Roger Rogerson
Encyclopedia
Roger Caleb Rogerson is a controversial former detective-sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force
. Rogerson was convicted of perverting the course of justice and lying to the 1999 Police Integrity Commission. He was one of its most decorated officers, having received at least 13 awards for bravery, outstanding policemanship and devotion to duty including the Peter Mitchell Trophy, the highest annual police award.
Rogerson is also known for his association with other NSW detectives who are reputed to have been corrupt, including Ray "Gunner" Kelly and Fred Krahe
, and with a number of organised crime figures, including Arthur "Neddy" Smith
, Graham "Abo" Henry, Warren Lanfranchi, Robert Arthur "Bobby" Chapman, Paul "The Paddy" O'Halloran, John Tex Moran, and Christopher Dale Flannery
. Neddy Smith was a convicted heroin dealer, rapist
and armed robber who has claimed Rogerson gave him the "green light" to commit crimes in New South Wales. Henry and Lanfranchi were also heroin dealers and armed robbers, while Flannery specialised in contract killing
.
in Brisbane. By 1978 his reputation was sufficient to gain convictions based on the strength of unsigned records of interviews with prisoners (known as "verbals"). He was brought in to investigate the bombing of the Sydney Hilton
despite having no connections to the Special Branch investigating the case. The convicted bomber Tim Anderson, who was released in 1991, claimed the confession Rogerson extracted was fabricated, and that he and other members of the Ananda Marga
sect were convicted because Rogerson falsified statements.
The Peter Mitchell Award was presented to Rogerson in 1980 for the arrest of escaped armed robber Gary Purdey. This was tainted by Purdey's claims that Rogerson assaulted him, prevented him from calling his solicitor and typed up to five different records of interview.
Rogerson was responsible for the shooting death of Warren Lanfranchi. During the inquest the coroner found he was acting in the line of duty, but a jury declined to find he had acted in self defence. Rogerson was later commended by the police force for his bravery. However, it was alleged by Lanfranchi's partner, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp
, and later by Neddy Smith
, that Rogerson had murdered Lanfranchi as retribution for robbing another heroin dealer who was under police protection and for firing a gun at a police officer. Huckstepp, a heroin addict and prostitute, appeared on numerous current affairs programs, including 60 Minutes and A Current Affair, demanding an investigation into Lanfranchi's death. She also made statements to the New South Wales Police Internal Affairs Branch. She was later murdered, her body found in a pond in Centennial Park, New South Wales
.
Fellow police officer Michael Drury has alleged that Rogerson was involved in his attempted murder. Drury claims he refused to accept a bribe Rogerson offered to change his evidence in a heroin trafficking trial of convicted Melbourne drug dealer, Alan Williams. On 6 June 1984, Drury was shot twice through his kitchen window as he fed his three-year-old daughter, Belinda. Rogerson was charged with the shooting and Williams testified that Rogerson and Christopher Dale Flannery
had agreed to murder Drury for A$50,000 each. However, on 20 November 1989, Rogerson was acquitted
.
Rogerson received a criminal conviction, which was overturned on appeal, for involvement in drug dealing, allegedly conspiring with notorious Melbourne drug dealer Dennis Allen
to supply heroin.
in relation to $AU
110,000 deposited by him in bank accounts under a false name
. He spent nine months in jail in 1990 before being released on bail pending an appeal. His appeal was unsuccessful and he spent a further three years in jail from 1992 to 1995. Rogerson was depicted by Richard Roxburgh
in the miniseries, Blue Murder
, first broadcast in 1995.
After leaving the police, Rogerson worked in the building and construction industry as a supplier of scaffolding
. 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.
On 17 February 2005, Rogerson and his wife were convicted of lying to the 1999 Police Integrity Commission. Rogerson served 12 months of a maximum two-and-a-half year sentence. He was released from Kirkconnell Correctional Centre
on 17 February 2006. Rogerson's wife, Anne Melocco, was sentenced to two years periodic detention for the same offence. Following his release from prison in 2006, Rogerson resumed his entertaining career with Mark "Jacko" Jackson by appearing in a show called The Wild Colonial Psychos with Jackson and Mark "Chopper" Read
.
In 2008 Rogerson reviewed episodes of the Underbelly
series and Melbourne's underworld war on The Daily Telegraph' s online blog. Rogerson has also blogged about the 2009 series of Underbelly for The Daily Telegraph. In 2009, he published an autobiography about his time as a detective. The 160,000-word manuscript was reviewed by an editor to "cut out some of the bullshit and make it a good read". At the time, Rogerson said: "We haven't thought of a name for it yet but it'll have 'Roger Rogerson' right across the front of it."
The book is entitled "The Dark Side". It consists mainly of accounts of the less controversial murder investigations and arrests he was involved in. Rogerson also talks about his family, his childhood, other police officers, the charges made against him and his time in jail. It is a combination mini-autobiography and collection of accounts, memoirs, opinions and anecdotes, with the occasional touch of humour.
New South Wales Police
The New South Wales Police Force is the primary law enforcement agency in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It is an agency of the Government of New South Wales within the New South Wales Ministry for Police...
. Rogerson was convicted of perverting the course of justice and lying to the 1999 Police Integrity Commission. He was one of its most decorated officers, having received at least 13 awards for bravery, outstanding policemanship and devotion to duty including the Peter Mitchell Trophy, the highest annual police award.
Rogerson is also known for his association with other NSW detectives who are reputed to have been corrupt, including Ray "Gunner" Kelly and Fred Krahe
Fred Krahe
Frederick Claude "Fred" Krahe was a New South Wales police officer and detective.Krahe is often referred to as having been one of the most feared NSW police officers of his day. He made many successful arrests for which he received commendations and awards for bravery and outstanding detective...
, and with a number of organised crime figures, including Arthur "Neddy" Smith
Neddy Smith
Arthur Stanley "Neddy" Smith is an Australian criminal who has been convicted of rape, armed robbery and murder.Smith has been serving a life sentence since 1989 and is presently imprisoned in Long Bay Correctional Centre after being moved from Lithgow Correctional Centre in New South Wales,...
, Graham "Abo" Henry, Warren Lanfranchi, Robert Arthur "Bobby" Chapman, Paul "The Paddy" O'Halloran, John Tex Moran, and Christopher Dale Flannery
Christopher Dale Flannery
Christopher Dale Flannery, aka Mr. Rent-A-Kill is alleged to have been an Australian hitman. Flannery was born in Brunswick, Victoria.- Juvenile Crime:...
. Neddy Smith was a convicted heroin dealer, rapist
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and armed robber who has claimed Rogerson gave him the "green light" to commit crimes in New South Wales. Henry and Lanfranchi were also heroin dealers and armed robbers, while Flannery specialised in contract killing
Contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary, or otherwise. The hiring party may...
.
Police career
Rogerson worked on some of the biggest cases of the early 1970s, including the Toecutter Gang Murder and the Whiskey Au Go Go FireWhiskey Au Go Go fire
The Whiskey Au Go Go fire was a fire that occurred at 2.10 a.m. on Thursday 8 March 1973, in the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Australia that killed 15 people...
in Brisbane. By 1978 his reputation was sufficient to gain convictions based on the strength of unsigned records of interviews with prisoners (known as "verbals"). He was brought in to investigate the bombing of the Sydney Hilton
Sydney Hilton bombing
The Sydney Hilton bombing occurred on 13 February 1978, when a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the time the hotel was the site of the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting , a regional off-shoot of the biennial meetings of the heads...
despite having no connections to the Special Branch investigating the case. The convicted bomber Tim Anderson, who was released in 1991, claimed the confession Rogerson extracted was fabricated, and that he and other members of the Ananda Marga
Ananda Marga
Ananda Marga, organizationally known as Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha , meaning the samgha for the propagation of the marga of ananda , is a social and spiritual movement founded in Jamalpur, Bihar, India in 1955 by Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar .Ánanda Márga followers describe Ánanda Márga as a...
sect were convicted because Rogerson falsified statements.
The Peter Mitchell Award was presented to Rogerson in 1980 for the arrest of escaped armed robber Gary Purdey. This was tainted by Purdey's claims that Rogerson assaulted him, prevented him from calling his solicitor and typed up to five different records of interview.
Rogerson was responsible for the shooting death of Warren Lanfranchi. During the inquest the coroner found he was acting in the line of duty, but a jury declined to find he had acted in self defence. Rogerson was later commended by the police force for his bravery. However, it was alleged by Lanfranchi's partner, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp
Sallie-Anne Huckstepp
Sallie-Anne Huckstepp was an Australian prostitute and heroin addict who became a writer and whistleblower.-Life:Huckstepp was born Sallie-Anne Krivoshow and attended Dover Heights High School in Sydney. She left school at the age of seventeen and married Bryan Huckstepp...
, and later by Neddy Smith
Neddy Smith
Arthur Stanley "Neddy" Smith is an Australian criminal who has been convicted of rape, armed robbery and murder.Smith has been serving a life sentence since 1989 and is presently imprisoned in Long Bay Correctional Centre after being moved from Lithgow Correctional Centre in New South Wales,...
, that Rogerson had murdered Lanfranchi as retribution for robbing another heroin dealer who was under police protection and for firing a gun at a police officer. Huckstepp, a heroin addict and prostitute, appeared on numerous current affairs programs, including 60 Minutes and A Current Affair, demanding an investigation into Lanfranchi's death. She also made statements to the New South Wales Police Internal Affairs Branch. She was later murdered, her body found in a pond in Centennial Park, New South Wales
Centennial Park, New South Wales
Centennial Park is a large public, urban park that occupies 220 hectares in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Centennial Park is located 4 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Randwick...
.
Fellow police officer Michael Drury has alleged that Rogerson was involved in his attempted murder. Drury claims he refused to accept a bribe Rogerson offered to change his evidence in a heroin trafficking trial of convicted Melbourne drug dealer, Alan Williams. On 6 June 1984, Drury was shot twice through his kitchen window as he fed his three-year-old daughter, Belinda. Rogerson was charged with the shooting and Williams testified that Rogerson and Christopher Dale Flannery
Christopher Dale Flannery
Christopher Dale Flannery, aka Mr. Rent-A-Kill is alleged to have been an Australian hitman. Flannery was born in Brunswick, Victoria.- Juvenile Crime:...
had agreed to murder Drury for A$50,000 each. However, on 20 November 1989, Rogerson was acquitted
Acquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
.
Rogerson received a criminal conviction, which was overturned on appeal, for involvement in drug dealing, allegedly conspiring with notorious Melbourne drug dealer Dennis Allen
Dennis Allen
Dennis Allen was a Melbourne based drug dealer who was reported to have murdered many victims. He was the oldest son of criminal matriarch Kath Pettingill. He died of heart disease in 1987 in prison custody awaiting trial for murder....
to supply heroin.
After the police force
Rogerson was dismissed from the NSW Police Force on 11 April 1986. He was subsequently convicted of perverting the course of justicePerverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
in relation to $AU
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
110,000 deposited by him in bank accounts under a false name
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
. He spent nine months in jail in 1990 before being released on bail pending an appeal. His appeal was unsuccessful and he spent a further three years in jail from 1992 to 1995. Rogerson was depicted by Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor who has starred in many Australian films and has appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hollywood productions, usually as villains.-Early life:...
in the miniseries, Blue Murder
Blue Murder (mini-series)
Blue Murder is a two-part Australian television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1995, and is based on true events. Given its confronting content, the DVD release was classified MA 15+...
, first broadcast in 1995.
After leaving the police, Rogerson worked in the building and construction industry as a supplier of scaffolding
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. It is usually a modular system of metal pipes or tubes, although it can be from other materials...
. 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
Warwick Capper
Warwick Capper is a retired high profile professional Australian rules football full-forward who played with the Sydney Swans with a short stint at the Brisbane Bears in the VFL ....
and Mark "Jacko" Jackson.
On 17 February 2005, Rogerson and his wife were convicted of lying to the 1999 Police Integrity Commission. Rogerson served 12 months of a maximum two-and-a-half year sentence. He was released from Kirkconnell Correctional Centre
Kirkconnell Correctional Centre
Kirkconnell Correctional Centre is a minimum security Australian male prison located 30 km east of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia.It is located in the Sunny Corner State Forest and has a fully trained bushfire fighting team comprising both prison staff and inmates.-References:...
on 17 February 2006. Rogerson's wife, Anne Melocco, was sentenced to two years periodic detention for the same offence. Following his release from prison in 2006, Rogerson resumed his entertaining career with Mark "Jacko" Jackson by appearing in a show called The Wild Colonial Psychos with Jackson and Mark "Chopper" Read
Chopper Read
Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read is an Australian ex-criminal, who wrote a series of semi-autobiographical and fictional crime novels. The 2000 film Chopper was based on his life.-Early life:...
.
In 2008 Rogerson reviewed episodes of the Underbelly
Underbelly (TV series)
Underbelly is a 13-part Australian television mini-series that retells the real events of the 1995–2004 gangland war in Melbourne, and is the first series in the larger Underbelly Franchise. It depicts the key players in Melbourne's criminal underworld, including the Carlton Crew and their rival,...
series and Melbourne's underworld war on The Daily Telegraph
The book is entitled "The Dark Side". It consists mainly of accounts of the less controversial murder investigations and arrests he was involved in. Rogerson also talks about his family, his childhood, other police officers, the charges made against him and his time in jail. It is a combination mini-autobiography and collection of accounts, memoirs, opinions and anecdotes, with the occasional touch of humour.