Shocking true story behind the 1986 Long Bay prison riot

It took until 2020 for the Malabar Emergency Unit to be recognised for their bravery on the night of the Long Bay riot. Now they can tell the story of what happened.

The state’s wildest jail riot that put the lives of prison officers at risk was actually a botched attempt to sneak a jailhouse supergrass to safety, it can now be revealed.

Champion boxer, underworld figure and convicted murderer Lee Owen Henderson was the country’s most notorious prison informer, used by police as a shortcut to convictions, despite admitting in one court that he was a compulsive: “10 out of 10 liar”.

A master manipulator, he even had his own prison letterhead which promoted his services as: “Info gathering, strategic planning, criminal ID analysis, tracking, covert surveillance, interrogations, prote­c­tion specialists and neg­o­tiators” before he was ­exposed as a total fraud who – it was said – would “shop his own mother to buy his freedom”.

Bullet holes seen in Long Bay’s maximum security 13 Wing after the 1986 riot.

Scenes from the riot.

Back in 1986 at the height of the era when prison informants reigned supreme, Henderson was inside Long Bay Jail’s maximum security 13 Wing, known as The Bronx, alongside Comanchero bikies facing trial over the Milperra massacre where six bikies and a 14-year-old girl were killed.

The Comanchero set Henderson up by telling him of a drug stash.

When prison officers went straight to the hiding spot they found no drugs but the prisoners knew they had a snitch in their midst.

With Henderson in danger, it was decided to make it look as if he was rioting to cover up moving him to safety – but Henderson, who was described by one armed robbery unit as “The General” in their web of informants, took the game one step too far.

It took until 2020 for the elite members of the tough Malabar Emergency Unit to be recognised for their bravery in quelling the real prison riot that night, and now they can tell the true story.

Lee Owen Henderson as an inmate.

Henderson outside prison.

Corrective Services was so embarrassed by what happened they didn’t mention the riot – said in state parliament to be the most dangerous the country had ever seen – in any annual report.

It was not until a 2015 reunion with other former prison officers that the members of the Malabar Emergency Unit, who were called in to squash the riot, found out a command post had been established by the Internal Investigations Unit three hours before it even happened.

“The biggest question we had was if they knew what was going to go down, why did they put officers’ lives at risk?” said retired chief superintendent Dave “Emu” Farrell, whose men would have followed him anywhere.

“No one gave us the heads up. They thought Henderson would play along but he went off the plan. He thought he was a legend.”

Chief Superintendent Dave Farrell inside Long Bay Correctional Complex. Picture: Anthony Reginato.

The 11 MEU officers in full riot gear found margarine had been smeared on the floors, boiling water was poured over them, they were attacked with wooden poles, and fires had been lit.

Three of them – Domenic Pezzano, then 23, Bob Menzies and rookie Ken Newbery – were held hostage locked in a cell where they managed to get a message out over the ­intercom as Henderson, who had started it all, took it upon himself to play negotiator.

Henderson, who was on remand for conspiracy to murder, sent out a note saying he would handle the negotiations and the three officers would not be touched so long as the wing was not gassed or stormed. The officers managed to free themselves.

The note written by Lee Owen Henderson during the 1986 Long Bay riot

Domenic Pezzano was one of the prison officers who was taken hostage at Long Bay back in 1986. Picture: Liam Driver

The 1986 riot led to the formation of the state’s Witness Protection Unit Program, and Henderson was moved to Goulburn jail. Cleared of conspiracy to murder, Henderson moved to Queensland where in November 1988, he murdered young mum Tracey Dovey, giving her a hotshot of heroin and raping her as her five-month-old baby cried.

In 1990, he gave evidence at the inquest into the murder of prostitute Sallie-Anne Huskstepp where he was found to have fabricated tapes in the prison sewing shop setting up a Detective sergeant who had nothing to do with her death.

Henderson admitted to the inquest that he was a “10 out of 10” liar.

He is currently serving two life sentences in Queensland.

Finally in 2020, Mr Farrell and his team were given bravery citations by NSW Governer-General David Hurley in the 2020 bravery awards. Some of the men declined.

Mr Farrell said officers’ lives should never be put in danger again.