He was associated with other gangland heavyweights such as Lenny McPherson and George Freeman who were considered as some of the most powerful underworld figures in Australia of the late 20th Century.
He was born into the working-class suburb of Balmain, New South Wales which at the time functioned as an industrial centre including shipbuilding and metal manufacturing.
The earliest and closest associate of Smith was that of Lenny McPherson, whereby they gained the reputation of being two of Sydney’s "hard men" through their protection of nightclubs and gambling venues, particularly in the Kings Cross area.
Smith was soon introduced to an old prison friend of Lenny McPherson, named George Freeman who had strong links in crime associated with bookmaking and other forms of gambling.
Together, the three men ran an empire within the criminal underworld whereby Smith’s primary role was to sustain and grow their business through fear and intimidation, earning him the nickname of "The Enforcer".
Robert Walker was already an enemy of Smith and his criminal luminaries as he was a rival protection racketeer who often bragged about his self-proclaimed status of being the toughest man in Sydney.
Smith was also allegedly connected to the murder of another key underworld figure of Stuart John Regan alongside the notorious crime lord, Fredrick "Paddles" Anderson.
[8] Smith and his associates were rumoured to have done this in order to maintain principles that they upheld in the crime world that the working class and helpless people such as children were off limits.
By forming relationships with key international figures and venturing further into the corrupt gambling scene in New South Wales, the Moffitt Royal Commission saw Freeman to be recognised by NSW police as their primary target.
In this period, political party independent John Hatton, who sought the legalisation of casinos in New South Wales, stated that Stanley Smith ‘is said to have replaced the so-called "Mr Big", Leonard Arthur McPherson’.
In contrast to his former life of violence and criminality, Smith would devote time to feeding underprivileged people in his area and sharing his religious beliefs.
[7] According to friends confirmed by private investigator, Rex Beaver, Stanley was running legitimate businesses as he continued to live a life of a Christian in his later years.