Neddy Smith - Neddy: the Life and Crimes of Arthur Stanley Smith

NEDDY a.k.a. ARTHUR STANLEY SMITH is a notorious criminal, but he has left a legacy in this best-selling book which was the basis of Blue Murder, the electrifying TV series which swept critical and viewer records away. In 1992, after being provided with an indemnity from prosecution, he gave detailed evidence to an inquiry on police corruption. He is serving two life sentences for murder, and likely to die in Long Bays hospital unit unless the State grants him mercy for blowing the whistle on matters of the greatest public interest.

TOM NOBLE was a journalist at The Age. He is the author of Untold Violence: crime in Melbourne today, Walsh Street, I, Mick Gatto and Steve K.

First Published 1993
Second edition 1998
Reprinted 1998
Third edition 2002
Reprinted 2005
Reprinted 2008

Published by Kerr Publishing

1993 Smith Family Trust
1993 additional matter, Tom Noble
2002 Noble House Enterprises
2017 Kerr Publishing

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher or the recording of Copyright Agency Ltd under their rules for use.

National Library of Australian Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Smith, Arthur Stanley, 1944- Neddy

ISBN 9781925282924 (eBook)

1. Smith, Arthur Stanley, 1944- . 2. Crime-New South Wales-Sydney.

Criminals-New South Wales-Sydney-Biography.

Noble, Tom, 1964- . II. Title. 364.373092

To my three children,
Jaime, Darren and Daniel,
to my three beautiful grandsons
Raecin, Jordin and Kaed
and to a special friend
Donna Brotherton.

Facsimile of Smiths original typescript entitled Thank Christ for Corruption, 1992

Facsimile of Indemnity granted to Smith

If you think there is a can of worms being opened up in Queensland in the Fitzgerald inquiry, then you can take my word for it you have a container full to deal with down here ... compared with a sardine can full of corruption up in Queensland, New South Wales leaves Queensland for dead.

David Kelleher,

to a Sydney court, mid-1980s

This is an extraordinary book, not just for what it says, but for what it is.

For two decades, some of Australias leading journalists have written about crime and corruption in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s, a time when politicians, magistrates and police have been jailed for corruption.

Here, in this book, however, is a wealth of material from an insider. And not just any insider, but one of Sydneys biggest and most enduring criminal figures.

Neddy Smiths confessions have already prompted a massive inquiry by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (the ICAC), an inquiry that has become New South Wales biggest probe into police corruption.

Smiths allegations have been extraordinary and his revelations have repeatedly made front-page headlines. Many will be made public for the first time in this book.

The question of how accurate these allegations are is one that will be debated for a long time to come. My view is that they have been thoroughly investigated by a team of trained professionals from the ICACwho have excellent access through subpoenas and the like to various materialand they obviously believe there is a good deal of truth in Smiths stories, otherwise the matter would have been ditched more than two years ago.

It must be said that Smith has been coy about some matters in this book, notably his knowledge of murders and of drug trafficking. Because he has an indemnity on crimes committed in New South Wales, he has been extraordinarily frank about theseconfessing to many crimes he would never otherwise have been associated with. But his indemnity does not cover murder or activities that cross state or international borders, hence there are passages in this book thatclearly signalled for the most partreflect the limits of that indemnity.

Another notable change to Smiths original manuscript is the deletion or amendment of peoples names. Much of this has been done on legal advice.

Apart from that, however, Smiths story is very similar to when I first read it. While I have acted as editor and researcher, the flavor and style of the book are very much that of the original manuscript, entitled Thank Christ for Corruption.

Throughout his life, Smith has been fit and healthy, a man who has never smoked or used the drugs he soldhis diet is vegetarian. Yet he is an ill man. He now takes 36 pills each day to stem the effects of Parkinsons disease. For a man who was once very fit, he can manage only 20 minutes walking a day. Yet Smith wants no sympathy. Refreshingly, for a book by a criminal, Smith does not seek to justify his actions, engender sympathy or protest his innocence. As he says, he chose his course and he must go where it takes him.

Tom Noble

Sydney, May 1993

Id like people to know what theyve really got in this country. Most of the public are like sheep. They dont look up, they dont know whats going onand they dont want to know. Its about time they found out.

Smith, on his reasons for writing this book

In Victoria, there isnt much corruption. They kill you down there. They certainly dont do too much business.

Queenslands not bad for gambling and prostitution, but they dont let you do armed robberies.

But when I was working in New South Wales, just about everyone was corrupt and anything was possible. Late 1980 was the beginning of a decade of crime and corruption within the New South Wales police force that will never be equalled.

There has always been crime and corruption within the NSW police force, but nothing like it was then. And I was in the middle of it.

At least a dozen different squads tried their hand at catching me without any luck. They formed special taskforces to try and catch me. They suspected me of numerous crimes, but couldnt catch me doing anything.

How could they, when I had the other half of the police force helping me avoid being arrested by their mates? It was like a game.

I had police organising crimes for me to do, then keeping me informed as to how muchif anyprogress was being made in the investigations. I had what is commonly known within criminal circles as the Green Light, which meant I could virtually do as I pleased. Nothing was barred, with one exceptionI was never to shoot at any member of the police force. But apart from that, I could write my own ticket.

I bribed hundreds of police and did as I pleased in Sydney. There was no limit to what I got away with. 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. They were the best police force that money could buybelieve me, because I bought them hundreds of times.

There will no doubt be some people who will ask: Why are you telling this story? And why are you telling on the police?

I will explain my reasons in greater detail later, but essentially, the police set me up with the intention of having me killed when they decided I knew too much. I survived, and maybe I will even the score with my revelations in this book.