that show he knows the business better than anyone – and if he’s put in charge, everyone is going to get rich. Though it’s safe to assume Ibrahim will be lining his own pockets first.

The old Cross may be gone but Ibrahim lives on. Last King of the Cross isn’t the freshest crime story ever told, but an ending where the crime boss stays on top after the world around him crumbles? That’s one for the books.

Last King of the Cross is on Paramount+ from February 17

4 out of 5 stars

Anthony Morris

Lincoln Younes, Claude Jabbour, Callan Mulvey

Grant Brown

Format: Movie

Country: Australia

Release: 17 February 2023

Anthony Morris is a freelance film and television writer. He’s been a regular contributor to The Big Issue, Empire Magazine, Junkee, Broadsheet, The Wheeler Centre and Forte Magazine, where he’s currently the film editor. Other publications he’s contributed to include Vice, The Vine, Kill Your Darlings (where he was their online film columnist), The Lifted Brow, Urban Walkabout and Spook Magazine. He’s the co-author of hit romantic comedy novel The Hot Guy, and he’s also written some short stories he’d rather you didn’t mention. You can follow him on Twitter @morrbeat and read some of his reviews on the blog It’s Better in the Dark.

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Last King of the Cross

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• Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
• 4.8 out of 5 stars 4.8 (757 ratings)

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• Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
• Overall 4 out of 5 stars 116
• Performance 4 out of 5 stars 95
• Story 4 out of 5 stars 93

Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read is the son of a strict Seventh Day Adventist mother and a shell-shocked former soldier who slept with a loaded gun at his side. Bullied at school, he grew up dreaming of revenge ("There are none so merciless as those who have been shown no mercy", as he later noted). He became a criminal legend who terrorised drug dealers, pimps, thieves and armed robbers on the streets and in jail - but boasts he never hurt an innocent member of the public.

Brilliant, brutal, entertaining as hell

• By Amazon Customer on 18-04-2017

• By: Jared Savage
• Narrated by: Stephen Lovatt
• Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 241
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 204
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 204

New Zealand is now one of the most lucrative illicit drug markets in the world. Organized crime is about making money. It's a business. But over the past 20 years, the dealers have graduated from motorcycle gangs to Asian crime syndicates and now the most dangerous drug lords in the world - the Mexican cartels. In Gangland , award-winning investigative reporter Jared Savage shines a light into New Zealand's rising underworld of organized crime and violent gangs.

Best Book I have read in the last 12 months

• By betty on 02-03-2021

Australia's Most Murderous Prison

• Behind the Walls of Goulburn Jail
• By: James Phelps
• Narrated by: Stan Pretty
• Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
• Overall 4 out of 5 stars 191
• Performance 4 out of 5 stars 170
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 168

An unprecedented spate of murders in the 1990s earned Goulburn Jail the ominous name 'The Killing Fields'. Inmates sentenced or transferred to the 130-year-old towering menace declared they had been given death sentences. Serial killer Ivan Milat, the 'Terror Five' militants who plotted attacks across Sydney in 2005, Brothers 4 Life founder Bassam Hamzy and gang rapist Bilal Skaf are just a few of the inmates inside Australia's most murderous prison. Meet them all here in Phelps' best-selling audiobook.

I've done 10yrs at Goulburn

• By Anonymous User on 15-09-2021

Above the Law

• Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 76
• Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 64
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 64

The world’s most successful criminal empire is now being operated on a massive scale by outlaw motorcycle gangs - an empire that is growing in power, reach, and ruthlessness by the day. Their international empire is both sophisticated and brutal. It is also both strategic and opportunistic - where they cannot dominate, they broker alliances. Above the Law investigates how it all started: the turf wars that were fought, the deals that were done, and how the sea of cash that was earned is now being legitimised. It also reveals how law enforcement at an international level is losing the battle against the gangs.

long winded news story

• By Tommo on 28-06-2020

Publisher's Summary

SOON TO BE A TV MINISERIES ON PARAMOUNT+

WINNER OF THE DANGER PRIZE 2018

John Ibrahim's incredible life story told in his own words.

Last King of the Cross lays bare Australia's most notorious underworld figure.

In the mongrel tongue of the streets, John writes of fleeing war-torn Tripoli with his family and growing up in Sydney's rough and tumble west - before establishing himself as a tough guy and teen delinquent, then a bouncer, enforcer and nightclub king on the Golden Mile.

Bullets fly, blades flash and bodies fall. In a city of shadows, John builds his army and empire - partying like a playboy prince of darkness while staying one step ahead of the cops, the outlaw gangs and hungry triggermen, plotting to take him and his family down.

Crazier than Goodfellas , more compelling than The Godfather , Last King of the Cross is a colourful crime saga like no other and powerful proof that truth is always stranger than fiction.

• Unabridged Audiobook
• Categories: Biographies & Memoirs

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What listeners say about Last King of the Cross

• 5 out of 5 stars 4.8 out of 5.0
• 5 Stars 625
• 4 Stars 105
• 5 Stars 532
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 4.7 out of 5.0

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Audible.com.au reviews, amazon reviews.

• Overall 5 out of 5 stars
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars
• Story 5 out of 5 stars

• Tim Mardiyants

Excellent book, well-written and highly engaging

A fantastic insight into Sydney's underbelly in the 1990s and early 2000s. Also a fascinating look at John's journey from an immigrant kid in Western Sydney to financial independence and mixing with Sydney's and international A-listers. Highly engaging A+.

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2 people found this helpful

• Brendan Bellew

great book worked there in his clubs and can remember some.e of the things he was talking about. good laughs and some effin hell moments

• leigh tuffery

Couldnt put this down. Awesome book Narrator excellent...... i really really enjoyed it a lot.

• Anonymous User

Amazing book!

I’ve read hundreds of book over the past few years and this is the only one that I couldn’t put down. So interesting and captivating... wish it had a second part!

Lovely book, would love to met this guy one day. Family values Street wise Business ethic is epic smart watching The front and back doormat of your business

Great read! disappointed it finished

Always intrigued by this man, got a better insight from his book. I enjoyed it thoroughly! sad when it finished.

A very interesting, funny and educational read!

This is a great read and I highly recommend it. I'm sure a few cages were rattled by writing this, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a great window into how things were during those years in the cross. Huge respect to JI for being so passionate about his patrons all those years. Also the reader is perfect. RIP The X and all the best to JI.

great story

great story and great insight into a world that I've only heard stories of. narrator did a great job.

• Overall 4 out of 5 stars
• Performance 4 out of 5 stars
• Story 4 out of 5 stars

• Leza Boardman

John Ibrahim- Wow! it wasn't an easy road.

loved it! really interesting insight into a really rough reality of the cross & oxford street and everything John had to content with along the way.

A very interesting life

John somehow makes thug life an acceptable part of everyday life!! Raw and honest and disturbing that there are people that use violence to get what they want. Despite all that. I found the book an interesting read and recommend it.

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Last King of the Cross Kindle Edition

SOON TO BE A TV MINISERIES ON PARAMOUNT+ WINNER OF THE DANGER PRIZE 2018 John Ibrahim's incredible life story told in his own words. Last King of the Cross lays bare Australia's most notorious underworld figure. In the mongrel tongue of the streets, John writes of fleeing war-torn Tripoli with his family and growing up in Sydney's rough and tumble west - before establishing himself as a tough guy and teen delinquent, then a bouncer, enforcer and nightclub king on the Golden Mile. Bullets fly, blades flash and bodies fall. In a city of shadows, John builds his army and empire - partying like a playboy prince of darkness while staying one step ahead of the cops, the outlaw gangs and hungry triggermen, plotting to take him and his family down. Crazier than Goodfellas , more compelling than The Godfather , Last King of the Cross is a colourful crime saga like no other and powerful proof that truth is always stranger than fiction.

• Print length 395 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Pan Australia
• Publication date 25 July 2017
• File size 11459 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

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About the author, product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B071HWTZ38
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan Australia (25 July 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 11459 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 395 pages
• 24 in History of Wales
• 376 in Crime & Criminal Biographies
• 418 in True Crime (Kindle Store)

About the author

John ibrahim.

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Last King Of The Cross: The True Story, Cast, Where It’s Streaming & More 

The tale of Teflon John.

Image: Paramount+

Streaming now on Paramount Plus is Last King of the Cross , a 10-part true-crime series set in the streets of Sydney’s notorious Kings Cross during its seedy ‘90s heyday, in which aspirational nightclub owner John Ibrahim rose to the top of what was dubbed the “mecca of sin.”

Based on Ibrahim’s autobiography of the same name, Last King of the Cross takes the classic rags-to-riches crime arc and blends it with a ripped-from-the-tabloids story of crime, sex, and corruption in the ‘Cross. There is also, of course, much in the way of sensationalism in this screen adaptation as most true crime gangster stories tend to do. Unlike the similar themed Underbelly: The Golden Mile that was released in 2004, however, Last King of the Cross boasts John Ibrahim and his family as direct consultants.

Who are John and Sam Ibrahim from Last King of the Cross ?

Last King of the Cross tells the story of brothers John and Sam Ibrahim, who along with their family, migrated from war-torn Tripoli, Lebanon, to Sydney, Australia’s biggest city – where they grew up in a housing commission flat in the city’s wild west.

As the old guard of the King Cross criminal underworld found themselves under the sights of the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption, an 18-year-old John opened his first nightclub. Using his street smarts and his head for business, John would go on to become the czar of the nightclub business in the ‘Cross, with allegedly 17 to his name as well as numerous multimillion-dollar homes in Sydney’s east.

WATCH the trailer for Last King of the Cross below .

During his rise to the top, however, John would rub shoulders with many of the prominent crime figures who used King Cross as the epicentre of their criminal dealings. NSW Police often had John under investigation and even labelled him as the “lifeblood of the drugs industry of Kings Cross”, a charge that John has strongly denied.

To this day, John has not been convicted of any charges put against him, and on some occasions was awarded costs after charges were dismissed. This led to the media dubbing him “Teflon John.”

Sam Ibrahim, however, is a different story. A career criminal, Sam was one of the first Lebanese-Australian men to join an Australian outlaw motorcycle gang and would eventually become the president of the Granville chapter of the Nomads Motorcycle Club.

A feared underground crime figure, Sam would face charges for drug distribution, numerous violent incidents, and gun running, the latter of which saw Sam sentenced to several years in prison. In 2015, Sam would be deported from Australia to Lebanon for his lengthy criminal history.    

Who is in Last King of the Cross ?

Lincoln Younes stars as John Ibrahim. Younes first appeared in the Foxtel series Tangle opposite Ben Mendelsohn, before making his mark in the US with lead roles in the crime drama Grand Hotel and the CW reboot of 1980s cult horror classic The Lost Boys . Younes will next be seen in the Stan original war comedy Caught alongside Oscar winner Sean Penn.

Claude Jabbour stars as Sam Ibrahim. Jabbour is known for his performance in the ABC miniseries Stateless , which also starred Cate Blanchett and Dominic West. He also starred in the Stan original series Eden , as well as the Australian drama Measure for Measure alongside Hugo Weaving.

Tim Roth stars as Ezra Shipman, a fictional crime boss who was originally to be portrayed by Ian McShane. Roth is an Oscar-nominated British actor known for his roles in Rob Roy , Pulp Fiction , and The Incredible Hulk .

Callan Mulvey stars as Detective Sergeant Brian Crellan, a corrupt police officer who patrols Kings Cross. Mulvey is one of Australia’s best-known actors with memorable roles in local made TV programs Mystery Road and Underbelly . He has also starred in blockbuster films such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier , and The Gray Man opposite Ryan Gosling.

Tess Haubrich stars as Detective Elizabeth Doyle, a police officer who vows to rid Kings Cross of corruption, even if it means arresting her fellow officer. Haubrich recently appeared in the sci-fi thriller Spiderhead alongside Chris Hemsworth. She also starred in the drama series Bad Mothers , as well as the crime thriller After the Verdict alongside her Last King of the Cross co-star Lincoln Younes.

Just how true is Last King of the Cross ?

The makers and cast of Last King of the Cross have gone to great lengths to remind that the crime series is not a true representation of real-life events. The beginning of every episode displays the statement that Last King of the Cross is a “dramatisation inspired by the best-selling autobiography of John Ibrahim” and that “several of the characters and events represented throughout the series are entirely fictitious.”

These sentiments are shared by Younes, who said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald : “[ Last King of the Cross ] is not a biopic, I’m not playing [John Ibrahim]. There was an essence from his memoir that was the inspiration for the show. And there’s obviously a lot of historical markers that are touched on in the show but, for me, the exciting part was the enigma of this character, the mystique and that for such a vibrant, dangerous world, he endured in it and thrived. And from nothing, he created this kingdom.”

Where is Last King of the Cross streaming?

Last King of the Cross is currently streaming on Paramount Plus . The crime series had an estimated budget of $40 million and was filmed across Sydney back in 2022.

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A Family Saga That Stays Calm Through Tumultuous Times

Jessica Shattuck’s “Last House” dips into the cultural intrigues of 20th-century America, but keeps its nose surprisingly clean.

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By Kate Christensen

Kate Christensen is the author, most recently, of the novel “Welcome Home, Stranger.”

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LAST HOUSE: or, The Age of Oil, by Jessica Shattuck

Jessica Shattuck’s new novel, “Last House,” opens with a two-page list echoing the book’s subtitle, “The Age of Oil” — a cheeky ode to the ubiquity of petroleum-based products that suggests a sort of 21st-century answer to Upton Sinclair’s fast-paced satirical novel “Oil!” Instead, we get a richly detailed, slow-burning family saga distinguished by incisive psychological insight and masterful research. “Last House” brings to life several generations of the Taylor family, who, in different ways, are all involved in the social and political tumult of the second half of the 20th century.

In the prologue, we meet Nick Taylor, an earnest, fresh-faced 30-year-old junior lawyer for American Oil, on a plane over Iran’s Abadan oil field. He gazes out the window, marveling at this “vast and complex apparatus for harvesting the lifeblood of modernity,” while his colleagues heedlessly kibitz and swill booze around him.

One of these men is a former Yale classmate, the golden boy Carter Weston, “a fourth-generation prep-school type” who is dissolute and cocky, and therefore, we expect, will become the instrument of Nick’s eventual downfall. I licked my chops and settled in for a takedown of the oil industry’s evils, looking forward to watching Nick’s ideals crumble, his soul corroding in the acid of his own venal complicity.

The novel opens in the spring of 1953 in Mapleton, Conn., where Nick and his wife, Bet, a well-educated, upwardly mobile young couple, have relinquished their intellectual and artistic ambitions to live in this suburban bedroom community and raise a son and a daughter as they reap the bounty of postwar American largesse, a situation rife with dark undercurrents of marital and existential despair.

But instead of delivering on its foreshadowings, the narrative proffers and then whisks away one juicy dramatic possibility after another, letting every potential chance for interesting conflict gently deflate into internal reflection. Nick’s job troubles him far less than the novel’s beginning suggests it will, and Bet’s forfeiture of her desire to get a Ph.D. in literature to be a mother and housewife troubles her even less. The “javelin of resentment” her husband feels from her on Page 2 never reaches its target or shows its point again.

Because Nick and Bet largely seem to be essentially, mutually contented with the underpinnings of their lives, nothing is ever really at stake for them. Their children flourish, more or less. Nick’s job gives them the means to buy a Vermont vacation home, the titular “last house.” Their marriage is a steady ship plowing straight through Carter’s decades-long attempt to seduce Bet; she’s aware of it and mildly intrigued, but never truly torn or tempted. Any tension that arises between or within the Taylors somehow seems to dissipate by morning.

Fast-forward to Part 2, to the Taylor children’s coming-of-age as baby boomers circa 1968, when political turmoil and social explosion are in full swing. But the muted, genteel tone of the novel’s opening section continues into this exciting new American era, via the first-person voice of Katherine Taylor, Nick and Bet’s daughter, now in her early 20s. As with the beginning of the novel, her narrative is ripe for drama: She writes for a countercultural newspaper and hangs out with radicals in New York as her younger brother, Harry, becomes increasingly caught up in ecological activism.

But Katherine, instead of plunging into the passionate heat of her time, works hard and views her comrades from a distance, with a tinge of condescension. Much as she’d like to join in the rebellious fun, at least in theory, her proper Connecticut upbringing — her parents’ “sense of How to Be” — is too ingrained to allow her to “hoot and holler down the hillside, shirtless, T-shirt tucked into your back pocket, or to slink across the stream braless, hips swishing seductively. I was irritated with all of them.” Along with the novel, she watches primly from the bank.

All the real drama in “Last House” seems to happen offstage. A violent event, the culmination of Harry’s ecological despair, should be the novel’s dark tragic center; instead, it remains frustratingly murky, as does its aftermath. The book’s aura of well-behaved detachment is especially disappointing because Shattuck is such a good writer, giving us swaths of cultural and historical background as gracefully and intelligently as she parses the emotional depths of her characters. Every note in the novel rings clear and true, but it never comes fully to life in the way that matters.

Maybe the “comfort and ease” of the Taylors’ marriage, Bet thinks early on, “diminished a certain excitement and offered honesty in its place.” The same might be said of this admirable, ambitious novel.

LAST HOUSE : Or, The Age of Oil | By Jessica Shattuck | William Morrow | 336 pp. | $28

Trump defense cross-examines Michael Cohen in hush money trial

By CNN's Kara Scannell, Lauren Del Valle and Jeremy Herb in the courthouse

Key takeaways from the first day of Michael Cohen's cross-examination

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche began his confrontation with  Michael Cohen  on Tuesday by throwing the former fixer’s language back in his face.

Blanche confirmed the two had never spoken, but asked Cohen whether he knew who he was already since Cohen “went on TikTok and called me a crying little sh*t” just before the trial began.

“Sounds like something I would say,” responded Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer.

The question set the tone for the cross-examination of the Manhattan district attorney’s key witness in the  hush money trial . For roughly two hours, Blanche began a cross-examination to discredit Cohen’s allegations against Trump. Blanche confirmed his questioning will take most of the day when court picks up on Thursday.

Here are the key takeaways :

• Blanche tries to use Cohen’s words to discredit him: Blanche’s opening question was just the first in a series of colorful quotes from Cohen that Blanche raised to try to paint Cohen as someone who hated Trump and who was hellbent on getting revenge while making money off the former president and trying to get his prison sentence reviewed. Blanche had plenty of material to work with. Cohen has written two books and recorded hundreds of podcasts. The upshot of the questioning was that Cohen was making a living off attacking Trump after he lost his law license following his 2018 guilty plea to charges including campaign finance violations linked to the hush money scheme.
• Cohen's shifting views: Blanche pinpointed the shift from admiration to hatred of Trump in the summer of 2018 when Cohen turned on his former boss. Blanche read a list of compliments Cohen paid Trump publicly in 2015 and 2016, including calling Trump “a good man,” “a man who cares deeply about his family” and “a man who tells it straight.” Trump’s attorney pushed Cohen on his motivations since turning on the former president, suggesting Cohen is now driven by revenge and money.
• Cohen walks jurors through his decision to cease being loyal to Trump: In the morning, prosecutors wrapped up their questioning of Cohen, walking him in detail through his decision to stop being loyal to Trump – and to stop lying for Trump – when he pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018. Ultimately, Cohen said a conversation with his family in August 2018 convinced him to change his tune, plead guilty and tell the truth about Trump.
• More Trump allies flock to court: Tuesday saw the biggest group of politicians making the trek to the Manhattan courthouse to show their support of Trump. The list included Trump’s onetime presidential-rival-turned-VP-hopeful North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, along with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Florida Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills, and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. 

Analysis: Unlike Michael Cohen, other Trump associates got pardons when they faced prison time

Analysis from CNN's Zachary B. Wolf

After watching his former fixer Michael Cohen testify against him on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump is expected to attend a fundraiser in New York City co-hosted by Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father, whom  he pardoned in 2020 .

Trying to intimidate his sister from testifying before a grand jury, the elder Kushner set up a sort of rogue sting operation in which he meant to videotape his sister’s brother with a prostitute and then send the tape to his sister.

At least those are the broad outlines of the tale as told by  former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie , who was then the US attorney for the state who prosecuted the case.

Cohen is rare in the universe of Trump associates since he both turned on Trump and went to prison. Many other Trump aides and associates who faced jail eventually   got pardons or clemency and still support the former president.

• Paul Manafort is still in Trump’s camp despite spending years in jail. Manafort ran Trump’s 2016 campaign for a time, but then later, while Trump was president,  Manafort – who made money as a foreign lobbyist – was convicted  for federal tax evasion, among other things. Manafort served two years and was ultimately pardoned before Trump left office.
• Steve Bannon , the former Trump White House chief strategist turned right-wing provocateur, obtained a Trump pardon before he could be tried for allegedly defrauding donors of contributions intended to help build a wall on the US border with Mexico. He may still go to prison after failing to comply with a congressional subpoena after the pardon.
• Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime friend  Roger Stone , the political operative who was convicted by a jury of, among other things, obstructing the Russia investigation.
• Retired Gen. Michael Flynn , Trump's first national security adviser who was charged with lying to investigators, also received a wide-ranging pardon. Flynn had entered a guilty plea and then tried to rescind it, and the yearslong legal saga hung over Trump’s presidency. Trump  issued the Flynn pardon  shortly after losing the 2020 presidential election.

Ohio senator says he was at Trump trial as a friend because it's "lonely to sit up there by yourself"

From CNN's Kit Maher

Ohio Sen. JD Vance said he attended Donald Trump's hush money trial on Tuesday to support the former president.

“I was there to support a friend,” Vance told Fox News. “This is a very depressing way to spend five, six weeks of your life when you know that you're innocent, as Donald Trump knows that he is,” Vance said. “Recognizing that sometimes it's a little bit lonely to sit up there by yourself, I offered to come in and maybe just be a friendly face in the courtroom.”

Vance reiterated how he has “never spoken” to Trump about being his vice president. He said the running mate speculation did not come up when he appeared in court with Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Other potential vice president contenders, such as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, were also in attendance.

“I see these same media reports that everyone else does,” Vance said. “I certainly want to be helpful to the president, however, whatever form that takes, but I have never spoken to Donald Trump about becoming his vice president.” 

Using the same language as Burgum, Vance described Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen as a “serial perjurer.” He also argued that the gag order was an insult to Trump and the American people.

What to know about the 3 other criminal cases involving Donald Trump

From CNN’s Devan Cole, Amy O'Kruk and Curt Merrill 

The hush money criminal trial against former President Donald Trump is one of  four criminal cases  he faces while juggling his presidential campaign.

The former president faces at least  88 charges  over the four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases. 

Here's a recap of each case: 

• Hush money:  Trump was first indicted in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney on state charges related to a hush-money payment to an adult film star in 2016. Prosecutors allege Trump was part of an illegal conspiracy to  undermine  the integrity of the 2016 election. Further, they allege he was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including the $130,000 payment. 
• Classified documents:  Trump was indicted in June 2023 by a federal grand jury in Miami for taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials. The National Archives said in early 2022 that at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from the estate, including  some that were classified . The charges were brought by special counsel Jack Smith. However,  Judge Aileen Cannon  has  indefinitely postponed the trial , citing significant issues around classified evidence that would need to be worked out before the federal criminal case goes to a jury.
• Federal election interference:  Smith separately charged the former president last August with four crimes over his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. The indictment alleges Trump and a co-conspirator "attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them ... to delay the certification" of the election. That case is currently on hold  as the Supreme Court  weighs Trump’s claims of presidential immunity in the matter. The court held a hearing on the issue of immunity in late April. Every day the court doesn’t issue a decision will play into Trump’s strategy of delay, jeopardizing the likelihood that Smith can bring his case to trial before the November election. 
• Fulton County:  State prosecutors in Georgia brought a similar election subversion case against Trump and others. An Atlanta-based grand jury on August 14, 2023, indicted Trump and 18 others on state charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. A trial date has not yet been set in that case, and the Georgia Court of Appeals will consider an effort by Trump and his co-defendants to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from the case.

Read more about  the four criminal cases  Trump faces.  

What happened in court: Trump’s defense goes after Michael Cohen during his second day on the stand

From CNN's Elise Hammond

Donald Trump’s lawyers began their cross-examination of Michael Cohen, a key witness in the hush money trial against the former president.

Before the defense began trying to poke holes in Cohen’s credibility, the prosecution finished its direct examination during which he described the moment he decided to stop lying for Trump.

Here’s everything you need to know about what happened today:

Prosecutors finish direct questioning:

• Payments to Cohen: Cohen described emailing an invoice, which included two $35,000 payments for January and February, shortly after a meeting with Trump to confirm how he would be reimbursed for the payment he fronted for Daniels. The jury saw copies of a check sub from March that says the payment is for a retainer agreement , which Cohen testified was not true . The prosecution showed a check from April that was signed by Trump.
• Reimbursement paid out: After being paid out the installments equaling $420,000 , Cohen says he was never paid any more money from Trump personally or the Trump Organization. He testified that he thinks he spent less than 10 hours on work for Trump in 2017 but did get other consulting clients .
• Pressure to lie: Cohen confirmed that in 2018 he continued to pressure people like attorney Keith Davidson to lie about the deals with Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels . He said he continued to lie “out of loyalty and in order to protect him ." He said he spoke with Trump about false statements he made to the media.
• FBI raid: Cohen says he was “concerned, despondent, angry” when he was  raided by the FBI in April 2018. When he spoke to Trump about the raid, Trump said, “’ Don’t worry. I’m the president of the United States,’” according to Cohen. He said he felt reassured after that conversation and continued to be in Trump’s camp.
• Meeting Robert Costello: Cohen said he met criminal defense attorney Robert Costello who offered a “back-channel communication” to Trump that would use Rudy Giuliani as a middleman. Cohen said Costello’s emails were part of a “pressure campaign” to make sure he stayed loyal to Trump as there was concern he might retain another lawyer for the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
• Turning from Trump: Cohen said he pleaded guilty after talking to his family and deciding he “ would not lie for President Trump anymore.” He ticked off his guilty pleas — both related and unrelated to Trump — including tax evasion and campaign finance violations. He called one of the days he pleaded the “worst day of my life.”

Defense starts cross-examination:

• Cohen’s social media posts: The cross-examination started with a fiery back and forth as Trump's attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen about comments he made on social media, including one in which he said Trump belongs in a cage . Cohen said the trial was personally important to him and answered “sure” when Blanche asked if he wanted Trump to be convicted.
• Financial benefits: Blanche also brought up instances where Cohen makes money — including podcasts and a TikTok account where he mentions Trump and has merchandise that features Trump . He also testified he made more than $3 million in sales of his two books.
• Cohen’s salary: Cohen testified that he also represented Trump’s family , including his wife and one of his sons. He testified that his salary was about $375,000 plus an annual bonus of about $150,000. Remember: At the heart of the case is a series of payments equaling $420,000 to Cohen. He says it was to reimburse him for the hush money he fronted to Daniels.
• Mueller investigation: Blanche walked Cohen through his interview with special counsel Robert Mueller . Cohen admitted he lied to Mueller’s teams to protect Trump before he decided to cooperate. The defense pointed out one of those instances, including when Cohen told the special counsel he did not recall speaking with Trump about the “Access Hollywood” tape, which goes against his previous testimony.
• Feelings about Trump: Speaking about Trump , Cohen said he “admired him tremendously."  Cohen later acknowledged that he changed his views about his former boss when Blanche pointed out Cohen’s 2019 comments to Congress that Trump had potentially committed a variety of financial crimes. 

What’s next: Cohen will be the last witness to testify for the prosecution, according to the court transcript. Blanche said he expects the cross-examination of Cohen “will continue until the end of the day Thursday,” according to the transcript. Blanche also said it is not clear if Trump would testify.

Gag order: Trump’s latest attempt to end the gag order against him in the hush money criminal trial was  denied  by a New York appeals court. Trump  said  that the gag order implemented by Judge Juan Merchan is unfair to him and should be lifted. The appeals court sided with Merchan, according to the order.

"Why are you making this about yourself?": Judge asks Trump attorney after opening question, transcript says

From CNN's Elizabeth Hartfield

After Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche jumped right into his cross-examination of Michael Cohen with a question about an expletive-laden description Cohen had given of Blanche on social media, Judge Juan Merchan called the attorneys to the bench for a sidebar.

"Why are you making this about yourself?" Merchan asked Blanche, according to the transcript of the first part of the afternoon session just circulated by the court. "I'm not making it about myself, your honor," Blanche replied. "I have a right to show this witness's bias, and he has expressed bias about the lawyers just because of who he represents," he said. 

The parties continued a back and forth for a brief period, the transcript shows, with Merchan ultimately saying, "Just don't make it about yourself. I am going to sustain the objection and instruct the jury. Please, don't make it about yourself."

As CNN's court team previously reported, he then sustained the objection in the courtroom. 

See courtroom sketches of Michael Cohen's testimony today in the Trump trial

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump's hush money trial is underway, but sketch artists are capturing the scenes as Michael Cohen testifies while his former boss listens nearby.

Trump said today was a "very good day" while repeating his complaints about the trial

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

Former President Donald Trump said today was "a very good day" before he repeated his laments about the hush money trial that's in its fifth week.

Here's what he claimed while speaking to journalists in the Manhattan court hallway after the trial wrapped for the day:

• The trial is preventing him from being on the campaign trail: This has been a consistent complaint he's made. However, Trump is free to campaign on days when court is not in session — weekends and Wednesdays. "Can you believe I've been here five weeks instead of campaigning?" he said. The whole process is expected to take 6-8 weeks.
• The freezing room: He complained about the temperature in the court room , calling it an "ice box."
• The gag order forbids him to speak about "big portions" of the case: Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order , which narrowly restricts his out-of-court speech, does not broadly prevent Trump from talking. He is permitted to speak to the media, speak at campaign events, attack President Joe Biden and other political opponents, and even attack Judge Juan Merchan and the Manhattan district attorney behind the case. His gag order prevents him from speaking publicly or directing others to speak publicly about known or foreseeable witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, members of the district attorney’s staff and the court staff, or family members of any of these people, if those statements are made with the intent to interfere with the case.

Blanche believes he can finish cross-examination by the end of the day Thursday

Todd Blanche says he still believes he will finish cross-examination by the end of the day on Thursday.

"If I finish, it’s the end of the day I anticipate, your honor," the attorney for Donald Trump says.

Judge Juan Merchan responds, "No rush, take your time, do what you need to do."

Blanche also references their expert witness and asked the judge if they could discuss what is admissible in light of the judge's pretrial rulings.

Merchan says he will take it up at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.

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