Neddy Smith was born on 27 November 1944 at Royal North Shore Hospital during World War II to an Australian mother and an American sailor whom he never knew.
17 Facts About Neddy Smith
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Neddy Smith was brought up in the Redfern area of Sydney with his half-siblings, and was sometimes cared for by his grandmother.
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Neddy Smith was first convicted of a crime at the age of 11 for stealing and was sent to a boy's home in Mittagong, and was brutalised at a tough juvenile institution in Tamworth a few years later.
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Neddy Smith spent much of the rest of his life in prison, serving sentences from 1963 to 1965,1968 to 1975,1978 to 1980, and 1989 until his death.
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Neddy Smith was a self-confessed heroin dealer, and armed robber, who gained notoriety for his violent temper.
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Neddy Smith gained further notoriety when he became a whistleblower and star witness for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Wood Royal Commission.
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Neddy Smith obtained immunity for all crimes he had committed, except murder, in exchange for testifying against former New South Wales Police detective Roger Rogerson and other allegedly-corrupt police officers.
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Neddy Smith alleged that members of New South Wales Police had given him a "green light" to commit crimes and had aided him in various robberies and other crimes.
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Neddy Smith claimed to have paid corrupt police officers large sums of money to escape criminal charges himself and to assist his friends in avoiding criminal charges.
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At a Perth coronial inquest in August 2017, it was alleged that Neddy Smith was contracted to murder brothel-keeper Shirley Finn in June 1975.
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In Blue Murder, Neddy Smith is shown murdering whistleblower prostitute Sallie-Anne Huckstepp.
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Neddy Smith was recorded in his prison cell confessing to that crime and later made the same confession to his publisher.
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Neddy Smith was charged with Huckstepp's murder, but was acquitted.
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In 2008, The Daily Telegraph reported that his Parkinson's medication had ceased being effective and that Neddy Smith's health had deteriorated, leaving him unable to maintain balance and using a wheelchair.
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Neddy Smith continued to refuse to assist police with ongoing investigations of unsolved murders, which were not covered by the immunity granted to him in exchange for his testimony against allegedly-corrupt police officers at the ICAC and the Wood Royal Commission hearings.
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Neddy Smith allegedly snuck past two prison guards, only to be caught by nurses in the corridor.
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Neddy Smith died on 8 September 2021 in the Long Bay prison hospital, aged 76.