People you meet along the way - Episode Five - Roger Rogerson Part One

Roger Rogerson, a former detective, gains notoriety after shooting criminal Warren Lan Frache in 1981. His life intertwines with a reporter over 30 years, leading to media scrutiny and claims of murder from the Prisoner's Action Group. An interview reveals his criminal activities, and his story is depicted in a television show, prompting reflections on his past and his connection to an assassination attempt on a drug squad detective.

Transcript

1:10

The name says it all, disgraced. Former detective Roger Rogerson. Hello, I'm Terry Galloway, old timer. Now once a working reporter, welcome to another yarn from my memoirs and another one of the people I have met along the way. The sent from Fearless Police Hero to Prison, greens of a convicted murderer by disgrace. Former detective Sergeant Roger Kaley Rogerson has been chronicled chapter and verse by many publications, documentary makers and critics. For more than 30 years, I counted Roger as a mate and a confidant. From my first encounter in 1981 with Roger Rogerson, we struck up a rapport as friends, occasional drinking mates, a source of many stories, and a man whose trust and truth I could rely on. Roger impressed from that first meeting as a warm and friendly all round good bloke. Ironically, in the light of what would happen, that first meeting took place in the waiting area of 3 0 2 Castle Rate Street Magistrates Court were the detective awaited his appearance on a charge of assault involving an incident at a King's Cross restaurant. The press room of the court complex was packed with radio, television, and newspaper reporters anxious for the story of the charge against the man whose name had become synonymous with drama. In the wake of the shooting of career criminal, Warren Land Frache in June of that year still dominating the public domain. Another of my police officer told me that charge was a setup by someone in high places within the force out to get rogerson. My colleagues in the press room showed interest in watching Rogerson as the hour of the hearing near, but also showed a reluctance to approach him. But I walked up to him, introduced myself, and asked Harry felt about the charge. We spoke for possibly five minutes. I went out to the news car

and unfolded a report for the 10: 3:14

00 AM Bulletin. Rogersons name became a household word after he shot dead career. Criminal Standover man, armed robber, and drug supplier, Warren Frache in Dangar Place at Chippendale on June the 24th, 1981. During a meeting arranged by Notorious Criminal and Killer, after Stanley Netty Smith Smith supplemented his income from armed Rob as an extortion by becoming Rogersons fizz gig that is an informant, and told a subsequent inquiry he'd set up Lan France's arrest because the 22-year-old had been running wild and bringing down the cops and other hate on his activities with the land. Franci matter, making headlines across the nation and the Prisoner's Action Group led by convicted, he said, reformed armed robber, Brett Collins and the dead man's family, making claims of cold-blooded murder. I approached Rogerson through Detective Sergeant Army ts for a live interview on the then very successful two GB breakfast show with Mike Carlton. In the course of the interview, Carlton put it to Rogerson that Frache became the third man. He'd shot dead listing Philip Western in a standoff at Avoca Beach on the central coast, and Butchy Burns at Kinsington in the aftermath of a $60,000 payroll robbery at South Sydney Junior's Leagues Club. And a Chase Rogerson quickly interjected, no, no, no, not Butchy Burns. Only T shot him. The resulting interview was a radio highlight that year in the ABC's Blue murder television show. Actor Richard Roxborough played the part of Roger Rogerson in an amazingly accurate portrayal of the detective. The night of the show's debut, Roger and his wife Anne sat down to watch it. Anne's first comment to Roger at the end of the show was, gee, you were handsome when you were young. Rogerson also became a central figure in the attempted assassination of Undercover Drug Squad Detective Michael Drury on June the sixth, 1984. There's more to come in the next episode in the Roger Rogerson story.