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Yusuf Nazlioglu was executed as he got out of his car in the underground car park of an apartment complex in Rhodes last month as his horrified new wife watched on.
The month earlier, Rami Iskander was gunned down in Belmore.
The shootings often follow a familiar pattern: the victim is sprayed with bullets before a stolen car, or sometimes two, is found set on fire in a nearby suburb.
Some of these crimes have been linked to an ongoing gangland war between rival crime networks in the area, while others remain unsolved.
The Alameddine and Hamzy families have been linked to a number of them – while others have been attributed to bikies, with several prominent members executed.
This is not an exhaustive account of all shootings or gang-related crimes, but paints a picture of the blood spilled on streets across the city in the past decade. Some deaths have been omitted from this list because of legal reasons.
Yusuf Nazlioglu – June 27, 2022
Yusuf Nazlioglu, a former Lone Wolf bikie, was shot as he got out of his car in the underground car park of an apartment complex in Rhodes about 6.30pm on June 27.
His wife, who he married in January, was in the car with him and watched on as he was shot up to ten times.
The 40-year-old had recently been released from jail on weapons charges.
Nazlioglu also stood trial over the shooting murder of former Comancheros boss Mick Hawi.
Police alleged Nazlioglu was the gunman in the 2018 hit but he was acquitted at trial, as was his co-accused.
Rami Iskander – May 14, 2022
Police are investigating if Iskander was killed for his potential involvement in the Zahed brothers’ shooting at a gym the week before.
The 23-year-old had not been warned he was a possible target, nor did he have an extensive criminal history.
Tarek and Omar Zahed – May 11, 2022
Omar died at the scene, while Tarek was shot at least 10 times but survived.
NSW Police said they warned the brothers less than a week earlier that their lives were in danger, but they chose not to take extra precautions.
Omar, 39, and Tarek, 41, also came to the attention of police last August when they were found on the Bay Walk in Drummoyne, in the middle of the night, in breach of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Ghassan Amoun – January 6, 2022
Ghassan Amoun was the brother of convicted criminal Bassam Hamzy and a cousin of Bilal Hamze, who was killed in the city’s CBD last year.
When he walked free, police warned him he was a target and described his murder as “quite obviously targeted”.
Salim and Toufik Hamze – October 20, 2021
Police said at the time they were investigating whether the double killing was retaliation for the murder of Shady Kanj, 22, who was gunned down at nearby Chester Hill in August.
9News understands Salim was a low-level player linked to the Hamzy clan while Kanj worked for the Alameddines.
Toufik Hamze is believed to have been an innocent party caught in the crossfire.
Shady Kanj – August 6, 2021
He managed to make it to a nearby house but died there.
Detectives said at the time a link between the 22-year-old and the Alameddine organised crime network was being investigated.
In a strange twist, an innocent bystander watching soccer in his car was hit with a bullet during the attack, but survived relatively unscathed.
He said he didn’t remember the bullet grazing his head, just that his windscreen smashed and he blacked out.
Bilal Hamze – June 17, 2021
Bilal Hamze’s death was high-profile and particularly public.
Police said the 34-year-old, the cousin of notorious gang leader Bassam Hamzy, was gunned down “in a hail of bullets” on Bridge Street, near Pitt Street, about 10.25pm on June 17, 2021.
“This was a brutal, execution-style murder. It was carried out in a busy street in the middle of Sydney’s CBD. It was extremely fortunate that no members of the public were injured,” Doherty said the next day.
Mick Hawi – February 15, 2018
The 37-year-old was the boss of the Comanchero bikie gang and became national president of the club at just 22.
His name became more widely known after the infamous bikie brawl at Sydney Airport in 2009.
Dozens of Comancheros took on Hells Angels members and an associate of the rival club, Anthony Zervas, was bludgeoned to death with a bollard.
Hawi served time in prison for his role in the killing, however, his murder conviction was quashed in 2014.
It is after this brutal public display of violence NSW Police established Strike Force Raptor, which still investigates organised crime and gang violence today.
In 2018, three men were charged over Hawi’s murder.
Yusuf Nazlioglu, 39, faced trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of firing the fatal shots, while Jamal Eljaidi, 32, was accused of driving the getaway car.
Both men were acquitted in 2020.
A third – Ahmad Doudar – pleaded guilty just before the trial began to being an accessory after the fact to murder by moving one of the cars.
Nazlioglu was shot dead in Rhodes on June 27, 2022.
Kemel ‘Blackie’ Barakat – March 10, 2017
There was a woman sleeping next to Bakarat when he was shot in the torso.
In 2020 Ahmed Jaghbir was jailed for his role in Bakarat’s killing, of cutting a key so that four masked gunmen could carry out the execution.
Pasquale Barbaro – November 14, 2016
The 35-year-old was gunned down on a footpath in Earlwood and bled out on the pavement.
In December, Abuzar Sultani and Siar Munshizada were jailed for life for three gangland killings, including the murder of Barbaro.
During the seven-month killing spree, Michael Davey and Mehmet Yilmaz were also gunned down.
Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad – April 29, 2016
Walid “Wally” Ahmad was killed in a hail of bullets as he sat at a cafe at Bankstown Central Shopping Centre in April 2016.
The gangland kingpin is thought to have been killed in revenge for the death of Safwan Charbaji, who was killed in a smash repair shootout a few weeks earlier.
In 2020 Ahmad’s death was referred to the unsolved homicide squad, after the deputy state coroner concluded that the convicted killer was himself killed by an unknown person.
Wally’s brother Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad was killed more recently, when his car was sprayed with bullets as he sat in it outside a home in Greenacre on April 27, 2022.
Safwan Charbaji – April 9, 2016
Safwan Charbaji, 32, died on April 9, 2016 in a shooting outside a panel beater in Condell Park linked to Wally Ahmad.
An outstanding debt dispute was one of the possible motives investigated over the fatal shooting.
His death inflamed tensions between warring factions of Sydney’s underworld that have been simmering ever since.
Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad served time for the manslaughter of Charbaji when he was shot and killed earlier this year.
