Characters from the Cross

Arthur Stanley “Neddy” Smith was an Australian criminal who ha been convicted of drug trafficking, theft, rape, armed robbery, and murder.

Smith was serving a life sentence since 1989 and was imprisoned in Lithgow Correctional Centre after he was moved from Long Bay Correctional Centre, New South Wales, where he spent 14 years. Smith’s bodyguard Graham “Abo” Henry claimed in ABO – A Treacherous Life: The Graham Henry Story that the gang of criminals led by Smith committed crimes worth A$25 million in the 1980s.

Smith had spent much of his life in prison, serving sentences in 1963 to 1965, 1968 to 1975, 1978 to 1980, and 1989 to now. Smith was a self-confessed heroin dealer, and armed robber, who gained notoriety for his violent temper. Standing 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 102 kg in his prime, Smith exploited his size when involved in countless street fights and bar brawls.

Smith gained further notoriety when he became a whistleblower and star witness for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) at the Wood Royal Commission. He obtained immunity for all crimes he had committed, except murder in exchange for testifying against former New South Wales Police detective Roger Rogerson and other allegedly-corrupt police officers.

During ICAC proceedings, Smith testified that he had committed eight armed robberies and had made a large amount of money from dealing heroin. He alleged that members of New South Wales Police had given him a “green light” to commit crimes and had aided him in various robberies and other crimes. He also claimed to have paid corrupt police officers large sums of money to escape criminal charges himself and to assist his friends in avoiding criminal charges.  Neddy finally died in gaol 2021.

By the time of his disappearance and presumed death, police stated that they believed Flannery to have been responsible for up to a dozen murders. On 6 June 1997, New South Wales State Coroner Greg Glass handed down the finding that Flannery was murdered most probably on or about 9 May 1985. He also found that the key to solving the murder laid with Rogerson. On 22 February 2004, Rogerson told the Seven Network Sunday programme, “Flannery was a complete pest. The guys up here in Sydney tried to settle him down. They tried to look after him as best they could, but he was, I believe, out of control. Maybe it was the Melbourne instinct coming out of him. He didn’t want to do as he was told, he was out of control, and having overstepped that line, well, I suppose they said he had to go but I can assure you I had nothing to do with it”.

I supported Glen in the media for his whistleblowing book.  It was only after his arrest that I had conversations with some ex-police and heard some very interesting stories about Glen and the things he got up to during his police days. He is now doing life with Roger for the murder of Jamie Goa.

(Image: AAP Paul Miller)

A prominent figure of Sydney’s fierce gangland, many of Landini’s friends and criminal associates were shot dead during that tumultuous time. The Italian migrant was close to most of the well-known east coast drug dealers of the 1970s and 1980s. He was dubbed one of the ‘untouchables’ – by a group of elderly drug lords who masterminded a narcotics network across Sydney in 2010.

Danny was arrested after a series of raids across Sydney, the NSW Central Coast and Mudgee. Landini was convicted of supplying 1.345kg of amphetamine between June and September, and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. During sentencing, Judge Peter Berman commented on Landini – then aged 68 – and his offending. ‘Most offenders appearing for sentence in these courts are young men, some of whom commit crimes regularly, until, perhaps because they reach a level of maturity, perhaps because they are tired of the way they are wasting their lives in jail or perhaps for other reasons they finally give up their lives of crime,’ Judge Berman said. ‘The two offenders for sentence in this case are not in that category.’

Two years earlier, Landini had been awarded $230,000 in damages after it was proved crooked cop Trevor Haken had planted heroin on him in the 1980s. Friends told Daily Mail Australia after a subsequent appeal and legal costs Landini was left with about $40,000. Landini had been charged in 1971, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1991 and in 1998 in relation to the possession and supply of heroin and cocaine. He was released from prison in 2015. Danny died of Cancer May 2019.

He was an old fashioned crook who managed to live to an old age by being more discreate than some of his mates. He was remembered on the east coast as ‘loyal’ and ‘old school’, while police considered him a menace to society.

The Telegraph

When noise for a Royal Commission started to take on speed, the police line was that there was only one bad apple – me, as depicted in this newspaper cartoon from the time. I was the only serving member of the NSW Police force who had come forward with current allegations of corruption. Every other officer MP. John Hatton and I approached for support in starting an enquiry had the same answer, “I have a wife and mortgage, I value my job, but even more my life”. We went to parliament with only a handful of statutory declarations from myself about the different squads I had worked at during my time in the cops which covered current corruption. These were supported by ancient accounts also.

Many a good time has been had around the El-Alamein Memorial Fountain which is located out the front of Kings Cross Police Station. (Also some bad times).

He was never a whistleblower.  He was a drunk detective up the cross who was the first to be approached and rolled over.  He then set up his mates and got amnesty for this.  After years of hiding in New Zealand he has admitted it would have been easier to have done his time in jail.  He set up Chook Fowler and others by doing business as usual with cameras being set up in cars for the first time by Police investigators that were investigating corrupt police.  Some of the strategies used by the Wood Royal Commission were adopted by Police Forces all over the world.

Billy Bayeh was sentenced to a 15-year stretch behind. He was jailed for dealing heroin and cocaine from the once-notorious Cosmopolitan Cafe in Kings Cross.  Billy  – a one-time associate of nightclub owner John Ibrahim – would find the strip had changed dramatically after his time behind bars.  Bayeh was in custody after being handcuffed in dramatic scenes shortly after giving evidence at the Wood royal commission in 1996.Film from a camera located in a ceiling was shown at the commission of Billy dealing drugs.

Billy and his brother Louis Bayeh, who I knew from my days as a Parramatta Detective were active boys in Kings Cross after Lenny McPherson lost his crown.