Introducing: The Gangster's Ghost

Johnny 'The Magician' Regan was a murderer, pimp and psychopath, gunned down by three assassins in a grimy back lane in 1974. He was 29. Matthew Condon investigates gangland’s last great murder mystery.

Subscribers to The Australian and registered users hear episodes of 'The Gangster's Ghost' first at gangstersghost.com.au. Plus you can read more about this case, see exclusive stories, photos, videos and more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
His name was Stuart John Reagan, Stuart John Reagan, Jeword
John Reagan, Johnny Reagan. In his teens, Johnny Reagan was
already a violent pimp and standover man.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
He was one of the worst human bodes that ever
walked the Straight to Sydney.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
By his twenties, he had a reputation as a psychopathic killer.
Are you're ever looking for a psychopath? Reagan ticks all
the boxes. Exactly fifty years ago, Reagan was slain by
at least three assassins in the streets of suburban Sydney.

(00:40):
His murder remains an unsolved cold case. He still considered
Australia's last true old style gangster.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
You can control a bad man, but you can't control
I madly.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
But few details are known about this short and dramatic
life until now. I'm Matthew Condon, a true crime writer
and journalist with The Australian. This is the Gangster's Ghost
and in this podcast you'll meet relatives of Reagan who
will speak for the first time in over half a century,

(01:17):
and you will actually hear Reagan's voice from the grave.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
You mark my words. I'm not playing your line. I'll
give it your idea to tell them if you want
to go through with them. If not, well you know.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
For decades ours have previously unheard real to real tape
recordings made by Johnny Reagan himself have only now surfaced.
Come with us and the ghost of one of this
country's most infamous outlaws on a journey into one family's

(01:49):
dark past. If you thought every clan had a black sheep,
wait until you meet the Reagans. Gangster's Ghost a podcast
from the Australian coming soon at Gangster's Ghost dot com
dot a you