Between Sydney Airport and Long Bay jail is a clump of sand dunes at Botany where the bullet-riddled bodies of two minor criminals were planted in the 1980s.
Across Botany Bay at Kurnell are more dunes where the remains of another small-time crook killed in the same decade stayed hidden in the sand for more than 20 years.
These burial sites, which may yet give up more skeletons from unsolved homicides, are referred to by some police as Neddy Smith's killing fields.
Smith, who died at Long Bay on Wednesday aged 76, can no longer defend himself against claims he used these lonely spots to dispose of gangland corpses.
Neither can the families of his alleged or suspected victims expect much chance of getting the answers they crave.
Neddy Smith has been linked to the murders of three criminals found buried at Botany and Kurnell in Sydney's south-east. He was convicted of killing one, cleared of a second and interviewed but never charged over a third. Smith is pictured in prison with his daughter Jaime
Police believe Sydney model Mark Johnston was killed by gangster Neddy Smith, who died in prison on Wedneday. Johnston disappeared in 1986 and parts of his skeleton were found at Kurnell in Sydney's south-east in 2007 but were not identified until last year
Police believe an area near Foreshore Road at Botany (above) was used as a body dumping ground by Neddy Smith. The remains of brothel keeper Harvey Jones and drug dealer Bruce Sandery were found there in 1995 and 1988 respectively
Smith was cleared of murdering one of the men whose cadaver was found at Botany and convicted of murdering a second whose grave was found 13 years after he was killed.
He was interviewed over the disappearance of a third man who went missing 36 years ago and whose partial skeleton was eventually found at Kurnell.
Those bones, belonging to model and cocaine dealer Mark Arthur Johnston, were not uncovered until 2007 and only formally identified in February last year.
One of Johnston's relatives told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday she did not wish to discuss Smith's death or the slim chance anyone would now be charged with her loved one's slaying.
'I have absolutely nothing to say about that man's passing,' she said.
The woman had been surprised last year to be told by homicide detectives they had identified the bones at Kurnell as Johnston's and wanted only to quietly take receipt of his remains.
'This whole sorry saga has been going on far too long and, there has been an overkill of sensational interest in the affair by the press that has spread over years,' she said.
It has been speculated that hitman Christopher Dale Flannery, who disappeared in 1985, could also be buried near the airport but Neddy Smith is not his suspected killer. Flannery is pictured
Mark Johnston was last seen by friends leaving the Bellevue Hotel at Paddington in Sydney's eastern suburbs about 7pm on September 1, 1986. The Bellevue is pictured
Johnston, who once appeared in television commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken, was dubbed the 'playboy punter' when he disappeared.
The 36-year-old was last seen by friends leaving the Bellevue Hotel at Paddington in Sydney's eastern suburbs at about 7pm on September 1, 1986.
It is believed he had gone to the home of his solicitor, the late Graham Valentine 'Val' Bellamy, to collect $60,000 in drug money the criminal lawyer was holding for him.
Eight days later, Johnston's hired Holden Commodore was found at Maroubra, about 10km away, after an anonymous telephone call.
Police located 465 grams of cocaine in the boot of the car and 52 grams of the same drug in the glove box.
A coronial inquest in 1999 heard Smith, who was then in jail for two murders, told a cellmate about garrotting a man in Bellamy's home in a description police believe fits Johnston's murder.
Neddy Smith (left) is pictured with brothel-keeper Harvey Jones and his then wife Debra. Smith was convicted in 1998 of murdering Jones in 1983. Jones was found buried off Foreshore Road at Botany in 1995
Skeletal remains from several people were dug up during construction of the desalination plant at Kurnell. A shin bone was first uncovered by workers in early October 2007. A week later ribs and other smaller bones were found 300m away in scrub off Sir Joseph Banks Drive (pictured)
Parts of Johnston's skeleton were found during construction of the desalination plant at Kurnell but were not unidentified for 13 more years.
Skeletal remains from several people were dug up during plant excavations, not all of which belonged to the missing drug dealer.
A shin bone was first uncovered by workers in early October 2007. A week later ribs and other smaller bones were found 300m away in scrub off Sir Joseph Banks Drive.
Further searching unearthed a pelvis and foot bones, some of which were in a sock, at what detectives have described as underworld body dumping ground.
It has been speculated that hitman Christopher Dale Flannery, who disappeared on in 1985, could also be buried near the airport but Smith is not the main suspect in that crime.
The Kurnell site is across the water from Foreshore Drive, Botany, where the body of brothel-keeper Harvey Francois Jones was found buried in 1995. He had been shot twice in the chest 12 years earlier.
