1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:03,080 Speaker 1: Before we begin. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,439 Speaker 2: This podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence. 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: Stuart John Reagan. He was the maniac gangster shotgun Johnny Nano, 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: the magician gunned down at the age of just twenty 5 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 1: nine after terrorizing the East Coast of Australia throughout the 6 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties and seventies. It was said he killed up 7 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: to twelve people, including an innocent toddler, and vanished their bodies. 8 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: At the height of his notoriety, his evil, his violence, 9 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: his hair triggered temper. His reputation as a vendor of 10 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: death was distilled into a single word, Reagan. He terrified 11 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: crooks and coppers alike. He was the monster with movie 12 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: star good looks. Women fawned over him. Men tried to 13 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: imitate the teetotaling tough guy. What set him apart was 14 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: his hair triggered temper from zero to lethal boiling point 15 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,960 Speaker 1: in the blink of an eye. His few friends said 16 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: he had a tiger inside of him. His own murder 17 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: at the hands of free gunmen in a grubby Sydney 18 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: laneway in broad daylight remains unsolved, and half a century later, 19 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: police still don't want to know about it. He was 20 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: crazy by any measure, a standout psychopath in a criminal 21 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: era that had its fair share of them. Reagan roared 22 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: through the underworld like a flame thrower before eight bullets 23 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: to the body and the head stopped the chaos. That's 24 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: where the story should have ended, but not for the 25 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: Reagan family. His name and reputation have soiled a family 26 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: tree from rural New South Wales that is filled with 27 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: pioneers and war heroes. Was Stuart John Reagan as bad 28 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: as history has portrayed him? Did he actually kill little 29 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: Carlos in nineteen seventy four, and who in turn murdered 30 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: Reagan a few months later. After years of investigation, the 31 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: family now has some answers. In this podcast, we will 32 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: reveal a new theory about Reagan's assassination as possible retribution 33 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: for Carlos's death. How Reagan tried to kill whistleblowing Madame 34 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:04,119 Speaker 1: Shirley Brifman, who died in mysterio circumstances shortly afterwards. How 35 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: domestic violence perpetrated by Reagan's terrifying mother Claire, set him 36 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: on the path to crime and into history. How Reagan 37 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: was brutalized at a boy's home that was little more 38 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: than an academy for Australia's leading criminals, including Chow Hayes, 39 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: Neddie Smith, Lenny McPherson and George Freeman. We'll expose for 40 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: the first time Reagan's role in the whiskeyer Go Go 41 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: nightclub massacre in Brisbane in nineteen seventy three, which killed 42 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: fifteen innocent people. And incredibly, you will hear the voice 43 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: of Johnny Reagan himself from old real to real tapes 44 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: hidden away for years in a black suitcase. Welcome to 45 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: the nether world of Australia's last old school gangster. I'm 46 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: journalist Matthew Condon and this is The Gangsters Ghost episode 47 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: one dead Man talking. How on Earth did I end 48 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:35,600 Speaker 1: up here? A couple of days ago, I was at 49 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: home in far northern New South Wales, having a surf 50 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:43,359 Speaker 1: with my kids, surrounded by beautiful beaches and lush rainforests. 51 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: Now Here, I am on a farm outside the country 52 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: town of Young on the southwestern slopes of New South Wales, 53 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:59,919 Speaker 1: more than one thousand, one hundred kilometers away. The lands 54 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,480 Speaker 1: cape gently rolling with patchwork wheat and canola fields, surrounded 55 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: by hundreds, no thousands, of grubby sheep. I was only 56 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: here because of a local farmer, Kelly Slater. I was 57 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: here because Kelly contacted me and asked if I was 58 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: interested in finding out the truth about a gangster she 59 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: had in her family tree. I still vividly remember when 60 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: Kelly Slater Reagan, herself a former New South Wales copper, 61 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: first contacted me. This is Kelly reading an email she 62 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: sent me. 63 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 3: Hi, I'm an ex police officer and cousin of Johnny Reagan. 64 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 3: We're looking at doing a podcast on him, the good, 65 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 3: the bad, the ugly, mostly the two Ladder, but his 66 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 3: childhood as well. We have letters and recordings that have 67 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 3: never been heard. Looking for help to make it work 68 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 3: Kelly Reagan. 69 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,039 Speaker 1: So I phoned Kelly. We talked about how the family 70 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: needed the truth after all these years. If the Reagans 71 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: were looking for any redemption here, it was going to 72 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: be difficult to find. What if the family came on 73 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: this journey and found a monster even more vile and 74 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 1: horrific than they could possibly imagine, they had to be 75 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: prepared for the worst. The first and most obvious thing 76 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: for me to do was to go to Young to 77 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: meet Kelly. We needed to talk about her dead gangster cousin. 78 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: Here's Kelly. We're sitting at her kitchen table at that 79 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: farm in. 80 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 3: Young Honestly, I don't know exactly what we'll find. I 81 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 3: know we'll find that he probably killed people. I've accepted 82 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 3: that fact. Will we find did he kill that little 83 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 3: boy like that? Is? That's something I'd really liked Carlos, 84 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 3: Did he or Didney? And I'm resigned to the fact 85 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 3: that if he did, like but I'm hopeful of it. 86 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 3: Given the whiskey of goe goo? What was his involvement 87 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 3: in that? Was he a psychopath? Like they said? Is 88 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 3: the stories that they tell about in truth? 89 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 4: Why do you want to know this right now? In history? 90 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 3: I don't know. It's funny, isn't it, Like when you 91 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 3: you know, they talk about war veterans and all that, 92 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 3: and they I think you get to a certain age 93 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 3: where you just think you want to know, Like in 94 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 3: my twenties, you'd think I would have wanted to know. 95 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: I knew from the outset that I had well a 96 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: partner in crime here. Only two people were ever truly 97 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: on the inside when it came to Reagan, Margaret and 98 00:07:55,040 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: Reagan's mother Claire Claire Mary Rahl Reagan outlived her son 99 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: and only child by fourteen years, and she's been resting 100 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:13,239 Speaker 1: in the Catholic lawn section of Sydney's Rookwood Cemetery, Plot 101 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: two six five three since September nineteen eighty eight. After 102 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: just a couple of days in Young and talking to 103 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: the Reagan family, it soon became apparent that this story 104 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: had another shadowy figure, and that was Claire Reagan, a 105 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: figure so malevolent that to this day she is still 106 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: reviled in Young. Back then, everyone called her the Colonel. 107 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: By all accounts, she was manipulative, controlling, violent, intimidating and cruel. 108 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: She horsewhipped her son and terrified his teachers at the 109 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: local Catholic school. I asked Kelly about the family's view 110 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: of Reagan's childhood and the Colonel Young look. 111 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 3: I think it was tough with his mother. She was 112 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 3: a tyrant, She was cruel. She would flog him mercilessly. 113 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 3: The other kids were terrified of that. The brothers at 114 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 3: the school were terrified of Oh, she was cruel, She 115 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 3: was cruel, She was a monster. 116 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 1: David Pattinson was in the same primary school class as Reagan. 117 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: He too heard about the monster that was the Colonel. 118 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 5: He actually had a fight at school with Paul Gibson, 119 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 5: who Paul gave him a body knows. Then another took 120 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 5: him down to his mother and she's working behind the 121 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 5: bar and she came out with the cloth of the bar, 122 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,079 Speaker 5: wiped his face, said you get out of here and 123 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 5: get back there and give him a bleeding nose. 124 00:09:55,880 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: We would discover many curious and appalling things about Colonel 125 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: and her strange magnetic hold on her son Stuart John Reagan, 126 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: about his childhood in young his alcoholic father, alf the 127 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: marriage breakup that saw Claire and little Johnny move to Sydney, 128 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: and a teenage Reagan's dissent into serious crime. Then there's 129 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: the enduring family rumor that when Claire Reagan went to 130 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: live in Sydney, she actually ran a few prostitutes out 131 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: of the house in Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst to survive. 132 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,480 Speaker 3: The family never liked her at all, but there was 133 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 3: always this thing that she got Johnny into crime because 134 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,560 Speaker 3: when she went to Sydney that she ran girls herself, 135 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 3: and he stood over those girls that she ran. He'd 136 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 3: worked for her and that's how he got started in it. 137 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 1: Well, Kelly's offer of joining the family in this hunt 138 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: for the real Stuart John Reagan was already irresistible. They 139 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: had documents letters from Reagan in prison, but they had 140 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: something else, something I had to hear quite literally to believe, 141 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:23,559 Speaker 1: and almost as an afterthought, she added, Then there's the tapes. 142 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: The tapes. What tapes, I asked, Johnny. She said, We've 143 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: got secret tapes of Johnny on the phone back in 144 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:39,839 Speaker 1: the day, hours of them before he was murdered. 145 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 5: Testing one, two, three for five. 146 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: As a crime writer, you encounter a lot of dark 147 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: and surprising things. Sometimes you hear stories you wish you 148 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: could unhear. For the first time, I sat down and 149 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: listened to the old tapes hidden in a suitcase for decades, 150 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 1: I was speechless. 151 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:09,439 Speaker 6: You know what he's doing. 152 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 5: He's that's a black man, and he said, I'll buy 153 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:14,440 Speaker 5: the diamonds back off you for that amount of okay, 154 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 5: when the time period elapsed, I didn't want to sell 155 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 5: him to the Norman Carter and he's how. 156 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: It's difficult to describe the sensation of hearing for the 157 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:28,559 Speaker 1: first time the actual voice of a notorious killer. It 158 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: only read about in books and ancient newspaper clippings. It 159 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,559 Speaker 1: felt like I was sitting in the same room as 160 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: a ghost. Reagan loved technology, and at some stage decided 161 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 1: to tape his home phone calls. He rigged up his 162 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties rotary dial telephone with a microphone and a 163 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: real to reel tape deck recorder. He even took a 164 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: concealed miniature cassette recorder out into the streets of King's 165 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: Cross and Darlinghurst and captured conversations with other criminals and 166 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: crooked cops. You know you've got a good defense for this. 167 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: Those lost tapes are filled with Reagan's wheeling and dealing, 168 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: his superior knowledge of the law, and his relentless quest 169 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: to get around it. 170 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 7: You shouldn't have had that card resisted in your name 171 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:27,680 Speaker 7: in the third. 172 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: Place, and the names of many of the coppers he 173 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: could either work with or manipulate with cash under the. 174 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 4: Table, which is him mate what he Schnakeer plaid. He's 175 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:42,319 Speaker 4: probably a mate of Stirdon. 176 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: He even thinks out loud about putting a bullet in 177 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:50,599 Speaker 1: an enemy's head, just as casually as you and I 178 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: might wonder out loud what we'll have for breakfast. You 179 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: might my word I'm not telling you a lot. 180 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 4: I'll give you to your ideas, Tom, if you want 181 00:13:58,320 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 4: to go through with him. If not, well, you know. 182 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 1: Reagan kept his tapes hidden away in a suit case 183 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: in his mother's house in Sydney when he died. That 184 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 1: suit case stayed inside a dark cupboard until his own mother, 185 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: the Colonel, passed away in nineteen eighty eight. The tapes 186 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: magnetic recording reels, each as big as a bread plate, 187 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: were lost for years. As recently as a couple of 188 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: months ago, these historical artifacts sounded like something out of 189 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 1: an audio museum, muffled, garbled, ancient, then lightning stroke. The 190 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:49,760 Speaker 1: Australian's in house sound maestro Jasper Leak had come across 191 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: an artificial intelligence program that he thought might help clean 192 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: up Reagan's amateur recordings. Then our other audio guru, Leah Sammaglu, 193 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: spent hundreds of hours feeding the Reagan tapes through this 194 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: AI software, fine tuning, finessing, and drawing out voices and 195 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: sounds from half a century ago. This is Johnny captured 196 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: on the raw digital file of the Reagan tapes. 197 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 3: And the cops and what they're doing and what they're 198 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 3: trying to I will. 199 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: And this is the same audio after Jasper Leah and 200 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: our new best friend artificial intelligence performed their wizardry. 201 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 6: Have you heard HEARDing wistern Red the coppers and what 202 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 6: they're doing and what they're trying to do? 203 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: Look, you know yourself, nobody coppers will? 204 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 5: I will. 205 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: This journey has made me rethink all the trepidation and 206 00:15:53,480 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: debate surrounding artificial intelligence, particularly in the field of journalism. 207 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: Would AI ultimately replace journalists as we'd been warned? Would 208 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: it take over the world. The experience with the Reagan tapes, however, 209 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: is an exciting, in this case jaw dropping example of 210 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: how AI is far from the bogey man. For the podcast, 211 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: it has proved to be a phenomenal tool. You will 212 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: soon be hearing a lot of the gangster's ghost, as 213 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: clear as if the killer himself had pulled up a 214 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: chair at your kitchen table and settled down for a 215 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: cup of tea and a chat. 216 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 7: Absolutely, we'll put him with the others. Reagan, of course, No. 217 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 7: Reagan was shot dead by three shepherd guns. I'm out 218 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 7: at Maryfrell near Henson Park. 219 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: This is the notorious Foreman, New Southwell detective and convicted 220 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: murderer Roger Rogerson, who talked to me over the fern 221 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: many years ago about Johnny Reagan. 222 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 7: Lenny Macpherson said to me once mat he said Roger, 223 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 7: he said, you can control a bad man, but you 224 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,120 Speaker 7: can't control a madman. I've never ever forgotten. 225 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 1: Roger's dead now, but he knew a bad man when 226 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,440 Speaker 1: he met one, and he knew Reagan was out of control. 227 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:37,720 Speaker 1: The seemingly untouchable Stuart John Reagan, who often wore a 228 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: bulletproof vest and always had a bodyguard by his side, 229 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 1: was there one minute, larger than life and gone the next, 230 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:56,120 Speaker 1: a corpse bleeding out on a Sydney side street. You've 231 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:57,120 Speaker 1: been a police officer. 232 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 6: What does it say that suddenly all lines of investigation, 233 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 6: query asking questions all stopped upon his death. Well, it's 234 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:12,400 Speaker 6: still an active cold case his murder. 235 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 3: Well you think so, wouldn't you, because they never closed 236 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 3: there's no statute of limitations on murder. And here is 237 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,879 Speaker 3: one of the biggest gangsters. So who's killed one of 238 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 3: the biggest gangsters. Wouldn't you want to know out of curiosity? See, 239 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 3: the family was always told that he was killed by 240 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,879 Speaker 3: police and it was You know, if they were. They 241 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,919 Speaker 3: were very brazen because they used thirty eighth's, so it 242 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 3: was always said that he was killed by police. 243 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:41,440 Speaker 1: Kelly Reagan was treated with extreme suspicion when she applied 244 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: to join the police. A relative of this violent killer 245 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: wanted to sign up to keep the peace in New 246 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: South Wales. I was interested in whether having Reagan in 247 00:18:54,040 --> 00:19:00,199 Speaker 1: her family tree actually inspired Kelly to combat crime. She 248 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: had been fascinated with Johnny Reagan since she was a 249 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:04,200 Speaker 1: little girl. 250 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,360 Speaker 6: I don't know overstretched the metaphor, but in the one 251 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 6: family you've got a notorious gangster and a New Souls 252 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:12,359 Speaker 6: police officer. 253 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 3: I know, don't worry. When I went for my job interview, 254 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 3: I was expecting three serving senior serving, but there was 255 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,480 Speaker 3: five on the panel and that's mostly all they asked 256 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 3: for about. So Kelly Reagan from young yep, what's your 257 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:34,920 Speaker 3: relationship to Stuart John Reagan? Well, I never met him. 258 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 3: Here's my dad's cousin. And then it was just question 259 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:39,480 Speaker 3: after question after question. 260 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: Time and again. As Kelly and I borrowed closer to 261 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 1: the truth about this complex man, strange things happened, ridiculous 262 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,880 Speaker 1: coincidences and wild strokes of luck. 263 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 3: Because over the years I have spoken to people. So 264 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 3: I was at the station and a guy brought me 265 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,239 Speaker 3: in a scrapbook and he said, I just thought you 266 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,359 Speaker 3: might be interested, and seeing this, I know he was 267 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,200 Speaker 3: your cousin. I went, oh, right, and I had a 268 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 3: look and here's the scrap book of all. So I 269 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 3: was sitting out in the meal room and I was 270 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:08,480 Speaker 3: just having a look at it, and it was just 271 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 3: sitting on the table. Now, what's the chances of assistant commissioner, 272 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 3: former member of the armed hold up squad? So I've 273 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 3: been told pops in and he sees this thing there 274 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 3: and he says, ah, please looking at this, and I said, oh, 275 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 3: that's me. And he said, oh, what's your interest in Reagan? 276 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 3: And I said, well, he's my dad's first cousin. Oh, oh, well, 277 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 3: I can put you in contact with someone who can 278 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 3: tell you. So that's when he gave me old mate's number. 279 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 3: He said, I'll meet you at the golf course in 280 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 3: Nelson's Bay. It was real cloak and dagger, and he 281 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,160 Speaker 3: handed me a letter that I had to destroy. 282 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 4: What was the matter. 283 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 3: It was just sort of saying that, you know, he 284 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 3: knew John, that he'd arrested him that he was. He 285 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,919 Speaker 3: went to the hospital when he'd broken Marg's jaw and 286 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 3: tried to get him, tried to get Mark to give 287 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 3: a statement, which you wouldn't give a statement. It was 288 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 3: sort of just about that. And I'm like, is there 289 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 3: anything else do you know killed? 290 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:00,560 Speaker 5: No? 291 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 3: No, no, no, no no no. I'm like, oh right, okay, yeah, 292 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 3: yepdo and then off he went. So every time someone 293 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 3: would find out that my name was Reagan and I 294 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 3: was from the young and it was a police officer 295 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,000 Speaker 3: they and they were senior, they'd all way, oh yeah, yeah, 296 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 3: do you know Johnny Reagan? Yeah, yeah, I do. Yeah, 297 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 3: like a guy that was a detective at Newtown at 298 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 3: the same time. I said, if you were there in 299 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 3: seventy four, do you remember Stuart John Rare Oh yeah, 300 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 3: yeah I do. I said, well he was my cousin. 301 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 3: He said, all right. I said, do you ever know 302 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 3: who killed him? He said, well, we were told that 303 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,439 Speaker 3: in the area at the time there was a car 304 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 3: with four detectives seen in it. They were wearing these 305 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 3: bowler hats or something, and they had police coats on. 306 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 3: And he said there was always a whisper that it 307 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 3: was Rogerson's first hit. 308 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:43,960 Speaker 6: Roger Rogerson. 309 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:52,399 Speaker 1: Roger Caleb Rogerson, the notorious former New South Wales police 310 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: detective sergeant implicated in killing's assault, verbally, drug dealing and 311 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: corruption during a tumultuous career that saw him both admired 312 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: and hated. At his peak from the late nineteen sixties 313 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:15,240 Speaker 1: through to the early nineteen eighties, he associated with all 314 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: the corrupt cops and Sydney gangsters that formed Johnny Reagan's milliere. 315 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,479 Speaker 1: Rogerson was one of the lead detectives who investigated the 316 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:31,160 Speaker 1: Whisky Go Go nightclub bombing in Brisbane in nineteen seventy three, 317 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: which left fifteen people dead. This incredibly brought him into 318 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: the orbit of Reagan, but more of that later. Rogerson 319 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 1: became infamous after shooting dead drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi. It 320 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,879 Speaker 1: was suspected too, that he was involved in the attempted 321 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: murder of one of his own colleagues, police officer Michael Drew, 322 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 1: who had refused to take a bribe. Rogerson was dismissed 323 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: from the New South Wales Police Force in nineteen eighty six, 324 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,439 Speaker 1: hit the pub circuit telling tall stories about his infamous 325 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:19,400 Speaker 1: career before being charged in twenty fourteen with the murder 326 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:25,440 Speaker 1: of Sydney drug dealer Jamie Gow. Rogerson was found guilty 327 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: of that crime. He died in Sydney's Long Bay jail. 328 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: Last year when he was convicted of the Gow murder. 329 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:40,680 Speaker 1: A Sydney newspaper ran a headline, serial killer with a badge. 330 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 3: And I said, what do you mean, his first hit? 331 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 3: And they said, since the forties and fifties, there's always 332 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 3: been a hit man in the ci burn. I said, 333 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 3: you can't be a generation yes, I said, you can't 334 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 3: be serious. He said, Oh, the rank and file would 335 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,480 Speaker 3: never know about it. He said, but when detectives, when 336 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:57,800 Speaker 3: we'd all go out and we'd all be having a 337 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,399 Speaker 3: beer and lips would loosen a bit. Said, there was 338 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 3: always talk of that sort of stuff. Who told you 339 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 3: that story. 340 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: The observation that each generation of police might have a 341 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: professional killer in its ranks is far from outlandish, given 342 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: the history of corruption in the New South Wales Force. 343 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: That reputation began with the arrival of the first fleet 344 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty eight and has never abated. Corruption flourished 345 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 1: in Sydney during the Second World War and became a 346 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,359 Speaker 1: fine art in the hands of men like Ray Gunner, 347 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: Kelly and Fred Froggy Cray from the nineteen fifties to 348 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies. Roger Rogerson was part of the new 349 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: generation that carried that crooked baton forward. The Wood Role 350 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: Commission into the New South Wales Police Service between nineteen 351 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 1: ninety five and nineteen ninety seven examined the extent of 352 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: corruption in the force. It exposed countless examples of misconduct 353 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: and hundreds of officers were forced to resign. That first 354 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,879 Speaker 1: day I met Kelly and we sat at her kitchen table. 355 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: We were awaiting some one else. Margaret Reagan, Johnny's long 356 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: term some might say long suffering, de facto wife, mother 357 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,440 Speaker 1: to his daughters Helen and Claire, and to their son, 358 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:34,359 Speaker 1: John Junior. Could she take us inside the world of 359 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: the last of Sydney's old time gangsters during his heyday 360 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:44,439 Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties. Could she help us understand his 361 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:50,880 Speaker 1: murderous temper, his taste for violence, and why history would 362 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:56,159 Speaker 1: attach anywhere up to twelve murders to his name, including 363 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: an innocent three year old boy. And what happened on 364 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:06,919 Speaker 1: that last day when Reagan, unarmed and unprotected, was a 365 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,199 Speaker 1: gunned down mercilessly, with one of the killers delivering a 366 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:16,120 Speaker 1: final point blank headshot to make sure the boy from 367 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:20,919 Speaker 1: Cherrytown was well and truly dead. I had a frank 368 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:25,119 Speaker 1: discussion with Kelly about what marg might or might not 369 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: decide to tell us. Cooperative? Do you think by her nature, 370 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:33,879 Speaker 1: she might, like most people, hold something back. What do 371 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: you reckon. 372 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 3: During Mark's formative years, she's with John and you know 373 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 3: the skills she's being taught by him. Is you know 374 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 3: to say nothing, to keep your mouth shut? I think 375 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 3: she really wants to open and tell all that she knows. 376 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,399 Speaker 1: Do you think she still has a residue of fear. 377 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 3: No, I think she's as tough as old bootstraps. 378 00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: Now that afternoon, Mark Reagan arrived with one of her daughters. 379 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:08,919 Speaker 1: She hadn't been too young in many years. Now in 380 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,679 Speaker 1: her seventies, you could still see the stunning good looks 381 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: that had attracted Johnny Reagan all those years ago in 382 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: Sydney's King's Cross, where he worked as a bouncer. On 383 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 1: the door of the Whisky Go Go nightclub in Williams Street, 384 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 1: the Slaters and Reagans fired up the barbie and later 385 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: we set up microphones at Kelly's long kitchen table, the 386 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: scene of so many family gatherings, to begin our interviews 387 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: with Marg. The family started to drift out of the room, 388 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,880 Speaker 1: but Marg stopped them. She wanted them around her when 389 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:54,119 Speaker 1: she talked. She didn't want to do this alone. Now. 390 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 4: I don't want to keep repeating myself for everybody. It's 391 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 4: best to every one here, Okay, Okay, that's I want that. 392 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 4: You're not putting me off. So for me to do this, 393 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,640 Speaker 4: you won't have to ask me what happened? Okay, And 394 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 4: this is why I'm doing this, okay, So what do 395 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:22,120 Speaker 4: you want to know now? 396 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 1: In the next episode of The Gangster's Ghost, we take 397 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 1: you inside Reagan's earliest years in country New South Wales 398 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: and the rocky relationship between his mismatched parents. 399 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 3: That marriage never had a chance, and. 400 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: We find another monster lurking in the shadows of this story, 401 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: Reagan's own mother, the formidable and feared Claire, known to 402 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: all as the Colonel. 403 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 5: She built with a stock, she drown me. Mame like 404 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 5: he was a beast. So he had a tough mother, 405 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 5: a tough, tough lady. 406 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,440 Speaker 2: The Gangster's Ghost is a production of The Australian. It's 407 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 2: written and presented by senior writer Matthew Condon and produced 408 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 2: and edited by multimedia editor Leitt samaglu Our executive producer 409 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 2: is Me Editorial director Claire Harvin. Special thanks to Lara Kamenos, 410 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:33,000 Speaker 2: Erica Rutlidge, Kristin Amiot, Jasper Leek, Stephanie Coombs, Sean Callanan, 411 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 2: Lachlan Clear, Ryan Osland, Amanda Winn Williams, Christine Kellet, Tarn Blackhurst, 412 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 2: Magdalena Zajak, Gisel Boetti, Genevieve Brammel, Lauren Bruce, Sus Rolf 413 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 2: and Joachina Carlson. We can only do journalism like this 414 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 2: with the support of US subscribers, who hear episodes first 415 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 2: and get full access to photos, video, news stories and features, 416 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 2: plus all Australia's best journalism twenty four to seven. Join 417 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 2: us at Gangstersghost dot com. 418 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 4: What I Do