Corrupt former police officer Roger Rogerson dead at 83

Roger Rogerson, arguably the most corrupt police officer the nation has ever known, has died during his fourth stint behind bars.

The 83-year-old, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a young drug dealer, suffered a brain aneurysm on Thursday and was transferred from Long Bay prison to the Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick, where he died at 11.15pm on Sunday.

Detectives take Roger Rogerson (centre) from his home in Padstow Heights in 2014.Credit: Nick Moir

“As a matter of protocol, Corrective Services NSW and NSW Police investigate all deaths in custody regardless of the circumstances,” a Corrective Services NSW spokesman said.

“All deaths in custody are also subject to a coronial inquest.”

Born in January 1941, Roger Caleb Rogerson was once the most decorated officer in the NSW police force. In the underworld, he was known to be its most corrupt.

A member of the infamous armed hold-up squad, Rogerson was dismissed from the force in 1986 after the Police Tribunal upheld seven of nine misconduct charges against him.

Almost three decades later, the former detective, nicknamed “The Dodger”, was leading every radio and TV news bulletin as there was a warrant out for his arrest for the murder of Jamie Gao, who was killed on May 20, 2014.

Then aged 73, Rogerson’s legendary skill at disposing of bodies was a bit rusty. Having shot the young drug dealer dead, he and another former detective, Glen McNamara, wrapped Gao’s body in a blue tarpaulin and dumped it out at sea. However, the body bobbed up again and was spotted by fishermen near Cronulla.

Astonishingly, despite being the subject of a national manhunt for the murder, Rogerson was still trying to finalise another criminal enterprise: a $15 million extortion attempt on wealthy property developer Ron Medich, who was facing his own murder charge at the time.

“You’ve seen all the stuff on the news and whatever, it’s f---ing dreadful,” Rogerson was heard saying on a taped call. Despite this setback, he wanted to confirm that the planned extortion was still going ahead.

Roger Rogerson (left) and Glen McNamara during their trial for the murder of Jamie Gao during an "inept" drug rip-off.Credit: Daniel Munoz, Dominic Lorrimer

In 2016, Rogerson and McNamara were jailed for life. During their trial, Rogerson claimed that Gao pulled a gun on McNamara and, in the ensuing struggle, Gao shot himself in the chest – twice.

It had only been a decade since Rogerson’s release from jail having served a year behind bars for lying to the Police Integrity Commission.

Roger RogersonCredit: Brendan Esposito

“Few in the community would not have heard of Roger Rogerson,” said the sentencing Judge Peter Berman at the time. He noted Rogerson had once quipped he should have changed his name by deed poll to “Disgraced Former Detective”.

As a police officer, Rogerson was present on two occasions when police shot and killed people, and on another two occasions he shot and killed people himself. The most famous of these was the heroin dealer Warren Lanfranchi, whom Rogerson shot and killed in Dangar Place in Chippendale in June 1981.

Lanfranchi, according to his girlfriend Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, was unarmed and carrying $10,000. He was delivered to the meeting by major crime figure Neddy Smith, who was later acquitted of Huckstepp’s murder. Huckstepp was found in a pond in Centennial Park in 1986. Smith died in jail while serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder. Lanfranchi’s money was never found.

Rogerson was found to have fatally shot Lanfranchi while trying to make an arrest, but the jury failed to find that it was in self-defence.

In 1994, the then-ICAC commissioner, Ian Temby, QC, found the relationship between Rogerson and Smith, a convicted murderer, rapist and underworld kingpin, was corrupt and “well known to very many police” and “many criminals”.

“The notorious relationship between Smith and Rogerson went unsupervised over many years,” Temby wrote in his February 1994 report.

Arthur “Neddy” Smith was jailed for life for murder.Credit: Robert Pearce

“Rogerson’s dealings with Smith brought discredit on the police service, and must be described as scandalous.”

Christopher Dale Flannery was last seen in May 1985.Credit: Archive

In 1984, undercover detective Michael Drury was shot twice at close range at his Chatswood home in front of his wife and two young daughters. It was just months before he was due to testify in a major drug trial. Fearing he wouldn’t survive, Drury gave a dying deposition accusing fellow officer Rogerson of offering him a bribe.

The following year, Rogerson was acquitted of the bribery charges. In 1989, he was also acquitted of conspiring with hitman Christopher Dale Flannery and the confessed drug dealer Alan Williams to murder Drury.

Rogerson was also widely suspected of murdering Flannery, also known as Mr Rent-a-Kill, who was last seen in May 1985.

At an inquest into Flannery’s suspected murder, Neddy Smith maintained the one person Flannery trusted was Rogerson and that, after Flannery disappeared, Rogerson said to him: “Chris had to go, mate. He was becoming a danger to us all.”

In a strange twist, it was the plans Rogerson made on the expectation he would be jailed for the Drury matter that ultimately brought him undone.

While the jury was deliberating on his fate, Rogerson was overheard telling his then-wife Joy about his secret bank accounts that had been established during the Drury trial.

In 1990, Rogerson was found guilty and jailed for conspiring to pervert the course of justice with two other men for organising bank accounts totalling $110,000 in false names.

Roger Rogerson in Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, on December 1, 1982. Credit: Archive

He spent nine months in jail before being acquitted on appeal. But, in 1992, the appeal was quashed and, for the third time, the once-celebrated detective was back in a prison cell.

In 1995, the same year he was released from jail, Rogerson’s infamy was heightened after the screening of Ian David’s famous TV series Blue Murder. When asked about the famous scene where Lanfranchi was shot, Rogerson said: “I mean, he made it out to be this f---ing conspiracy between the 18 coppers who were there that day, when really it was just a Saturday afternoon’s work as far as we were concerned.”

Of the scriptwriter, Rogerson said, “Ian David is a boof-headed, bald-headed, big-headed c---. I should have sued the c--- and those f---wits at the ABC but of course I’ve got no credit left.”

Richard Roxburgh playing Rogerson in the 1995 TV series Blue Murder.

Rogerson filed a defamation case against reporter Kate McClymont in 1997. He didn’t proceed. He later complained to 2GB’s Chris Smith, “This reporter, she goes on with a lot of nonsense about the shenanigans and the comings and goings of certain people.”

Following his release from prison for lying to the Police Integrity Commission in February 2006, Rogerson rejoined the pub circuit regaling drinkers alongside notorious criminal Mark “Chopper” Read with tales of their dubious exploits.

In 2009, Rogerson launched his memoir, The Dark Side, at the Iron Duke Hotel in Alexandria, once owned by friend-turned-nemesis Neddy Smith. On hand to do the honours was broadcaster Alan Jones, who had previously said on air that NSW needed “a hundred Roger Rogersons”.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.