Notorious gangster Neddy Smith dies in jail aged 76

Notorious Sydney gangster Neddy Smith has died in jail aged 76, the murderer and drug dealer having spent decades behind bars.

Legendary Sydney gangster Neddy Smith has died in jail aged 76.

The murderer and drug dealer, known for his massive frame and fearsome reputation, died of natural causes in Long Bay Prison Hospital.

Real name Arthur Stanley Smith, but always known as Ned or Neddy, Smith was immortalised in TV series Blue Murder.

He was the main character alongside infamous corrupt former police officer Roger Rogerson, who is currently serving life in jail for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao.

Smith, who spent more than 40 years in jail, had over the last decade of his life suffered from Parkinson’s disease and resorted to using a walking frame.

Smith began his criminal career as a teenager and graduated to becoming an inner Sydney suburban bank robber who then became involved in the lucrative heroin trade during the 1970s.

For a time, Smith lived the high life on his earnings from drugs, but also bringing up a family of four children with his then wife Debra.

That would change after the killing of heroin dealer Warren Lanfranchi in a city laneway in the presence of Rogerson.

Legendary Sydney gangster Arthur Stanley ‘Neddy’ Smith has died in prison aged 76.

Neddy Smith (left), his former wife Debra and Harvey Jones (right) whose body was found in sand dunes at Botany.

Lanfranchi’s girlfriend, prostitute Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, threatened to blow the lid off police corruption, and in particular Rogerson and his involvement with criminals like Smith.

Smith became a high-profile witness for the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW Police in the second half of the 1990s.

He revealed how members of the NSW Police had given him a “green light” to commit all crimes bar murder, for which he would be guaranteed immunity.

Neddy testified before the Independent Commission Against Corruption about multiple major armed robberies he had committed with a nod from corrupt police.

He gave evidence against Roger Rogerson and other corrupt police officers, who he said he paid large sums from his heroin deals to turn a blind eye.

It led to Rogerson labelling him a “dog” — the worst name you can call a criminal.

Smith was charged with the murder of Huckstepp, who he is depicted killing in Blue Murder, whose body was found in Centennial Park’s Busby Pond in 1986.

But he was acquitted at trial.

Smith was a suspect in at least 14 murders and charged with eight, but was convicted only of the murder of brothel owner Harvey Jones, whose remains were found in sand dunes at Botany

He was also jailed for the murder-in-company of tow-truck driver Ronnie Flavell during an alcohol-fuelled road rage incident in 1987.

Smith is survived by his three sons and a daughter and many grandchildren who regularly visited him in prison.

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