By Perry Duffin and Josefine Ganko
The execution of tradie John Versace in a suspected case of mistaken identity could come to haunt Sydney’s underworld after senior police said it was a major catalyst in establishing a 150-officer taskforce to crush a simmering gang war spilling blood on the streets.
NSW Police on Tuesday announced Taskforce Falcon would draw together 100 detectives and 50 other police staff over 13 active investigations into gangland shootings, murders and abductions.
Senior police say the killing of innocent Sydney tradie John Versace (left) was a major catalyst for standing up Taskforce Falcon, which has already begun making arrests.
One on the list is Strikeforce Harkstede, the investigation into Versace’s murder.
Forming the taskforce comes days of a brazen shooting on a busy road in Granville in the city’s west, where alleged target Samimjan Azari, a senior figure in the notorious Alameddine crime clan, survived a second attempted assassination.
Versace was shot dead in the driveway of his parent’s Condell Park home on May 19 by a masked gunman who had leapt from the rear seat of a silver Toyota Corolla and trapped him against his garage door.
The 23-year-old had no criminal history and no gang links. There seems to be nothing to explain why he would have been targeted by the professional hitmen, who burnt their getaway vehicle and the Glock pistol murder weapon.
Deputy Commissioner David Hudson and Police Minister Yasmin Catley announce Taskforce Falcon.Credit: Sam Mooy
“We have not identified a motive so far, and it appears to be mistaken identity, which is just tragic,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told the Herald.
“We send our condolences to the Versace family … When it’s someone innocent, it’s doubly tragic.”
Hudson saying Versace’s death was a major reason in setting up Taskforce Falcon. In the press conference to announce the taskforce, the deputy commissioner pledged to pursue those involved in Sydney’s escalating gang war “relentlessly”.
“The moment for us was seeing innocent people becoming victims,” he told the Herald.
“Some people tell me that if (gangsters) shoot each other, then who cares? Obviously, we do, but the public has no tolerance, no acceptance, once it gets outside those boundaries.”
Two men were shot in Sydney’s west late on Sunday afternoon, one of whom has life-threatening injuries.Credit: Angus Dalton
Hudson said the unconnected professional squads and use of kill cars with cloned plates was a pattern he had seen before – in the wave of gangland murders that scarred Sydney in 2023 following the murder of cocaine kingpin Alen Moradian.
“Those directly committing the crime don’t have an interest in those they’re targeting; they do it for other purposes – mostly cash,” Hudson said.
Police created Taskforce Magnus, which had 100 officers, and staunched the bloodshed.
Police believe Samimjan Azari was the intended target of the attack.Credit: Nine News
They hope to repeat the success with Falcon, to be led by Superintendent Jason Box, currently the commander of State Crime Command’s Criminal Groups Squad.
Hudson said Taskforce Falcon would be modelled on previous gangland taskforces, including Taskforce Erebus and Taskforce Magnus, which he said were “very successful” in suppressing the activities of organised criminal networks.
In May 2022, a wave of gang violence in south-west Sydney killed 13 people in just 18 months, prompting police to launch Erebus. Taskforce Magnus was formed under similar circumstances in July 2023.
Falcon’s officers will begin saturating Sydney on the surface, knocking on doors and using confrontational tactics with their anti-gang squads.
In the background, detectives will seek out links between so-far disparate shootings and attacks.
Police released video on Tuesday showing anti-gang squad Raptor and other specialist police forcefully entering homes in Sydney’s west. The daylight raids are the first sign of the confrontational tactics police say they will deploy against organised crime groups.
Hudson said police would set a “very low bar” for criminal activity before laying charges, effectively hauling gangland figures before the courts on even minor indiscretions to frustrate and suppress their operations.
The shooting in Granville shocked onlookers when a ute carrying alleged members of the Alameddine organised crime network, and a solicitor, was hit with a hail of gunfire on Sunday afternoon.
Solicitor Sylvan Singh was injured. Dawood Zakaria, a suspected bodyguard, was shot in the head and died on Tuesday.
Azari was sitting in the back of the Toyota Hilux next to a second bodyguard, Levi Vitukawalu. Both were uninjured.
Police charged them with unauthorised possession of a firearm after a pistol was found in the front of the bullet-ridden Hilux.
The senior Alameddine crime clan figure was granted bail on firearms offences on Monday, less than 24 hours after gunmen opened fire on his car in traffic in Granville, despite warnings his release would trigger “bloodshed on the streets”.
Detective Superintendent Jason Box will head the taskforce.Credit: Sam Mooy
Hudson would not comment on the decision to release Azari or his surviving bodyguard. Police will continue to warn gangsters when they learn a hit has been put out.
“When you try to warn these people, sometimes it falls on deaf ears. But we let them know, and try to remove them,” he said.
Hudson’s final warning was for people on the periphery of the underworld, people who live with, harbour or benefit from the gangs without personal involvement.
“Those on the periphery play a dangerous game. Conflict can escalate very quickly,” he said.
“Sometimes they’re unaware of that, and think they don’t have direct involvement, but that makes them easy targets.”
At a press conference to announce Taskforce Falcon, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the recent violence on Sydney’s streets was “absolutely horrific”.
“We will not tolerate these lawless thugs getting out there with their vendettas against each other, and putting in danger innocent victims in our community,” she said.
“We will make sure that we find every single one of these crooks.”
The latest escalation of violence on Sydney’s streets has taken on a more sinister character, with several innocent people or minor criminals being targeted in gangland-style killings.
Thi Kim Tran, a 45-year-old mother, was abducted by a group of men from her Bankstown home. Her naked body was found in a burnt-out car. An eight-year-old boy was struck in the head with a baseball bat in the course of Tran’s abduction.
Grandmother Kim Duncan was fatally shot in her Ambarvale home in a drive-by shooting in April.
With Riley Walter and Sally Rawsthorne
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