Senior police have told The Saturday Telegraph there are a number of groups who have sent word throughout the underworld that they are guns for hire and willing to take on any job.

Today a “hit’’ will routinely consist of a crew of four to six men where there are often two gunmen, a driver and support crew stealing, and destroying, getaway vehicles.

The days of the lone hitman working on his own are rare and a professional killer is now more likely to be an independent crime figure who will put together an “execution squad” to carry out contract killings.

“I do not mean to eulogise him, but Stan Smith was regarded as the prince of hitmen,” says retired NSW detective chief superintendent Brian Harding.

“Stan Smith usually operated alone. If he did not know your regular routine, a plan would be hatched to lure the target into a vulnerable position and then the murder would take place.

“Sometimes this would involve a plan to dispose of the body, but not always.

“Back then the other known killer for hire was Christopher Dale Flannery, best known as Mr Rent-a-Kill. He was flashy, expensive, and not all that good,’’ says Harding.

Flannery’s starting price for a hit was $50,000 and like Smith he preferred to carry them out on his own. Most good killers believe any accomplices are liabilities.

Flannery took on probably the most brazen contract killing in Sydney history when he attempted to kill undercover drug squad detective Michael Drury in 1984.

He failed spectacularly with Drury living and pointing the finger at former detective Roger Rogerson.

Nine months later Flannery was missing presumed dead, no doubt at the hands of a killer better than him.

Harding says former Comanchero boss Mick Hawi, who was gunned down at a gym on Thursday, made himself a sitting duck for any professional crew.

“It would seem as if the murder yesterday of Hawi would be in part due to his own arrogance.

“It would seem as if he had a routine, and a well-known routine at that, which the shooters knew so they just turned up and took him down according to that regular routine,” a fatal mistake according to Harding.

“You would guess that three (at least) were involved and down the track you wonder if they will all remain loyal.

“I know from experience that circumstances change and one of the murder team might strike a hurdle and want to cut some sort of a deal to avoid a lengthy jail sentence and will inform on his co-offenders.’’

The murder of Hawi would not have come cheap if a professional crew was hired to carry out the murder, with some senior police saying it could have cost anywhere from $300,000 upwards.

“It comes across as a pretty slick job and obviously well planned and carried out. If it was an outside contract it would have been expensive. Hawi was high profile, well connected and above all very well liked by some very dangerous people,’’ he says.

“But if it was an inside job, from within the Comanchero or another bikie gang, it would have been done for expenses only, club glory and maybe a promotion within the organisation.’’

Organised gangland murders are often the most difficult to solve because in many cases the victim, like Hawi, would have scores of possible murderers.

“Honestly, the suspect pool is significant, from someone he has stood over, ripped-off or owed him money and didn’t want to pay. It could be personal,’’ a seasoned investigator tells the Saturday Telegraph.

The professionalism of Hawi’s murder with the use of a high-powered sports car, destroyed by fire where a second car was waiting, seems in stark contrast to the murder of Bankstown solicitor Ho Ledinh.

His killer walked up to his victim, shot him and walked away — but was captured by CCTV cameras.

Arthur Kelekolio, 38, was this week charged with Ledinh’s murder.

Until yesterday one of the most high-profile gangland hits was the execution of mafia figure Pasquale Barbaro in 2016 as he was getting into his Mercedes Benz outside building industry figure George Alex’s mother’s home in Earlwood. (There is no suggestion Alex was involved.)

Police have alleged his murder was carried out by a sophisticated crew led by a 29-year-old accounting student, turned Rebel bikie, who has also charged with the attempted murder of another bikie Ricky Ciano.

Court papers filed in the Ciani case allege he was to be paid $500,000 for the hit on the former Rebel.

During his arrest police uncovered his crew’s “tools of trade’’, 13 guns, an automatic assault rifle, pistols fitted with silencers, ballistic vests, five jerry cans filled with petrol, three NSW Police shirts, cable ties, bleach, gloves and disposable overalls.

Former NSW detective Duncan McNab says today’s killers seem to favour “statement murders” like Hawi’s or that of Wally Ahmed, who was gunned down in a Bankstown shopping centre in broad daylight while sipping coffee.

“In the ’80s the murders were mostly after dark, a bullet to the back of the head a quiet getaway instead of this daylight execution,” he says.

“In fact the best murders were where the bodies were never found, or found years later buried in the sand dunes at Kurnell. Back then we had killers with catchy names like ‘Rent-a-Kill’ and the ‘Chicken man’, who for a fee would kill his victim with a shot to the back of the head, then wrap the body in chicken wire before dumping it at sea.’’