rent apartment near me

(shovel digging) (fly buzzing) (quiet sobbing) - hey! - you idiot! (ominous music) (gunshot) (screams) (grunts)

- where do you think your going, tiger? - [tara] meet christopher dale flannery, australian tough nut, hitman,and multiple murderer. he turned killing into a business, created australia's ownmurder incorporated, and earned the nickname rent-a-kill. (electric guitar music) - hi, i'm tara moss. welcome to tough nuts,australia's hardest criminals.

as a crime writer, i'vealways been fascinated not just with the crimeitself, but with the question of what made them do it. in tough nuts, we'llgo behind the headlines and peel away the psychological layers to discover what really made and motivated some of the most vicious thugs and killers in australia's history. tonight, tough nutsexamines the dark life of

christopher dale flannery, australia's most notorious hitman. through dramatized scenes,first-hand accounts, and detailed analysis of flannery's life, we will give a detailedportrait of the man who's believed to havekilled 15 people on contract before his luck ranout and he disappeared, friendless with ruthlessenemies dispatched to kill him. his disappearance has remained a mystery

for almost three decades. a coronial inquestlasting almost five years could not crack the case. on tough nuts tonight, we will identify whokilled chris flannery. - i think flannery was theonly person i've ever heard of that ran around saying, "oh, i'm gonna kill people for money." - i don't drop my price for nobody.

get it? - "i am a hitman, call me rent-a-kill." - flannery's reputation was that he was a psychopathic rat bag. - i saw him break a guy'steeth with the muzzle of a gun, and i was sure he was gonnashoot him right then and there. - chris, no! chris! - the job was this person had to die.

- they bought christopherflannery up to do away with me. - chris flannery wasthe person who shot me at my house that evening. - when we thing of australian tough nuts, the name christopher daleflannery looms large. his name and reputationas a hitman spread fear through the australian underworldof the 1970's and 80's. rent-a-kill's price was $50,000. and for that, he bragged,anyone could be eliminated.

he was believed to havecarried around a textbook of gunshot wound pathology in order to perfect his skills as a killer. and he could be vicious. he was said to have brawled with a biker in front of a crowd ofpeople in melbourne, bashing him senseless. and he even popped thebiker's eye from its socket, then ate it.

however, flannery was alsoa committed family man. between murders he took timeout to dote on his kids, and his wife kathleen. this was a man with a longhistory of criminal activity. but until the contract killingof businessman roger wilson, in february, 1990, flanneryhad stayed off the media radar. - mr. wilson was last seenhere at the factory premises at the corner of cara jonesstreet and rob's raid in footsgrey on friday night.

he was working late withother company executives evaluating a new product. he is said to have beenvery enthused by the product and was in high spirits. - roger wilson was a cleanski. no background in crime, he was a barrister turnedbusinessman who got caught up with thewrong sort of investors. the investors were criminals.

and they wanted their money. but the investments went bad, they didn't get their money, and they figured it was just retribution to take this bloke out an kill him. and that's what flannery was asked to do. - i remember him telling meabout the art of killing. he knew all about bodies and what hurt, and where to hurt them inthe shortest possible time.

and he said, "the only thingabout this game, craig, "is the fuckin' noise." and i said, "there's gotta be more things "that worry ya than the noise." and he goes, "yeah, not getting' paid." - rent-a-kill inc. was amurder-for-hire business. chris flannery was its principle operator, but there were other men,associates of flannery, who would on occasion commit murders

that flannery had secured contracts for. the price was always$50,000 and chris flannery would actively tout the businessin the criminal networks of sydney, the gold coast, and melbourne. - it was money. that's what drove chris. that was his demon andthat's what drove him. in every respect. - in criminal terms, had the opinion that he was abigger-than-life personality.

and it was important forhim for everyone to know that he was chrisflannery, mr. rent-a-kill. - [tara] steven barren, former police detectiveturned forensic psychologist, believes flannery's killingof roger wilson reveals the early work of a psychopath. - psychopaths don't havethe emotional arousal, for example, anger thatyou and i would get. it may well have been he wassimply asked to do a job.

the job was this person had to die. because it was probablyhis first or second murder, there's a good chance he wasstill acquiring the certain skills required to be an efficient hitman. - well, flannery, the committed murderer, would have already playedthe whole thing through as a movie so that he juststeps into the real life situation and cold-bloodedly, ruthlessly, with no remorse and nosense of guilt, acts it out.

now, in his mind would bea huge hit of dopamine, the endorphin that floodsa gambler when he wins. or floods somebody in love, even. that real sense of i have the power. - [tara] with police closingin over the wilson murder, flannery and his wife,kath, reacted by conducting a media interview denying all allegations. - [interviewer] it wasbeing rumored that you had been retained as a hitman.

- that's incredible, just rubbish. - [interviewer] you have heard these, sir. - yes, i have. - [interviewer] and what'syour answer to that? - it's just ridiculous, totally untrue. - [interviewer] can youtell us how you came to be connected with mark clarkson and with roger wilson? - mr. clarkson gave us someadvice on a business matter,

through a discotheque that we're having sort of trouble with. and he came to adviseus, and we had a meeting and mr. wilson turned up at the meeting. that's the only time i've seen mr. wilson. - [tara] despite his denials, the evidence againstflannery was mounting. - a detective, brian murphy,who was also part of that micky's disco scene, had warnedhomicide this would happen.

he'd heard there wasa plot to kill wilson. he'd heard the muttering aroundthe corners in his disco. - i ran homicide and they said,"well, have you got a body?" and i said, "no." i said, "you gotta be fucking joking." he said, "no, i'm not actually." he says, "but when youget a body, you ring us." - so the murder went offand there was obviously some information when outwhere the body was buried.

flannery, being a burierof bodies rather than a drop 'em at sea or whatever,the body was still there. - [tara] flannery approachedalphonse gangitano, an up-and-comer in themelbourne crime scene, to do some very dirty work on his behalf. - it was up to gangitanoand one or two others that were sent up there towhere this body was buried. they dug it up, must'vebeen a grisly job of itself, and reburied it in another spot.

gangitano told peoplelater that that was the most disgusting thing hehad ever done in his life. - [tara] wilson's bodyhas never been found, but police believe theyhad enough evidence to proceed with the prosecution. - chris flannery, markclarkson, and kevin williams were charged with themurder of roger wilson. the three men were tried inthe supreme court in victoria. it was, at the time, the longest trial in

victorian criminal history. - [tara] but the crucial crown witness, debra boundy, disappeared. she had overheard a conversation between chris flannery and herboyfriend, kevin williams, describing the murder of wilson in detail. she is believed to have been killed at flannery's orders alone. without her testimony,the crown case collapsed

and the three men were acquitted. flannery was free to kill again. when we return, we'lldelve deep into the life of rent-a-kill andexamine the forces at work in his formative years. his family background, hisfailure as a street criminal, and the time he spent inaustralia's hardest prison. - prisoner 363598. - sir.

- welcome to h division. i think we're gonnaenjoy having you around. - welcome back to tough nuts,australia's hardest criminals. and the story ofchristopher dale flannery, the man called rent-a-kill. chris flannery was born in 1948, and grew up in a toughpatch in the working-class melbourne suburb of brunswick. his father, edward, wasunable to hold down a job,

drank heavily, and was abusiveto his wife and children. when flannery was just nine, his father left the familyhome never to return, leaving flannery andhis two oldest siblings with their mother, emily, and flannery's maternal grandmother, mary. flannery despised his fatherfor leaving his mother high and dry, but emily flannery was a fighter.

she worked two jobs tokeep food on the table and a roof over her children's heads. edward jr. and louise managedto overcome their hardships, to become positivecontributors to society. ed flannery became alawyer and louise a nurse. however, chris driftedinto a life of crime. why is it that chris, theyoungest of the flannery brood, shunned society so spectacularly? - there is no doubt thatflannery had some exposure

to neglect and abuse. but i'm kinda curious whetherhis father had the range of parenting skills that mostfathers had at that time. too, nature vs nurture. i think it's nature vs nurture vs choice, and it's an interactive process. what makes people bad and why do siblings in the same family exposedto the same environment turn out not bad.

and i guess the answerthere is the siblings are often protected bytheir age, their gender, they process their experiencesslightly differently, and they see the abuseand neglect in terms of another context. dad's authoritarian, dad's strict, dad's loving but can't show it to me. i think flannery had an abusive childhood. i'm led to believe that brunswick

was a difficult area to grow up in. and i think the experienceat morningstar reformatory may well have made chris flannerythe man he led to became. - [tara] flannery wasonly 14 when he was sent to morningstar for breakand enter and car theft. one man who can shedlight on his time there is flannery friend, formerprison inmate turned author and playwright, ray mooney. - i met chris first inprison, 'round about 1968.

and it was through hisexperiences in prison i got to know about hisexperiences at morningstar. sent to morningstar when he was about 14, and what he told me wasthat it was one of those institutions where itwas a pretty tough place run by franciscan friars ina beautiful old building. but they were as tough as nutsin terms of their attitude to reforming the kidswho're under their care. and hey were quiteferocious in the way they

went about that. and chris was one of thosekids who was a cheeky kid. he was a charismatickid, he was a tough kid, he was an in-your-face kid but he was also a very good looking kidwhich made him quite vulnerable at the age of 14. he'd been abused in three separate ways. he'd been abused physically, he'd been abused psychologically,

and it's my opinion thathe's abused sexually. he never said it, but i knew. - one of the side effectsof putting teenagers into prisons, or prison-like institutions, is that they model, theycopy, all of that bad stuff. how to break boundaries,how to be a criminal., as opposed to somebody whostays in a loving family where they're constantly being reminded and reinforced for good behaviors.

- the die was cast somewherein the rough and tumble streets of brunswick and at morningstar. at just 19 years of ageand with a criminal record as long as your arm,flannery was sentenced to nine years for a stringof offenses, including rape. he entered the gates ofpentridge prison in melbourne with a smoldering resentmenttowards male authority figures. he then quickly foundhimself in a living hell, a place reserved for the worstof the worst: h division.

(knocking on door) - come. - stand to attention scum. to attention. - yes, sir. - i'm not a sir. they offered me a knighthoodonce but i knocked it back. i'm your governor. welcome to h division.

has 363598 been strip searched? - no, governor. - drop 'em, blossom. - nothin' up here, governor. - well, let's just be certain, shall we? - when i get outta here,i'll back up on all ya. i'll kill your fuckin' kids, and leave em to dielike dogs in the gutter. - i've seen shit like you come and go.

get this through yourhead, i run this show. you might've been a bigwig out there son, but you're just a shitty number to me. - fuck you. - in your dreams, 363598. - you just wait till thepress sees about this. they'll love it. - ah, perhaps i could callthe editor of the h for ya. put him in next to reed,they deserve each other.

- conditions at hdivision were pretty bad, the only thing they let you do was live. and that's underplaying it. it was as bad as it comes. it wasn't as bad forme as it was for chris. they chose the people whoworked in h division on the disposition of theirpsychological attitude and their size. they were incredibly large,ferocious prison officers

who loved their job. chris said that they broke him, and by broke him what imean is that he agreed to the conditions that theylet you survive in h division. in other words, you quick-marched,you never looked up, you always looked down at the ground, you never looked at a prison officer. you saluted, you did everythingthat you were told to do. they broke him in thathe acquiesced to their

rules and regulations. - it was a hideous place. a 19th century style prisonwhere prisoners would literally break rocks. that was their task for the day. they'd be routinely bashed,subject to indignities like being sodomizedwith batons and so forth. - [tara] after seeing a goodfriend rushed to hospital as a result of another brutal beating from

h division guards, flannerydecided to fight back. - he took 'em all on, offered all the screwsto fight him one out, which they wouldn't of course. and they flogged himagain and what have you. he refused to obey any orders. - [tara] in an act of defiance, flannery stripped off his clothes and went on a hunger strike.

this moment was detailedin a screen play written by ray mooney for the filmeverynight, everynight. - youse can all get fucked. you're on me fuckin' own. i'm no longer part of your fuckin' system. i've resigned, i'm free! you hear that, dish lickers? i'm free! - [tara] news of the protestfound its way into the media.

- you just wait till thepress hears about this. - [tara] this led to avictorian parliamentary inquiry, and ultimately to the releaseof the jenkinson report, which found conditionsin h division barbaric. in the wake of these findings, some of the more sadisticguards were pensioned off and conditions improved. - so flannery, because he stoodup to the authorities in h, became a hero to manyprisoners at the time.

- when somebody goes intoan institution where they're totally powerless and theyare tortured and abused, they really lose sense oftheir ability to make things in their world happen. then when flannery very cleverlycame up with this plan to go on a hunger strike,he was taking control. and that's what he thrived most on. - [tara] flannery emerged from prison a psychological time bomb full of anger

and contempt for authority. after the break, weexplore rent-a-kill inc and flannery meets the oneperson who can control him. - [kathleen] darlin'? - what now? - give us a kiss, will ya? be good, darlin'. - welcome back to tough nuts,australia's hardest criminals, and christopher dale flannery,the man called rent-a-kill.

chris flannery left pentridgeprison having served five years of his nine year sentence. he fell into the arms of kathleen, a young woman with a childfrom a previous relationship. chris and kath had met years earlier, but his time in jail had puttheir relationship on hold. towards the end of his incarceration, kath wrote frequently toflannery and within six months of his release they were married.

the newlywed flannery foundemployment as a bouncer at mickey's disco, a melbourne nightclub. the nightclub was agathering place for many underworld figures of theday and flannery quickly found his way back into crime. the only problem was, hewasn't very good at it. he was arrested for possessionof a pistol at mickey's in 1974 and though heescaped a jail sentence, six months later he wasarrested and charged

for an armed robbery. he absconded while onbail and fled to perth. and while on the run, flannery found the onlygainful employment of his life. working at the menswear counterat david jones in perth, a job that suited the vainkiller down to the ground. former acquaintance offlannery's, craig cousin, recalls chris and his vanity. - he was in love with italianhaute couture, you know.

that was his thing, heloved the ties, the silk, the threads, that was his world. he thought the better helooked, the better he felt. and he used to dress beautifully but he smelled like a whore's handbag. he had five different colognes on at once and you couldn't getwithin 15 feet of him. if you had asthma, he'dkill you without a gun. - this is a great storythat he was employed

by david jones in perth rightin the menswear counter there. in fact, he was so good atit that they promoted him. he didn't last all that long. he absconded on bail fromvictoria at the time. he knew he was hot so hehad to give up his job as the manager of the menswearsection at david jones in perth and he went back there thenext day and robbed the place with an accomplice. shot a guard while he was there.

- [tara] roger rogerson,then a detective with the new south wales police,received a tip off from west australian policethat flannery had fled to new south wales. rogerson knew that flanneryhad sent a cache of weapons to a suburban railway station in sydney. a stakeout was organizedand rogerson and the armed robbery squad lay inwait for flannery's arrival. - so on the day in questioni was there with some other

detectives and the first personwe met was mrs. flannery. and she put head into theoffice and was very nice and saying, "look, i'mhere to collect a box," and of course the guyscame in and then these blokes realized that they were trapped. i mean, these blokeswere incredibly towey. i would describe flanneryas being, obviously, a psycho and of courseit then developed into a free-for-all and i wentup and down on the railway

tracks with flannery andfinally got over top of him and got some handcuffs onhim and they took him back to the cib. - he was taken back to be questioned. they're in a room wherethere's about six detectives. they take the handcuffs off chris and chris attacks them straightaway, breaks the jaw of one ofthe top detectives there. here's a guy who was oneout, surrounded by police.

he's just been given aflogging on the way in, and he takes 'em all on,attacks the main guy, rogerson's there, sees it. knows that there's somethingthis guy's got that very few people got. - [tara] back in jailfor another three years, flannery decided he neededa change of occupation. - he had one moment, hepulled aside his old mate allen williams.

and he told williams he said,"look, i'm not good at this. "i'm not good at crime. "i think what i'm gonna dois kill people for a living." and that's pretty much howrent-a-kill inc. started. it was a murder for hirebusiness designed by flannery because he was no good at anything else. - looking at his backgroundit may well be saw a prison full of people who'dcommitted crimes like drugs and street crimes thatwere very unsuccessful,

hence they were in jail. and because prisonscontain so few murderers, flannery may well havedecided that murdering people was a lot less risky inrelation to being caught, convicted and going back to jail. - [tara] flannery wasjust 24 years old when he decided to become a gun for hire. christoper dale flannerymarried kathleen egan in april, 1978.

kath came from tough stock,she could handle chris easily. and she was a doting wife and mother. - have a word with thekids about leaving their toys lying around. it's fuckin dangerous. christ, where's me bag? - what time will you be home? - i don't know, late. - why late?

call me. - yes, alright i will. - darlin'! - [chris] what now? - i'm the fuckin' best there is, baby. - there's been intense speculation about kath flannery's role with chris. what we certainly doknow is that she provided the structure and theorganization in his life

that he would not have had otherwise. - psychopaths have traditionallyvery poor structure. they don't normally aspireto long-range goals, long-range planning. i don't think that kathwas probably involved planning the murders buti think that she gave him the structure. she gave him the structure at home, she gave him the structure interms on their relationship,

so it may well be he learnedfrom kath how to plan, how to structure. - what could i say about kath? she was certainly very loyalto him, i could tell you that. when we were out and aboutif chris was just there in their company, he was apretty likable type of a bloke. just one on one and you're having a drink. as soon as she'd turn uphe'd change his attitude, he'd come this tougher attitude.

she really held a lot of strings with him and she picked and choosed. she was always askingquestions about people. one night she walked over to me and said, "how many people have you killed?" and i said, "if i'd killedanyone, you'd be the last c "i'd ever tell." - the only person thati knew on this planet that chris flannery wasafraid of was his wife, kath.

he made that clear, pointedlyclear on numerous occasions. he wouldn't kick on afterhours, he'd say i gotta get home or she'll have my nuts,that was one of his sayings. and he meant it. and i'm sure she would've, having met her. - i've never seen anyonewho was more in love than kathy and chris when they were young, not only when they were young but forever. it was the closest bondthat i've ever come across.

they were infatuated with each other. it was genuine love. it was a romeo and juliet style love. and i keep reading thatkathy was mrs. macbeth or what have you andthe truth of the matter is it couldn't be further from the truth. chris protected kathyat every possible level. they were just in love, totally in love. and i think people underestimatethe quality of that love

when they try to analyzetheir relationship. - [tara] kath was chargedwith being an accessory after the fact in the wilson murder trial. when flannery was acquittedthe charges against her were dropped. it seems chris flannerywas in love and in fear of his wife at the same time. after the break, weexplore rent-a-kill inc. and later, we reveal whomurdered chris flannery.

and christopher dale flannery,the man called rent-a-kill. after walking free from court over the murder of roger wilson, flannery was arrested withinminutes and extradited to new south wales to faceanother murder charge. while out on bail for that crime, flannery openly toutedfor business in sydney. for $50,000 he'd kill anyone. for $10,000 he'd bash people senseless.

rent-a-kill inc. wasnow open for business. naturally, the underworld satup and started taking notice. all the crooks in sydney wantedto know who flannery was, and if his reputation asa killer had any basis. they quickly discovered that it did. - he hated the druggies,hated the drug dealers. he was old school, he was a dinosaur, and he hadn't woken up tothe fact that drugs were the in thing, hitmen and bank robberies,

and $20,000 tab robberieswere the old thing. so chris didn't like that,and he didn't like barry, and he didn't like that whole crew. the sayers crew, chubb, all of them. he didn't like any of them. so they had a falling out and i said, "mate, this is gonna turn nasty here," and he goes, "i don'tgive a rat's ass how nasty "it's gonna get."

and he just walked up to 'em and he goes, "why don't you picksix of your best blokes "to come out in this car park." and barry said, "oh, fuck off. "six blokes, what are you talkin' about?" chris undoes his suit jacket and he just pulls it back like that, and he's just got this snub-nosed.38 poked in his pants. and he goes, "one, two,three, four, five, six.

"so, anytime you're ready boys." and he walked out to thecar park and that whole pub emptied into as many cabsas they could and left. - in the 10 years before 1985, the drugs were taking over as the rivers of cash that fueled crime. this was ruled over by two men publicly: george freemen, lenny mcpherson, the little fella and the big fella.

they're often called the team. the other person, kindaon the scene somewhat, but associated with themwas stan "the man" smith. - george freemen gave him a job. someone told me he waspaying him six or seven hundred bucks a week whichback in those days wasn't bad dough for doing nothing. all he had to do was behave himself. and i don't think george everasked him to do much at all,

there's been rumors he gothim to stand over this person, stand over that person. i don't think george needed to do that. but because flannery was forevergetting around, you know, offering his services to kill people. (boxing match play by play) - [tara] world championboxer barry michael became a target for flannery. underworld figure ron feeneyrequested the services

of rent-a-kill after abusiness venture went sour. - the next thing i knowi'm warned around town that they'd bought upchristopher dale flannery to put a contract on me. and christopher daleflannery, fortunately for me, turned around and said,"barry michael, no way." he said, "i was there thenight he beat frank ropus. he said, "i'm a fan ofhis, not interested." he wasn't interested inthe job so that was good.

- my opinion of hitmen is, hired hitmen, is that i think they're gutless. i always have. i'm talking about peoplewho kill for money, you know, it's the last resort. my opinion of him wasn't very good. lower class, he was a toecutter. in other words, he was a back stabber. he'd put one in your back,he'd turn on you like a snake.

- perhaps flannery's most grislycrime was the double murder of terence bashum and hisde facto, susan smith. bashum was a former painterand docker who flannery had known from the old days in melbourne. he had fallen out withhis drug dealing mates who gave flannery a call. and so flannery turnedup on bashum's doorstep. - [flannery] that's a beautiful place, you've done very well.

- [bashum] yeah, cheers. - here she is, cheers and kisses. - you know chris. - christ, terry, you spawned some. - yeah. - ah, she's a little beauty, mate. thank god she hasn't got your looks, eh? - i live for her, mate. we both do.

(sighs) - we need to do a little business, mate. - yeah, i was wondering whyyou came all the way up here. i got some bad news for you mate. sue and i are pulling out. - would you make us a cup of tea, darling? white 'n two. - listen, i know you gotthis colombian thing all workin' out and undernormal circumstances i'd be

right there with you but igot the kid now, you know? it changes everything. - ah, white n' two. - here's the thing, mate,barry says you haven't retired. he says that you're branching out, doing business on your own. - barry and i just hada little blue, you know. it's nothing serious, i'll patch it up. - what? so you're not retired?

- not retired exactly. - you see, mate, i don't care it away. i mean, it's just business, you know. - chris. hey, mate. i got a little kid now. i got cash too, i got overa hundred thousand so just tell barry it's all sweet and i'll never cross his path again, i promise. you got my word on it.

- but what sort of a bloke would i be, what sort of a businessmanwould i be if i doubted barry? do you see? the customer's always right, terry. that customer wants you retired. i'm sorry, darlin'. it's just business. where'd you say thathundred grand was, mate? - get fucked.

- there's plenty of roomat the table, terry. but you got greedy. can't say i didn't look after you, mate. come on. do you know where daddy keeps his money? there we go. (baby fussing) - terence bashum was aformer painter and docker, he and his wife were actively involved

in the distribution ofmarijuana and heroin. they're operatives working for barry ball, and other drug traffickers. they had decided to go out on their own. it's a very dangerous business. and barry ball contacted chris flannery, and asked him to go and murder them for the price of $50,000. - [announcer] 39 year old terencebashum and his 30 year old

de facto wife susan were inthe lounge room of their home at stokers sighting on fridaynight when someone came through their back door. the intruder shot both atpoint blank range through the head and body. their two year old daughter,sarah, was left unharmed. - i think the sociopath is very capable of compartmentalizing their mind. and so he might have thought,

it's a child so i'm notgoing to kill the child, but it's not a child hecan empathize with or feel the feelings of so he can easily walk away and leave the childthere with dead parents. when he walked away, thechild was not a person to him. it was just part of himcarrying out the code of commitment i will not kill the child, but that child is nothing to me. i don't care.

- abandoning a two year oldgirl after killing her parents was an appalling act, butflannery would go a step further when he attempted to killa serving new south wales police officer. undercover detective michaeldrury had been involved in a drug investigation whichled to charges being laid against a drug dealer and mateof flannery's, alan williams. williams tried to buyhimself out of trouble by attempting to bribe drury.

when that didn't work, hecalled on flannery to kill him. drury was shot twice in thekitchen of his sydney home in front of his two year old daughter. on the verge of death,drury made a statement that roger rogerson had offered thebribe on behalf of williams. the shooting of a policemanwas a crime that horrified the nation. chris flannery had welland truly crossed the line. - this was the type of crimethat was beyond the acceptable

behavior of people like lenny mcpherson and george freemen. they would never interfere inthis way with a police officer or families within the community. they would only interferewith other violent criminals. alan williams came beforethe supreme court in new south wales on a chargeof conspiracy to murder. when the indictment was readout to him in court in that alan williams conspired withchristopher dale flannery

and roger carly rogerson tomurder michael patrick drury, how did he plead? he pleaded guilty. - when mick drury got shot, i was as shocked andstunned as anyone else. and had i had any information at all which would've had a bearing on it, i'd have been very happy topass it on to the police. - [announcer] rogerson facedtrial for the attempted

bribery of drury but was acquitted. however in july, 1986,a police tribunal found rogerson guilty of misconduct charges and he was dismissed from the force. - [tara] flannery neverhad his day in court over the shooting of drury ashe had disappeared by then. but drury is certain of his guilt. - i'm satisfied, beyondall reasonable doubt, and i knew many years agoshortly after i was shot

that chris flannery wasthe person who shot me - when we return a gunmanfires shots at flannery, kath, and their children in the driveway of their sydney home. this attempt on his lifewould throw his volatile personality into overdrive. - nah, fuck it. - chris. chris! - hey.

in 1985 sydney's streetswere awash with blood. a new criminal outfit led bybarry mccann had commenced a war for control of sydney's rackets. three weeks into the new year, an attempt was made on flannery's life. a car pulled up atflannery's arncliffe home and shots were fired froma machine gun at flannery and his family as they arrivedhome from a sunday lunch. - [announcer] christopherflannery's sydney house

was peppered with bullets. they smashed through windows,splintered aluminium cladding, and shattered brick work. part of the 30 shots fired,only two found their target. - [tara] to this day noone knows who did it. flannery believed tomdomican was responsible, but there's nothing to suggest that. in the ensuing weeks, flannery set about killing domican.

shots were fired at him and his associate. flannery had become unhinged. - who ever used the armaliteto try and kill chris simultaneously meant to killkath because it was sprayed and they were both together. so whoever did that wasout to get them both. kristine answers thedoor at the same time, so she's also there. so there's a youngchild, 12 year old child,

who's being shot atpotentially by and armalite. it changed the rules a little bit. - flannery took a woundin the ear which was of no consequence except itdeafened him for a time. the wound in the webbing between his thumb and his forefinger was very painful. - he refused to be treatedwith painkilling drugs because he didn't want to bein a situation where he could get potentially get caught off guard.

so therefore he was sufferingincredible pain all the time. - [tara] the pain andthe close call with kath and his family made thealready volitile flannery more erratic. - in many ways he was the rather true sociopath. he had very little regardfor the well being of other people, and this is quite a disturbingpsychological trait to have.

my understanding is he would often brag amongst other people ofthe crimes he'd been involved in over the years that wentthrough the full spectrum to several murders, kidnappings, etc. - i've seen him put shotsin, gunshots into roofs of people's houses over, you know, because he didn't feel theywere giving him enough respect. i've seen him threatenpeople that owed him money.

- one of flannery's more famous lines was, "you're not a koala bear, i can kill you." he'd say it to police officers,he'd say it to criminals. he'd say it to anyone in the street. - flannery seemed to have fallenfor the trick of believing his own publicity. his spectacularlyviolent temper had become even more lethal. he would lash out,

assaulting people who hadonce regarded him as a friend. no one was safe. - so the doc says, "whatseems to be the problem?" and the bloke goes, "ithurts when i jerk off." (laughing) - what's that bastard up to? - i don't know, just getting a drink. - prick, he always shows up empty handed. that's my personal piss.

- he doesn't know, mate. i'll replace him. - nah, fuck him. - chris. - hey. hey! - chris, no! chris! - next time he'll bring his own piss. aye! - i had seen him explode on occasions.

i've seen him break a guy'steeth with the muzzle of a gun and i was sure he was gonnashoot him right then and there, and he just grabbed this mate by the hair, shoved him up againstthe wall of that theater and shoved this gun intohis mouth so violently that it pushed all histeeth out and split his lip. and he was wide eyed andabsolutely off the planet. - he could fight a bit,he just rather, he didn't and that was because hedidn't want to be scarred.

he didn't like havingfacial scars or marks on him so he'd rather hit you orstick a gun in your face. - yeah, he was a very goodlooking person who didn't look as if he could fight, but alot of people fell into chris. he was a ferocious fighter. in fact, he could've fought ofaustralia in the octagon ufc. that's the type of fighter he was. - we were in the hotel ona, i think it was a thursday night actually and chris gotinto an altercation there

with a bloke and his wife. and the girl threatenedhim with a stiletto, and he king hit this girland he hurt her quite badly. but he'd just lost his temper,he'd had too much to drink. he didn't like the bloke,and he clocked his wife. he started reaching for his gun and i thought he was sodrunk that he would shoot both of them. and so i just king hit him.

- and it wasn't just alcoholadding to the problem. - flannery had beentaking cocaine and speed most of his adult life but in the last three months of his life, he was taking cocainevirtually 10, 20 times a day. he wasn't staying with his wife, kath. he remained in contact withher but for the most part, he was in deep cover takingcocaine, sleepless nights, deep anxiety, psychosis.

- the drugs that he wastaking would've surly made his mind quite, you know,addled and all of those traumatizations, the beatings,starting right when he was little and the tortures in prison would have made him avery irrational person. - flannery was now living in the shadows. his crimes, particularly theattempt on michael drury's life, were catching up with him. he spent his days wired onamphetamines, sleep deprived,

moving from house to house. the walls were closing in. when we return we revealfor the first time the answer for who killedchristopher dale flannery. welcome back to tough nuts,australia's hardest criminals, and the story ofchristopher dale flannery, the investigation into theshooting of new south well's police officer, michael drury,gathered up a head of steam. the investigations was initiallyhampered by corrupt police

who spread the word thatdrury himself was corrupt, but that wouldn't fly. the corrupt cops knew thatflannery could give them all up. flannery was caught in amaelstrom of his own making. george freeman and his team,who had kept him on side, now feared him. they knew that flannery'svery presence stood in the way of establishing a lastingpeace with the up and comers, mccann's gang.

in february flannery's oldmate from prison in melborne, mick sayers, was murdered by three gunman outside his bronti home. flannery's only survivingfriend in the sydney scene was tony eustace, and flanneryshot him in an attempt to curry favor with freeman. - [announcer] 42 year oldanthony eustace was about to get into his mercedesoutside the airport hilton when the gunman opened fire.

there was six shots froma .45 caliber handgun, four hit eustace in the the chest. - i think, with the eustace murder, what was obvious is that,to they who's in the know, is that flannery did it. because it raised a question about him. flannery was probably closerto eustace than anyone else in sydney and if eustacecouldn't trust him, no one else could.

i would say it would be afactor in them deciding, look, if he's gonna shoot eustace,we better get rid of him. - chris flannery told a number of people if he was arrested for my shooting, he was going to roll over andtell the truth on everyone. and i'm also mindful of the time, he was totally out of control. people were being murderedleft, right, and center, and there was some significantorganized crime figures

that couldn't guarantee their own safety. - i heard the time of his disappearance, there was a dispute that on the one hand between george freeman and lenny mcpherson and on the other this groupwho i'll loosely describe as the mccann group. and flannery was seenas an absolute pissed, and the catalist for solvingthe differences between the two groups was to get rid of flannery.

- i spoke with him in the lastcouple of months of his life, i'd visited him a couple of times. he was edgy, basically, about the police. he thought that they had lockedhim into the michael drury shooting and he thoughtthat there was an obligation on the police to back him up, to back up for what hadhappened to michael drury. - by may 9th, 1985, flannery was out of luck, outof friends, and out of time.

he'd been hiding out atvarious places around sydney when crime boss, georgefreeman, tracked him down at an apartment at the connaught building. according to kath flannery, george invited chris over totest a new machine pistol. chris left the buildingand was never seen again. - [announcer] flannery's familyraised the alarm last night when the 36 year oldmelbourne crime figure failed to return froma business appointment.

- there are a number of theories. one is that he was takento george freeman's place, tortured on a billiardtable before he was killed. - [interviewer] so yousay you had nothing to do with his death? - oh, i had nothing-- is he dead? - [interviewer] well, i don't know. - is he dead?

- [interviewer] policeseem to think he might be. - well, then. well, i don't know that. - there's been all sortsof conjecture as to what happened to chris flannery. ned smith came up with a story that i shot chris flannery rightbetween the eyes and killed him. - rumors abound about howit happened, what happened, and everyone has their owntwo bobs worth on that.

but once again, it was all over money. probably would still be alivealthough given chris' penchant for guns, he'd probably wouldhave got himself in the same pickle in another city. - [tara] other theories haveflannery escaping sydney alive and living under an assumed name but the one person to survivea hit from rent-a-kill, michael drury, knows thatflannery is not the kind to live a quiet life.

- he was the type of fellowthat if he was living in any australian town, eventoday, he would want to, within a week or two, be incharge of the truck raffles in the local pub. and ever person would know he was in town. in criminal terms, had theopinion that he was a bigger than life personality andit was important for him for everyone to know thathe was chris flannery, mr. rent-a-kill.

- a coronial inquest lasting five years took evidence from over 400 witnesses but could only conclude thatchris flannery was murdered by person or persons unknownon or around the date of may 9th, 1985. just who did it has remainsone of the great mysteries of australian criminalhistory until today. recently a significant playerin the chris flannery story has revealed to tough nutsthat flannery was murdered

in or around george freeman'shome the day he disappeared and that his killer wasstan "the man" smith. tough nuts has checked intothis account with a number of other sources who'veagreed that smith was indeed flannery's killer. stan smith was a significantcriminal figure in australia who trafficked in drugs,yet he was old school. a friend of both georgefreeman and lenny mcpherson and when some dirty work was required,

stan smith could always becalled upon to do the business. he is believed to have killedmore than a dozen criminals, those like flannerythat stepped out of line and threatened thelivelihoods of the established criminal network. the powers that be in sydney decided that christopher flanneryshould go for the sake of peace. in a funny kind of way, the man who killed for aliving was himself sacrificed

so that the business of crime could go on. see you next time on tough nuts, australia's hardest criminals. (dark, sinister music)