Italian migrant who became one of Sydney's 'untouchable' drug lords dies of cancer aged 74 after a lifetime of crime
- Henry 'Danny' Charles Landini described as having 'extensive criminal history'
- He moved to Sydney from Italy as a young boy and grew up in Woolloomooloo
- Landini was a prominent figure in the Sydney gang wars of the 1980s
- He was known as one of the 'untouchables' - a group of mastermind drug lords
An Italian migrant who became an 'untouchable' Sydney drug lord has died of cancer.
Henry 'Danny' Charles Landini, 74, was described as having an 'extensive criminal history', being charged 60 times with drug and other offences beginning in 1960.
He moved to Sydney from Italy as a young boy with his mother and grew up in Woolloomooloo in the central city.
Landini was a prominent figure in the Sydney gang wars of the 1980s. Many of his close friends were shot dead during the tumultuous period.
He drank in inner-city pubs with notorious crime figure Arthur 'Neddy' Smith. Smith is serving a life sentence in prison after being convicted of murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking.
Landini was known as one of the 'untouchables' - a group of elderly drug lords who masterminded a narcotics network across Sydney in 2010.
Henry 'Danny' Charles Landini (right in police surveillance footage), 74, was described as having an 'extensive criminal history', being charged 60 times with drug and other offences beginning in 1960
He was arrested after a series of raids across Sydney, the NSW Central Coast and Mudgee.
Landini was convicted of supplying 1.345kg of amphetamine between June and September, and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison without parole.
During sentencing, Judge Peter Berman commented on Landini - then aged 68 - and his offending.
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'Most offenders appearing for sentence in these courts are young men, some of whom commit crimes regularly, until, perhaps because they reach a level of maturity, perhaps because they are tired of the way they are wasting their lives in jail or perhaps for other reasons they finally give up their lives of crime,' Mr Berman said.
'The two offenders for sentence in this case are not in that category.'
Two years earlier, Landini had been awarded $230,000 in damages after it was proved crooked cop Trevor Haken had planted heroin on him in the 1980s.
Landini's funeral will be held at Rockwood Cemetery (pictured) in western Sydney on Monday
Landini had been charged in 1971, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1991 and in 19978 in relation to the possession and supply of heroin and cocaine.
He was released from prison in 2015 and had been living in Sutherland, in Sydney's south.
Landini's funeral will be held at Rockwood Cemetery in western Sydney on Monday.
