By Perry Duffin, Sarah Keoghan and Angus Dalton
The execution of a cocaine kingpin in the basement of a Bondi apartment block was the trigger for a month-long round of shootings and killings, with two men losing their lives on Thursday as warring gangs vied to control Sydney’s drug market.
Now NSW Police, under pressure to prove they have “control of the streets”, have wrapped eight separate strike force investigations together into a single taskforce in an urgent attempt to staunch the bloodletting.
Taskforce Magnus, announced on Thursday, will comprise 70 detectives, to pool resources and information about the violence that followed the death of cocaine kingpin Alen Moradian last month.
NSW Police said the taskforce is being led by State Crime Command and will “examine the links between the shootings dating back to that of Moradian”.
The detectives will be sourced primarily from the eight existing strike forces. A further 20 detectives have been assigned, and the NSW Crime Commission and Australian Crime Intelligence Commission will also offer expertise.
An additional 30 officers also will be designated to “proactive” duties in south-west Sydney, including street patrols.
(Clockwise from top-left) A burnt-out car in Kingsgrove; forensic police at the scene in Canterbury; the man’s body.Credit: AAP, Steven Siewert
“The need to establish this [taskforce] has come about through common links between recent activities, common modus operandi, common traits in relation to the way that offences have been committed,” Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told media on Thursday.
Moradian, a recently paroled drug importer, had a role in a domestic cartel known as The Commission that dictated who sold the city’s cocaine, and for how much.
This month the Herald reported the city’s cocaine trade was perhaps the most lucrative in the world and was supplied by the most capable and committed global cartels.
The Versace-loving Moradian met his end when unknown gunmen shot him in the face and fled. The domestic suppliers – including the likes of The Commission, Comanchero bikies and family-based crime networks – have been locked in violent convulsions ever since.
Hudson said much of the fighting of the last month has been “commercial” in motivation.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb called the attacks “sickening” and vowed Magnus investigators would pursue every lead as they began linking the investigations.
Tit-for-tat attacks after the Moradian execution began on July 7 when gunmen stormed a Marrickville barbershop, opposite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electoral office and within eyesight of the local police station, and shot two brothers in full view of the public. Both men survived.
This week began with Ahmad Al-Azzam being shot in the head as he sat in a car at Greenacre, his links to the underworld are unknown but police said the attack was targeted.
His family announced his death on Thursday just as top police were announcing the formation of Taskforce Magnus. Two innocent bystanders were seriously injured when stray bullets, intended for Al-Azzam, hit their car.
On Wednesday prominent lawyer Mahmoud Abbas was shot in Greenacre, but survived, in another targeted attack. The next day a man was shot dead on the street in Canterbury.
Taskforce Magnus’ proactive units will patrol around Sydney’s south-west, particularly at night, and take statements and information from the public.
Part of Magnus’ brief is to break down the “wall of silence” that investigators have encountered when interviewing even victims of shootings.
“When investigating these crimes, we hit a wall of silence,” Hudson said.
“We’ve had victims who have survived their attacks who refuse to speak to us, refuse to tell us why they were a target of some other group ... that is of the biggest concern to us.
“So I urge anyone who has information to come forward to police.”
Hudson warned the gangs there were two ways out of the conflict – in the back of a police car on the way to Long Bay prison, or in a hearse on the way to Rookwood Cemetery.
“I’ve had a gutful of it,” NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said at the announcement of Magnus.
“This criminal behaviour, quite frankly, it is absolutely intolerable. And we must act to catch these crooks, get them off our streets, prosecute them and put them behind bars.”
The announcement came after Ferenc David Stemler was shot dead outside his home on Broughton Street in Canterbury about 2am on Thursday. The 28-year-old was talking with two people before being gunned down, police said. He was facing minor drug charges.
A Lexus was found on fire at Dunrossil Avenue, Casula, about 3am, while a burnt-out car was later discovered at Beaconsfield Avenue, Kingsgrove, just after 6am.
Canterbury resident Tony Simms, who has lived on Broughton Street for five years, said he was shocked Sydney’s recent string of attacks had come to his neighbourhood.
“It was all very quick, I was amazed at the speed of the shots”: Canterbury resident Tony Simms.Credit: Sarah Keoghan
“It’s what happens when everyone is being hit at the moment. It’s tragic and people have to live in amongst it as well,” Simms said. “You hope it doesn’t strike twice.”
He said he was woken about 2am by five shots in quick succession, but did not hear any cars before or after the shooting.
“It was all very quick. I was amazed at the speed of the shots,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Hudson told 2GB’s Ben Fordham Live that regular Sydneysiders were on edge, fearful the spate of gangland shootings was out of control.
“We are sick of losing sleep over this as much as anybody else,” he said. “The ongoing nature of these incidences continuing to occur is of concern to us.”
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