Tough Nuts: Australia's Hardest Criminals

Stewart John Regan – The Magician (2x7)

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Multiple murderer, extortionist, pimp, child killer and violent thug, Regan is arguably the most violent and terrifying person in Australian criminal history. A genuine psychopath, Regan spent his childhood in rural New South Wales torturing animals. After moving to Sydney, Regan became a pimp and recorded a conviction for living off the earnings of a prostitute. Over the years to come, Regan would control a string of prostitutes, running brothels and overseeing streetwalkers, controlling these vulnerable women through fear and violence. Regan soon committed his first murder; the body of his victim, like so many others to come, simply disappeared. Regan quickly assumed the identity of his given nickname – the Magician. He was the conjuror who would make associates and enemies alike vanish into thin air, never to be seen again… Regan despised the police. The only police officer Regan ever deferred to was a tough cop named Gil Mackie. Mackie had been a Kokoda veteran who had seen humanity at its worst. Knocked to the ground, Regan looked up and called Mackie “Sir”. The violent thug had been beaten down for the first time in his life. Regan’s most outrageous crime was the murder of a four-year-old boy, Karlos, the son of a girlfriend of Regan’s who had been left in his care. Karlos disappeared, and like so many of Regan’s victims his body has never been found. With that final killing Regan crossed a line. The police couldn’t tolerate a child-killer on the loose, and Sydney’s crime lords made the decision to dispose of him. Regan by that point was so out of control they knew that one day he could come after them, too. Regan was lured to a hotel in Marrickville on the pretext of a meeting with gambling king George Freeman. But Freeman was waiting with Stan “The Man” Smith – a feared assassin. Regan was shot by both men and left to die on the street, sending a message to criminals and police alike that justice had been done.