where is roger rogerson jailed

With his running knowledge of underworld sellers and buyers, Rogerson was a fantastic middleman but came to grief when he stopped being middleman and decided to actually take a bigger slice, McNab says. Sources also confirmed Rogersons sharp eye for turning a situation to his advantage has not waned since his arrival at Long Bay. "Oh it's a little f------ beauty isn't it Oh and by the way, don't tell Roger about this," the witness alleged McNamara said. He hasn't seen him for however long he's been in jail.'. [14][15], The Peter Mitchell Award was presented to Rogerson in 1980 for the arrest of escaped armed robber Gary Purdey. Inside Prince Harry's finances from when he met Meghan Markle to landing 100M with Netflix and book Spare 'Why the last-minute delay?' n is appealing his life sentence, arguing he didn't know Glen McNamara had sourced a gun before the murder. Rogerson is in the Kevin Waller Unit for aged and frail prisoners at Long Bay. Rogerson who is now 80, and Glen McNamara, now 62, were jailed for life for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao. Lawyers for both Rogerson and McNamara indicated they would appeal against the sentence. The police confirmed Rogerson was the 'mole' during an early 1990s secret investigation called 'Operation Graveyard'. Drury is now retired from the police force and a respected philatelist and collector of rare stamps. The distinctive gait we saw on CCTV; the presence that riveted juries in his heyday. According to his girlfriend, Sallie-Anne Huckstep, who pursued the matter through the media, Lanfranchi was unarmed and carrying A$10,000 (5,200, $7,350) - money which was never found. In January 1958, he joined the New South Wales Police Cadet Service. So you get that very clear view this was a bloke who was completely and utterly ruthless and self-absorbed and didnt mind who he hurt to get what he wanted.. In 1984, Duncan McNab was a New South Wales police internal affairs investigator when a deathbed statement from undercover drug cop Michael Drury came across his bosss desk. Even after he was booted from the police force in 1986, outed "dog" drug dealer Neddy Smith as his informant and was jailed twice, the man known as Roger the Dodger seemed a Teflon man. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was last seen catching a taxi in the city, and never seen alive again. Flannery, known as "Mr Rent-a-Kill", later disappeared. Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara have lost their appeals against convictions for the murder of Sydney drug dealer Jamie Gao. McNab took it as a measure of the enduring chilling effect of Rogersons reputation. Gao was not the first drug dealer whose life Rogerson had ended with two bullets to the chest. Drury said Rogerson had tried to bribe him to change his evidence over a heroin trial and when Drury refused, he was shot. Smith's final downfall had begun in October 1987 when he and another criminal killed tow truck diver Ronald Flavell during a road rage incident at Coogee. Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023. In 1984, Flannery moved his family up to Sydney and went to work as a bodyguard for crime figure George Freeman. Brisbane's Whiskey Au Go Go fire killed 15 people. [25], On 27 May 2014, Rogerson was charged with the murder of Sydney student Jamie Gao, allegedly after a drug deal having gone wrong. It would take years for the police to get serious about bringing its shiniest (though far from its only) rotten apple undone. Although gun residue was found on Rogerson's clothes, the judge said he couldn't be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of who fired the fatal shot. Low income Aussies and pensioners could be forced out of homes, Tens of thousands flock to Bondi for one-off dance party, Major traffic chaos warning for Sydney across busiest weekend in years. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Rogerson is pictured in 2004. Tim Anderson, one of the three released in 1985, claimed the confession Rogerson extracted was fabricated, and that he and two other members of the Ananda Marga group were convicted in part because of Rogerson's fabrications. In the pre-digital era, illegal bootleg video cassettes of Blue Murder I and II were jealously guarded, surreptitiously leant and massively copied. He even bragged of a close encounter with singer Dame Shirley Bassey, after allegedly nabbing a man who had just stolen her handbag. Disgraced former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng said he lived through "absolute hell" during a six-month stint in a Malaysian prison riddled with vermin and disease, according to . The Whiskey Au Go Go Massacre: Murder, Arson and the Crime of the Century. Drury was a Sydney detective whose dramatic attempted murder in 1984 believed to have been carried out by Melbourne hitman Chris Flannery brought an end to Roger Rogersons career. She also claimed that Neddy Smith had lied at Lanfranchis inquest and was in cahoots with Rogerson. His defence is trying to establish he wasn't part of the agreement to kill or rob the victim. [8][9] Following a retrial, both Rogerson and McNamara were found guilty of murder. He was also a man who possibly, if you were locked up, could walk up to arresting police and crack a deal for you, either through payment of money or say to the copper, by the way, Ive got a brief [compromising information] on you. Just days after their conviction and life sentences were handed down in 2016, the pair lodged a notice of intention to appeal. The female roles of Neddy Smiths wife Debra (Joy Smithers) and Lanfranchis prostitute girlfriend Sallie-Anne Huckstepp (Loene Carmen) give this story depth. When Lanfranchi stepped out of the car, Rogerson shot him dead, claiming self defence. Arthur Stanley Neddy Smith is a big force of character in the first Blue Murder series. The disgraced ex-policeman and fellow former detective Glen McNamara were found guilty in a Sydney court of murdering 20-year-old Jamie Gao in a storage facility in the city's south-west in May, 2014, during a botched drug deal. Test your knowledge by naming all 20 of these famous films. Roger Rogerson was the teak-hard. His wife Anne Melocco told Daily Mail Australia that Rogerson had mentioned Smith's death but there had certainly been no celebration or revengeful one-liners. Smith said his assistance to Rogerson at a coronial inquest into Lanfranchi's death led to senior police granting him a 'green light' to commit major crimes. Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara sentenced to life in jail for Jamie Gao murder. Low income Aussies and pensioners could be forced out of homes, Tens of thousands flock to Bondi for one-off dance party, Major traffic chaos warning for Sydney across busiest weekend in years. An inquest heard Rogerson fatally shot Lanfranchi while trying to effect an arrest, but failed to find it was done in self-defence. There was a whole coterie of men who liked Roger because Roger could do things for them, says author Duncan McNab. Smith was convicted of the Jones murder and acquitted of killing Huckstepp. [19], Rogerson was dismissed from the NSW Police Force on 11 April 1986 (had not seen active service since his suspension on 30 November 1984 as a result of the Drury investigation). Gao's body was later dumped off the coast. 00:01. But the three appeal judges agreed Witness A was a "liar". But the escapade would put to the sword for all time the old coppers cultivated public image as a misunderstood rogue and confirm in the eyes of the law his murderous intent. Had Jamie been a little bit more dexterous in the use of Google he might actually have not gone to that deal, he says. He was granted bail but in December the next year was arrested with two others outsideBotany Council preparing to snatch its Christmas payroll drop. A bloody and corrupt chapter in Australian criminal history appears to have drawn to a close with the country's most notorious police officer set to spend the rest of his life in jail for murder. During Rogerson's career, he was one of the most decorated officers in the police force, having received at least thirteen awards for bravery, outstanding policemanship and devotion to duty including the Peter Mitchell Trophy, the highest annual police award. My view is it started out as a drug deal that became a rip off and at some point in the planning Roger said, well if it doesnt go right, well just top him, end of story, he says. Rogerson's record of killing has led some Australian media outlets to dub him "the serial killer who wore a badge". Rogerson gets jail keyboard at Long Bay jail, Teen feared missing in water at Freshwater Beach. We asked the experts - and their answers will terrify you Public Service Announcement, do NOT watch these ads! Welcome to the Coronation! Things went fatally wrong for the naive Gao after Rogerson, waiting in the wings on the deal, conceived with McNamara a more brutal but profitable alternative. Read about our approach to external linking. He said he arranged for it to be handed over to McNamara. Rogerson emerged fresh from the killing at an old mates' lunch club at a Sydney pub having invited some unfamiliar guests: a well-known boxer with two bikies in tow. 2023 BBC. They have not been seen or heard from since. He was released on appeal after nine months, but in 1992 that appeal was quashed and he was re-imprisoned until 1995. McNab also reveals the hitherto unknown depth of Rogersons ties with outlaw motorcycle gangs, his close friendship with convicted rapist, kidnapper and Bandido Arthur Loveday among others, as he sought to rekindle drug connections. Rogerson and Smith's joint exploits were immortalised in the award-winning 1995 television series Blue Murder and their notorious association helped eventually bring each man down. Smith has spent much of his life in prison for earlier crimes, but despite his reputation as a killer, he was convicted of only two deaths. In the company of 18 other police officers, Rogerson waited in the lane. The 20-year-old student was shot dead in a Padstow storage unit in 2014 and his body was wrapped in a tarpaulin and dumped in Cronulla. Rogerson and his second wife Anne Melocco were convicted of lying to the Police Integrity Commission, and this is portrayed in Blue Murder: Killer Cop. Huckstepps media profile blossomed, but she couldnt give up heroin. Former detective Roger Rogerson, 80, was in Long Bay's aged and frail unit when a prison officer told him Smith had died in the jail hospital. While it was impossible to know who fired the fatal shot, Rogerson claimed the kill, according to Australia's News Limited newspapers. All the benefits of simply switching from white to brown - AND how purple, Why is Britain experiencing so many earthquakes? This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 20:08. Brash and boastful to friends and the media, Rogerson has been involved in a litany of crimes and misadventures which have repeatedly thrust him into the spotlight, and which led to the production of a TV mini-series about him called Blue Murder. A new book by former colleague Duncan McNab details how the charismatic one-time detective manipulated generations of fellow officers and gangsters, but when the mask slipped he revealed a vile and vicious criminal. Gao was unlikely to have had any real idea of the background of the men he was dealing with, particularly Rogerson, McNab says. Smith was by then a pariah in the underworld and despised by the detectives he said had allowed him to make millions of dollars from dealing heroin and staging armed robberies. You start meeting so many people whove had their lives trampled on by this guy, both coppers and civilians, McNab says. People who keep describing him to me as mesmerising have got it right. In May 2014, Rogerson was remanded in prison after being charged, along with fellow former NSW detective Glen McNamara, with the murder of 20-year-old student Jamie Gao, and supply of drugs. Smith was born in 1944 and was a major criminal, involved particularly in armed robbery, heroin trafficking, and murder. Smith insisted the pair became partners in crime. Languishing in Long Bay he was paired with a police informer dubbed Mr Brown who secretly recorded him confessing to a string of 1980s murders, all of which he later denied having committed. Perhaps most striking is the account of Rogerson touting himself as a murderer for hire, asking for $50k upfront, thanks very much and dont worry, I can still fire a gun even though my knees arent great. It was the beginning of the end for Rogersons police career, and Flannerys hot heatedness and ready gun toting would be his own demise. It was a different time. A month into the trial, McNab realised this dark new chapter for Rogerson was no epilogue to his previous biography but a new book in the begging. By 1978, his reputation was sufficient to gain convictions based on the strength of unsigned records of interviews with prisoners (known as "police verbals"). It was McNamara who met Gao through his own consultancy work for lawyers, when the young man was acting as a translator for a friend in strife. Can the dogs of Chernobyl teach us new tricks when it comes to our own survival? He also became an entertainer, telling stories of his police activities in a spoken-word stage show called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, with former Australian footballers Warwick Capper and Mark "Jacko" Jackson. Huckstepp, a heroin addict and prostitute, appeared on numerous current affairs programs, including 60 Minutes and A Current Affair, demanding an investigation into the shooting. [16], Fellow police officer Michael Drury has alleged that Rogerson was involved in his attempted murder. Hes in his mid-60s but Roger misses being on centre stage in the criminal life so hes reconstructing his drug-dealing mates.. Smith'sfinal downfall had begun in October 1987 when he and another criminal killed tow truck diver Ronald Flavell during a road rage incident at Coogee. That shooting hastened the detective's downfall after Lanfranchi's girlfriend Sallie-Anne Huckstepp publicly stated her lover was meeting Rogerson to pay him a bribe. Roger Rogerson: The life and crimes of Australia's most notorious cop. Melbourne hitman Christopher Dale Flannery was a career criminal who became known as Mr Rent-A-Kill. Credit: Daniel Munoz. Storms threaten north-east United States after tearing through the south, leaving 10 dead. [26] On 21 January 2015, he and his co-accused, Glen McNamara (also a former police detective), were committed to stand trial over the alleged murder. McNamara told the trial Rogerson shot the student dead as he "seethed with anger" over the exchange of drugs and cash. He was brought in to investigate the Ananda Marga conspiracy case, despite having no connections to the Special Branch investigating the case. He put himself up on the pedestal then kicked his own pedestal from underneath him., Roger Rogerson will be published by Hachette Australia on 11 October, Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara given life sentences for murder of Jamie Gao, Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara found guilty of murder of Jamie Gao, The noble aim of open justice and the public's right to know | Richard Ackland, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Australian disgraced former detective sergeant and convicted murderer, Rogerson leaving the Supreme Court, June 2016, Involvement in the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub fire investigation, "Roger Rogerson: A life of crime and comedy", "Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara found guilty of the murder of Jamie Gao", "Disgraced former detective Roger Rogerson arrested at Sydney home, charged over alleged Jamie Gao murder", Independent Commission Against Corruption, A bizarre twist has Rogerson answering questions of murder, Jury discharged in trial of Roger Rogerson, Glen McNamara for Jamie Gao murder, "Research Report on Trends in Police Corruption", "Disgraced Sydney detective Roger Rogerson is a consummate storyteller who loves a beer, writes Mark Morri", Novel end as Rogerson gets two years to finish thriller, Roger Rogerson reviews 'Underbelly' and blogs live, Roger Rogerson reviews the third episode of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, "Roger Rogerson myth can stand no longer", "Roger Rogerson charged over Jamie Gao murder; Gao shot twice in the chest, police allege", "Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara face murder trial over Jamie Gao death", "Jamie Gao murder: Rogerson and McNamara should be jailed for life, prosecutor says", "Gao was person of interest for years: AFP - 9News", "Jamie Gao murder: Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara sentenced to life in prison", "Roger Rogerson likely to die in jail after court declines time extension to appeal", "Roger Rogerson's murder appeal to start", "As Medich is jailed, the man who organised the hit demands to be released", "Roger Rogerson part of $25 million plot to extort Ron Medich, court told", "Secret files detail 'fake report' on Whiskey Au Go Go blaze The Australian (1 September 2018) The Whiskey Au Go Go Massacre", "Roger Rogerson telemovie Blue Murder: Killer Cop fast-tracked to air by Channel Seven", Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service Final Report Volume 1 Corruption, Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service Final Report Volume 2 Reform, The honest cop who pays for the sins of his brother, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roger_Rogerson&oldid=1132211448, Australian police officers convicted of crimes, Australian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, People convicted of murder by New South Wales, Police officers convicted of drug trafficking, Police officers convicted of planting evidence, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New South Wales, Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Articles with dead external links from September 2016, Articles with failed verification from March 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Murder, drug trafficking, perverting the course of justice. [29], On 25 August 2016, Rogerson and McNamara faced a sentencing hearing. John Ibrahim's secret date with Rogerson. Its a challenge that will almost certainly elude this once-celebrated detective - who will now likely die in jail. Smith became a star witness for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Wood Royal Commission, revealing Rogerson and others alleged corruption. Rogerson, 82, serving life term for murder of drug dealer. Born in 1921, McPherson was convicted of various crimes as a boy and . He will get that chance over coming days. More than one acquaintance describes Rogerson as a psychopath but the apparently remorseless killer has never undergone a psychiatric assessment of any depth, McNab says. 'He did mention that he probably would have been dead long before if he hadn't been in jail but that's about it,' Ms Melocco said. Rogerson (in handcuffs) is serving life for the murder of 20-year-old drug dealer Jamie Gao. An armed robber, nightclub bouncer and convicted rapist, he moved into contract killing and is said to have murdered a Melbourne barrister and later a Sydney brothel owner. Late last year, as Rogerson languished in a cell in the geriatric unit of Sydneys Long Bay jail over the Gao murder, I received a call from his wife Anne. And so are the Sydney gang wars of the mid 1980s, when criminals turned on each other in a shooting feast over dominance in the Sydney heroin trade. He and fellow former detectiveGlen McNamara were jailed for life in September 2016 and lost appeals over their convictions in July. On 6 June 1984, Flannery was allegedly the shooter who fired two rounds through the kitchen window of the home of Sydney Drug Squad detective, Michael Mick Drury. "Extensive in its planning, brutal in its execution and callous in its aftermath," he said. Rogerson who is now80, and Glen McNamara, now 62, were jailed for life for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao.