Tough cop Ken 'Slasher' McKay brought down the worst of the criminal scum Veteran detective Ken "Slasher" Mackay at Gunnamatta Bay, Cronulla / Picture: John Appleyard Source: News Limited HE always went hardest after the very worst. In his 35 years in the NSW Police Force, Ken "Slasher" McKay locked up Brothers for Life founder Bassam Hamzy, Nomads' bikie boss Todd Little and underworld lords Tony Vincent and Snapper Cornwall, to name a few. He's been shot at, spat on and received so many death threats he's lost count. After a formidable career, rising to the rank of assistantcommissioner, McKay has now turned in his badge. Ken McKay in his early days as a policeman / Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied Widely admired and respected, he carved a reputation as a tough, honest officer with a passion for the law and putting away crooks. NSW Crime Commission boss Philip Bradley once bet McKay a bottle of Chivas if he could convict the "untouchable" Vincent crime family, who had eluded the efforts of several agencies for two decades. "I got the Chivas," McKay growls. Working on organised crime for most of his career, he has accrued a wealth of knowledge - the Russians and Asians are tough and smart, but the Middle Eastern gangs are just stupid. "Russians were the hardest to lock up because they were highly trained and disciplined," he said. Asian organised crime was very difficult until we got into the community and broke the code of silence. Bassam Hamzy's arrest in 1998 Source: News Limited But he dismissed Middle Eastern gangs as unsophisticated: "They give up their mother and they give up other people because their internal fortitude is very low. They can't help but bump their gums and boast about what they're doing. They're quite greedy ... and not very smart. McKay believes law enforcement at all levels has dropped the ball on bikie gangs and organised crime in recent years. "You have to maintain the appropriate focus otherwise they (gangs) replenish themselves and they come back bigger and stronger and you have to knock them over again," he said. While it's been tried before without success, he said the time had come to push for an Elliot Ness-style taskforce - tax officials and NSW police working together to strip criminals of their unexplained wealth: "One of the biggest fears for these people is losing all their money but the police don't have the resources. (But) if you say it's not worth taking a BMW from a two-bit coke dealer then you have big problems because he will become a big-bit coke dealer driving three BMWs. "Tackling badness" is what Slasher McKay did better than almost anyone else, according to colleagues. Ken McKay, centre, annoucing a major cocaine seizure. One key success was Strike Force Sibret, which destroyed the Nomads bikies multi-million dollar methamphetamine trade between Newcastle and the Gold Coast and sent the two chapter bosses to prison for record sentences of 25 and 36 years. And he was the officer politicians and senior police hand-picked in times of crisis - to head up Strike Force Enoggera in the aftermath of the Cronulla Riots and lead the first Middle Eastern Organised Crime squad. Ken "Slasher" MackayGunnamatta Bay, Cronulla / Picture: John Appleyard Source: News Limited Long-time colleague and friend Detective Chief Superintendent Wayne Gordon described a gifted, natural leader who inspired staff to achieve excellence: "Loyalty, trust and dedication - he's made of that stuff." Fearless, too, he adds. During a search warrant a criminal identity "went berserk," mouthing off that he was going to kill McKay. When McKay heard it he jumped in a car, drove straight over, walked up to the bloke and said, 'I'm here now, what are you going to do?'. He's afraid of no one," he said. One of the last "true characters" in the police, said Superintendent Darren Bennet. He always had these sayings like 'take everything but the dust' when doing search warrants, or if the big bosses complained about how much the investigation was costing he would say 'we've never run out of money yet'. McKay said teamwork was behind his every achievement. "If I ever did anything right it was that I had the ability to lead and support people to achieve great results," he said. His career, which started as a 19-year-old constable, has left him with no regrets. "When people asked me "what do you do" my answer always was 'keep you in the dark'," Mr McKay said. We deal with the dark side, which enables the good people to go about their lives.