[1] A vast majority of the murders were seen as retributive killings, attempts to control Sydney's drug trade, and expansion of criminal territory.
The feud escalated on 1 May 1951, when a gunman, presumably sent by Lee, shot dead Hayes' nephew and young boxer, Dennis "Danny" Simmons, in a case of mistaken identity.
[3] On the afternoon of 8 June 1956, 27-year-old standover man and thief, John "Joey" Manners was shot three times after leaving the Australian Hotel in The Rocks.
[4] On 9 July 1963, standover man Robert "Pretty Boy" Walker was shot to death in what the media considered as "the first murder committed with a machine gun".
[3][8] A month after Flock's murder, on 7 February 1967, Melbourne gunman James "Mad Dog" Sheridan was shot in the head and dumped in a laneway in the Darling Harbour area.
[3] Two months after Sheridan's murder, on 22 April 1967, King Cross casino owner Claude Eldridge was shot to death while walking to his car in Neutral Bay.
[3][9] The next public murder occurred on 28 May 1967, when 28-year-old standover man Raymond "Ducky" O'Connor was shot at the Latin Quarter club in front of eyewitnesses, including two police detectives.
[4] In 1974, Grace O'Connor disappeared from the home that she and fellow Kangaroo Gang member, Tommy Wraith shared on Seymour Grove in Paddington.
[11] Nearly a month after Ducky O'Connor's murder, on 26 June 1967, 58-year-old casino boss Richard Reilly was shot twice with a shotgun as he was walking to his car parked outside his mistress' apartment in Double Bay.
[3][12] Despite being wounded, Reilly managed to get into the car and drove a few hundred metres before lapsing into unconsciousness and crashing the vehicle into the window of a shop.
[2] Led by Neddy Smith and his associate and bodyguard Graham "Abo" Henry, this criminal group was mainly involved in armed robberies and drug trafficking.
[15] The group included Barry "Sugar" Croft, Terry Ball, George Savvas, Victor Camillieri and Kevin Theobald.
[1] During the Royal Commission, Taskforce Snowy, headed by the NSW Police Assistant Commissioner John Laycock, was established to investigate the killings.
[17] Neddy Smith was charged as an accessory to the murder of tow truck driver, Ron Flavell, who was stabbed in a road rage incident at Coogee on 30 October 1987 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1990.
[28] The Sydney gangland war was first referenced in the drama miniseries, Blue Murder, premiered on the Australian national television network ABC on 14 September 1995.
The premise of the two-episode series, focused on the controversial relationship between Neddy Smith and Detective Sergeant Roger Rogerson during the 1970s and 1980s and the vast corruption within the NSW Police.
An injunction brought during Neddy Smith's appeal had seen the miniseries' broadcast being delayed in both New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory until 2001.