‘Born evil’: Secret police files on Mr Rent-a-Kill, Neddy Smith revealed
They are the secret police papers from one of the deadliest eras in Sydney’s history, when characters like Neddy Smith and Mr Rent-a-Kill sparked fear in cops and crims alike. READ THE EXPLOSIVE FILES HERE
It’s 7.30pm on a Tuesday night and the body of heroin-dealing bookie Anthony Eustace is spitting out blood like a spaghetti strainer inside a St George Hospital operating theatre.
He’s taken six bullets to the torso at close range — shot by .45 calibre automatic pistol after he pulled his gold Mercedes over in Arncliffe, Sydney, to help what he thought was a broken down vehicle.
Gangland detectives are by his side for his dying breaths.
They want to know one thing: “Did your mate Mr Rent-a-Kill do it?”
The London-born 43-year-old serial crim, who hung out at Double Bay restaurant Tony’s so much people thought he owned it, mustered the last bit of life left in his ravaged body to sit up and look the cops square in the eye.
“F--- off” was his reply.
He wouldn’t speak again before doctors pronounced him extinct at 9.40pm.
It was another body bag in a brutal gangland war that had Sydney terrified in cases that 35 years later still rankle police.
Secret police files obtained by The Daily Telegraph and now published in full for the first time provide rare insight into the deaths, deals and corruption that dominated 1980s Sydney.
Transcripts of gangsters talking about the bloodshed, previously unheard theories from high-ranking cops and comprehensive psychological profiles are contained in the reports compiled by a hand-picked and secret NSW Police Taskforce.
“This was a crazy time in Sydney’s criminal underworld,” former Detective Inspector Mark Smith recalled.
The 32-year police veteran, who had been attached to police force’s then Consorting Squad in that period said it was his role to speak with criminals across Sydney’s bars and clubs to understand the currents in the underbelly scene.
But he said like most officers in the squad the violence was just unrelenting, with notable figures like Neddy Smith — currently serving multiple life sentences in jail and all those around him including Christopher Dale Flannery who just lived for death.
“They were sociopaths and didn’t give a s--- … they were born evil and if you were the thing they had to do, had to kill, it didn’t matter who you were, so be it, it would be done.
“Smith particularly, he always just had a look of pure malevolence.”
The police documents, edited only to protect identities of those still to face justice and or still in the underworld show at least 10 people died in the gangland wars in a single year that starting on November 8, 1984 when Eustace was driving to a meeting before he was brazenly gunned down.
VIEW THE DOCUMENTS AND READ BELOW FOR THE REVELATIONS ON MR RENT-A-KILL
MR RENT-A-KILL
There’s a yarn about Christopher Dale Flannery you need to know.
In his younger years he was wanted for armed robbery in Western Australia.
The cops found him on the East Coast — and he resisted arrest.
No way was going to Perth to face the charges.
Now, this wasn’t any old fight. He had foam coming out of his mouth and the bulging veins in his neck looked like they would pop.
The only way police could contain Flannery’s rage was to put him in a straight jacket.
And to get him over to Perth they had to hire a RAAF Hercules.
The secret files on the 1984-85 gangland killings stretch across 74-pages.
That anecdote is buried on page 58.
Much earlier the NSW police give a rare psychological insight into the man many believe was responsible for at least a dozen murders in his life.
“Flannery, 36, a native of Melbourne, moved to Sydney in 1980,” the report says.
“In the past he has been charged with two separate murders, ‘rape’, ‘armed robbery’ and kindred offences. At the time of this (report) he was still under appeal for a vicious assault.”
The cops vent their frustration that Flannery was “successful in defending” two murder charges.
“On the first occasion a vital witness disappeared without a trace, it is believed she was murdered,” it says.
By 1984 Flannery had gained the reputation of being “hired gun”.
Initially working at a Sydney casino in Rozelle he became known as “Mr Rent-a-Kill” and aligned himself with crime boss George David Freeman.
Freeman was considered number two on the ladder of Sydney’s criminal underworld and was vying to become king.
And at the time of the 80s gangland murder spree, Flannery was working as his “minder”.
The secret files claim that Flannery had approached Freeman for the job at a “bath house in Coogee”.
The common link was another high-profile madman killer — Arthur “Neddy” Smith, who Flannery had spent time with in jail.
Smith is most famous for his ties to crooked killer cop Roger Rogerson.
Roger Rogerson: The ‘bastard’ cop turned seral killer
Smith had been Freeman’s “enforcer” but had moved on into armed robbery and heroin smuggling then executions.
It’s not known how much Flannery was paid to protect Freeman, but the files give never-before-published insight into what a contract assassin like Flannery was paid in the 80s.
“Mrs (Kathleen) Flannery … asserted that George Freeman would pay her husband each Monday, and although she did not know the actual amount, she would receive $300 from it for housekeeping”.
There is no suggestion that Mrs Flannery was involved in any criminality.
The “blood money” grew as did the body count then Flannery crossed a Sydney crime lord that to this day cannot be named for legal reasons.
A senior NSW Homicide Squad detective found Flannery in a city bar and warned him: “Mate, you’re off — get out of town.’’
He didn’t listen.
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