Convicted murderer Neddy Smith dies in Long Bay jail aged 76

Detectives who locked up Neddy Smith described him as the most evil man in Sydney. The infamous criminal has died at Long Bay jail aged 76.

He was a murderer, rapist, armed robber, heroin dealer and plain thug who carried a .357 pistol.

But Arthur Stanley “Neddy’’ Smith, who died of natural causes in the Long Bay prison hospital on Wednesday afternoon, was also one of Sydney’s most notorious criminals of the past 40 years.

Detectives who locked up Smith described him as the most evil man to ever walk the city’s streets, feared and loathed by cops and crims alike.

But when push came to shove, he was happy to throw his mates under a bus to try to get out of jail.

Arthur Stanley “Neddy” Smith leaving Darlinghurst courts, after being found not guilty of the murder of Sally Anne Huckstepp.

Smith, who suffered Parkinson’s disease for decades, died a dog — abandoned by all his mates including the corrupt cops who famously gave him the “green light” to commit armed robberies.

He used to sign copies of his biography with the words: “Walk tall and f... em all”.

At a towering 1.98 metres tall, he embodied the first part of his mantra — but in the end he was not as tough as he liked to think.

The self-confessed killer was a suspect in at least 14 murders, including of two women who were about to give evidence against him.

Former Detective Inspector John Davidson humiliated the notorious gangster when he disarmed Smith of his .357 Ruger Blackhawk during an attempted armed robbery and kept it as his police revolver.

“Giving work to the gravediggers is the only useful thing he would have done his entire miserable life,’’ Mr Davidson said on Wednesday.

“To me he was a maggot … there is nothing redeeming about him at all.”

Neddy Smith with his wife Debra on a dinner cruise.

Mr Davidson said it took him 10 years to finally get Smith for the armed robbery he was about to commit on December 22, 1988 as he and two others — armed to the teeth — were about to hold up an armed van carrying the Christmas payroll of Botany Council workers.

“Until that day every time I was going to get him, a dirty copper would tip him off,’’ Mr Davidson said with distaste.

“He was born a criminal but became a monster created by cops, especially Roger Rogerson.”

It was Rogerson, according to Smith, who gave him the “green light ‘’ to deal drugs and commit armed robberies with impunity during the late 1970s and early 80s.

“There has always been crime and corruption within the NSW police force but nothing like it was (in the 1980s) … I could never have committed any of the major crimes I did, and got away with them, without the assistance of the NSW police force,’’ he wrote in his book, Neddy. “They were the best police force that money could buy — believe me, because I bought them hundreds of times.’’

Arthur “Neddy” Smith being arrested in 1988. Picture: News Limited

For years, Rogerson and Smith were inseparable, drinking at pubs all over Sydney with the serving NSW detective not caring that he was seen in the company of a convicted rapist, known heroin dealer and armed robber.

But the two fell out spectacularly when Rogerson — being questioned about the murder of prostitute Sallie-Anne Huckstepp — outed Smith as a police informer.

Smith retaliated by giving evidence to an ICAC inquiry about Rogerson and his corruption. The image of the big drinking street fighting crim who would take on anyone was ruined by Rogerson whenever he got the chance.

Sallie-Anne Huckstepp about 1986.

Neddy Smith at Long Bay jail in 2009.

“He is a dog,’’ Rogerson would tell anyone that listened for years after and publicly on stage — the worst label a crim can be given and one that can lead to death in jail. The best of mates became sworn enemies.

Former NSW Police Assistant Commissioner John Laycock was commander of Strike Force Snowy, which investigated Smith’s involvement in more than a dozen gangland murders.

Laycock and a lot of other police are convinced Smith killed Ms Huckstepp, whose body was found in a duck pond in Centenial Park, on the orders of Rogerson, one of many crimes he was famously linked to.