A colourful cast turn out to farewell a drug lord of the 1980s Sydney underworld - who was remembered for his softer side despite being dubbed 'untouchable' by police
- Henry Charles 'Danny' Landini has been farewelled by a colourful cast in Sydney
- Landini was a prominent figure in the Sydney underworld of the 1970s and 1980s
- He was known as one of the 'untouchables' - a group of mastermind drug lords
- Landini - who moved to Australia from Italy as a boy - died of cancer aged 74
A colourful cast have turned out to farewell a drug lord of the 1970s and '80s once regarded as 'untouchable'.
Henry Charles 'Danny' Landini was a lifelong criminal who was charged more than 60 times with drug dealing and other offences beginning as a teenager.
A prominent figure of Sydney's gangland in the 1980s, many of Landini's friends and criminal associates were shot dead during that tumultuous time.
Those who remain turned out to reminisce about the 74-year-old on Monday, after he died last month following a long battle with cancer.
Career criminal Henry Charles 'Danny' Landini (pictured) was farewelled by family and friends at a funeral service on Monday
A mix of family, friends and former associates filled Rookwood Cemetery chapel after Landini died earlier this month
Landini's widow Carmen Tusch (pictured) hugs another mourner at the funeral for her husband
Landini (pictured with his wife Ms Tusch) was a prominent underworld drug lord in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s
Among those to farewell him was his close friend the underworld figure Graham 'Abo' Henry.
Henry posted a tribute to his good mate on Facebook prior to the funeral, calling the Italian-born Landini a 'good old school crook'.
'Today I say goodbye to a great friend whom I've known since I was 16. Danny Landini was one of the old school crooks and a good one. RIP my friend until we meet again,' Henry wrote.
Landini's widow Carmen Tusch gave the eulogy and remembered her husband's soft side as a husband and father.
Share this article
As the crowd of family, friends and colourful identities left the chapel, a pair of white doves were released into the air.
Landini moved to Sydney from Italy as a young boy and grew up with his mother at Woolloomooloo in the inner-city, after a period in Melbourne.
He drank in inner-city pubs with notorious crime figures like Arthur 'Neddy' Smith, a convicted armed robber, drug dealer and murderer who is serving life in jail.
The Italian migrant was close to most of the well-known east coast drug dealers of the 1970s and 1980s.
Graham 'Abo' Henry (left), who was a close mate of Landini's, talks with fellow former gangster Phillip Player (right)
Underworld figure Graham Henry remembered Landini as a 'good old school crook' in a Facebook tribute posted before Monday's funeral
South Sydney Rabbitohs great Craig 'Tugger' Coleman (right) pats another mourner on the back outside the funeral for Landini. The rugby league star and criminal had known each other since they were children
Stephen Moorhouse (pictured) was among those to pay their respects to Landini. Moorhouse spent time in jail with Sydney identity Tom Domican and the pair were at one point charged with conspiracy to murder - the charges were later dropped or quashed
A mourner waits outside after the moving funeral service in Sydney's west on Monday afternoon
Criminal friends described Landini as 'staunch', 'loyal' and 'old school', while police considered him a menace to society.
'There was nothing ambiguous about him,' one former detective said.
Landini was a regular at salubrious eastern suburbs bars and restaurants in his prime.
In later life he was dubbed one of the 'untouchables' - a group of elderly drug lords who masterminded a narcotics network across Sydney in 2010.
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.
During sentencing, Judge Peter Berman commented on Landini - then aged 68 - and his offending.
Landini's widow Carmen Tusch (left) gave a eulogy remembering the softer side of her partner
Among those to pay their respects was Phillip Player (right) who 'retired' from the gangster life after spending more than 25 years of his life behind bars for crimes including conspiracy to murder
One mourner wore a colourful sweatshirt and a baseball hat at Landini's funeral service in Sydney
A photo of Landini and his wife Ms Tusch took pride of place on top of the casket at the front of Monday's funeral service
'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,' Judge 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.
Friends told Daily Mail Australia after a subsequent appeal and legal costs Landini was left with about $40,000.
Landini had been charged in 1971, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1991 and in 1998 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 (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
Close to 100 mourners packed into the chapel at Rookwood Cemetery to remember the life of Landini, who died after a long battle with cancer
After being released from prison in 2015, Landini was diagnosed with cancer. He died on May 2 this year
A onetime member of the State Drug Crime Commission who worked on Landini in his criminal heyday described him as an 'old-fashioned crook'.
'If you were going to go into a conversation with him, you'd have to be pretty upfront because he would sort you out within 20 seconds,' the former detective said.
'I'll give one thing to Danny Landini, by and large he was very discreet about what he did. He wasn't Neddy Smith running around throwing his money around and big-noting.
'Danny was a pretty savvy wheeler and dealer and the fact he lived to be in his mid-70s is an indication he was pretty quick on his feet.
'I wouldn't say I respected the guy because that's not what it was.
'Opposing armies have got to respect each other and that's about it. I respected him on the basis that he was the opposing army.'
Landini is survived by his widow, Carmen, two sons and a daughter.
Comments 0
Share what you think
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
