According to his girlfriend, Sallie-Anne Huckstep, who pursued the matter through the media, Lanfranchi was unarmed and carrying A$10,000 (5,200, $7,350) - money which was never found. Rogerson and McNamara were found guilty after a four-month trial that showed CCTV footage linking them to the death of Gao, whose body was found floating in a bag in the ocean off Sydney. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Smith was convicted of the Jones murder and acquitted of killing Huckstepp. Based on the years before Smith was jailed for life for murder it depicts the armed robber and heroin dealer as a charismatic player on the Sydney scene. He even bragged of a close encounter with singer Dame Shirley Bassey, after allegedly nabbing a man who had just stolen her handbag. If he did not, Glass speculated, he at least knew who did. Dont watch it before reading this. Detectives have variously described . The 20-year-old student was shot dead in a Padstow storage unit in 2014 and his body was wrapped in a tarpaulin anddumped in Cronulla. Stunning new image reveals rare glimpse at oldest known supernova, Shane Warnes children remember cricket legend on first anniversary of his death, The real reason boys and men join gangs: Its a world of violence, Desperate Aussies are turning to Facebook Marketplace but this one act could cost $11,000, Teenager fighting for life after hit-and-run north of Brisbane, Viewers done with living in Australia after battle with Huntsman spider caught on camera, Man charged over alleged sexual assault of woman at popular Melbourne lake, Warning as thousands of Aussies try DIY teeth whitening. At an inquest into Flannery's suspected murder, Coroner Greg Glass said he suspected Rogerson had killed him. Roger Rogerson, a 75-year-old former detective who boasted about killing people and has already served three prison sentences, was on Wednesday found guilty in the death of a student drug dealer. He looks healthy and on his game, and his actors gift of making you feel youre the only person in the room is undiminished. His only hope for freedom, now, would be an uphill battle to try to find new and compelling evidence that will change the court's mind and give him one last chance to appeal. Their relationship hit the skids when Rogerson outed him on television as an informant, and Smith outed Rogerson to the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The book describes the moment Rogersons notoriety first betrayed his link to Gaos murder. An inquest heard Rogerson fatally shot Lanfranchi while trying to effect an arrest, but failed to find it was done in self-defence. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. He was as floored as anyone when, one Sunday evening in 2014, calls and emails came flooding in pointing to an astonishing final act in the Dodgers criminal career. Although gun residue was found on Rogerson's clothes, the judge said he couldn't be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of who fired the fatal shot. Rogerson, who was called to give evidence at the seven murder committals, denied ever taking money off Smith or that Jones had been paying him a bribe. When Lanfranchi stepped out of the car, Rogerson shot him dead, claiming self defence. The latter is what brought Rogerson together with McNamara, whose own cultivated image as a former honest cop hung out to dry likewise unravels under McNabs inspection. Rogerson was suspected of having organised the hit after former undercover agent Drurys surveillance resulted in charged against Melbourne heroin dealer, Alan Williams. "I shot Lanfranchi twice, once in the neck and then one in the chest. The distinctive gait we saw on CCTV; the presence that riveted juries in his heyday. Given the lead role of Rogerson, brave cop and bad cop rolled into one, Roxburgh played the Roger on the move, taking care of Sydneys most dangerous and violent criminals. It was the beginning of the end for Rogersons police career, and Flannerys hot heatedness and ready gun toting would be his own demise. Theres just something horribly wrong with Rogers head. Christopher Dale Flannery. His doctor, the prominent Sydney medico Geoffrey Edelsten, gave him a medical certificate saying he was unfit to go to trial for the Sydney murder. Unlike the remains of lawyer Brian Alexander, which has never been found, Gaos body wrapped in a blue tarpaulin bobbed to the surface off Cronulla beach in May, 2014. "I guess I thought about it a lot from the start but I wanted to put it out of my mind," he said. Rogerson claimed Lanfranchi was armed and he shot him in self-defence. One was the murder in company of tow truck driver, Ronnie Flavell and the other of brothel owner Harvey Jones. [38], In 1988 Roger Rogerson told a Bulletin reporter that he and the other lead detectives fabricated evidence. What an interesting confluence: one man who has an appalling reputation but has rehabilitated himself to genial rogue for hire, and a bloke whos supposed to be pure and downtrodden, McNab says. What Rogerson didn't mention to me during my two visits was that his time to appeal was gone. On 6 June 1984, Flannery was allegedly the shooter who fired two rounds through the kitchen window of the home of Sydney Drug Squad detective, Michael Mick Drury. In 1981, in a back lane called Dangar Place in Sydneys Chippendale, in front of a large group of police officers, Rogerson shot dead heroin dealer Warren Lanfranchi. [17][18], Rogerson received a criminal conviction, which was overturned on appeal, for involvement in drug dealing, allegedly conspiring with notorious Melbourne drug dealer Dennis Allen to supply heroin. After his latest conviction, he is expected to spend the rest of his life in jail. Arthur Stanley Neddy Smith is a big force of character in the first Blue Murder series. A reality TV star has allegedly been caught having a full-on affair with a co-star, leaving his longtime girlfriend and fellow castmate heartbroken. Notorious gangster Neddy Smith died aged 76 in Long Bay jail last week while serving a life sentence of murder. Smith has spent much of his life in prison for earlier crimes, but despite his reputation as a killer, he was convicted of only two deaths. He became a Sydney celebrity because of his close relationship during the 1980s with corrupt police detective Roger Rogerson. Hes in his mid-60s but Roger misses being on centre stage in the criminal life so hes reconstructing his drug-dealing mates.. [10] Rogerson's father Owen Rogerson emigrated from Kingston upon Hull, England during his career as a boilermaker; his mother Mabel Boxley emigrated from Cardiff, Wales with her parents as a youth (her English born father Caleb Boxley was the reason for Roger's middle name). On 6 June 1984, Drury was shot twice through his kitchen window as he fed his three-year-old daughter. Ms Melocco said Rogerson hadbeen disappointed by losing his murder conviction appeal but had not given up hope and would take the case to the High Court. Can the dogs of Chernobyl teach us new tricks when it comes to our own survival? With Rogerson dismissed from the force in 1986 and Smith's other police friends no longer able to help, he was refused bail and spent the rest of his life in jail. It is one thats shatteringly at odds with Rogersons public rebirth as a genial rogue through his regular media commentary and improbable stints on the stand up comedy circuit with Mark Chopper Read under the banner of the Wild Colonial Psychos. Three years later he was tried for conspiring with hitman Christopher Dale Flannery to murder Drury. They were photographed by a federal police surveillance unit in the Covent Garden at Chinatown, 'He's never seen him in prison because Neddy was in the hospital and Roger hasn't been there. An . He said he arranged for it to be handed over to McNamara. In May 2014, Rogerson was remanded in prison after being charged, along with fellow former NSW detective Glen McNamara, with the murder of 20-year-old student Jamie Gao, and supply of drugs. Drury is now retired from the police force and a respected philatelist and collector of rare stamps. Justice Geoffrey Bellew was satisfied the men formed an agreement to kill so they could steal the 2.78 kilograms of methamphetamine he was going to supply them. The death of Lanfranchi, whose girlfriend was heroin-addicted prostitute turned police corruption whistleblower, was ruled in the line of duty. They dont reminisce over a cup of tea and a Scotch Finger. Roger Caleb Rogerson (born 3 January 1941) is a former detective sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force, and a convicted murderer. These days, having left the police force, I make my living as a journalist, specifically writing crime. On June 9, 1981, according to Smith, he was ordered by Rogerson to drive Lanfranchi a meeting at Dangar Place, a back lane in the inner city Sydney suburb of Chippendale. Roger Rogerson was jailed for life for the 2014 murder of student Jamie Gao. That was close. The jury said I didn't act in self-defence. At 78 years old, and with a body worn by hard work, hes well qualified. "It alleged both men were part of a plan to steal drugs from the deceased and kill him," he said. While Rogerson was locking up - and sometimes shooting dead - crooks in the 1970s and 1980s, Smith was distributing heroin and pulling off major armed robberies. The men were due for trial in the Supreme Court on 20 July 2015. Tony Martin is pictured left playing Smith and Richard Roxburgh as Rogerson in the television series Blue Murder. Rogerson, 79, appeared in the Court of Criminal . It would take years for the police to get serious about bringing its shiniest (though far from its only) rotten apple undone. Roger Rogerson: The life and crimes of Australia's most notorious cop. The idea was quite simply the Triad in Hong Kong and their enforcers would not know who Jamie Gao was selling to, so if Jamie Gao disappeared and it was done cleanly and concisely, hed just become a disappeared person.. He had the politicians knack about him, the charm to work a room, says McNab. The latter are alleged to. McPherson was a standover man who probably committed or commissioned more murders than any other major organised figure. 00:55. In 1992 he gave evidence at an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into the relationship between police and criminals, implicating Rogerson and others in organised crime. Smith insisted the pair became partners in crime. Brash and boastful to friends and the media, Rogerson has been involved in a litany of crimes and misadventures which have repeatedly thrust him into the spotlight, and which led to the production of a TV mini-series about him called Blue Murder. And on free to air, they watched it again. It was Smith who in 1981 drove drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi to an appointment with Rogerson at which the policeman shot Lanfranchi dead in a Chippendale lane. A large scale search was underway at Freshwater Beach on Saturday night after a young man was reported missing in the water. On 20 May 2014, former New South Wales police officers Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara murdered student Jamie Gao in cold blood. [19], In 2008, Rogerson reviewed episodes of the Underbelly series and Melbourne's underworld war in The Daily Telegraph[23] He also wrote about the 2009 series of Underbelly for the same paper. An aerial view of Long Bay Correctional Centre in Sydney. Sources say Rogerson has become the leader of the unit because of his high profile and reputation. He later joked in court that the media had changed his name by deed poll from decorated officer to "disgraced former detective". You start meeting so many people whove had their lives trampled on by this guy, both coppers and civilians, McNab says. Things went fatally wrong for the naive Gao after Rogerson, waiting in the wings on the deal, conceived with McNamara a more brutal but profitable alternative. Roger Rogerson being escorted to a prison van at the Supreme Court in Sydney in 2016. Following the shooting, Huckstepp became an anti-police corruption whistleblower. Drury was a Sydney detective whose dramatic attempted murder in 1984 believed to have been carried out by Melbourne hitman Chris Flannery brought an end to Roger Rogersons career. Smith would claim that before Jones disappeared - his body was not found until 1995 - the sometime used car salesman had been arranging to pay Rogerson $60,000 to make gold bullion theft charges go away.