Mejid Hamzy killing probe investigates brawl with Alameddine family
Detectives are investigating whether a vicious brawl between warring crime clans on a south western Sydney street last week contributed to the weekend’s assassination of Mejid Hamzy. WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE FIGHT
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Detectives are investigating whether a vicious brawl between warring crime clans on a south western Sydney street last week contributed to the weekend’s tit-for-tat shootings which ended in Monday’s assassination of Mejid Hamzy.
Police yesterday confirmed they are investigating video of the fight between a crew linked to the notorious Hamzy family and a man who worked for their bitter rivals, the Alameddine family.
They are now trying to identify and track down those seen fighting in the footage.
“Whether it sparked off the latest round of tit for tat confrontations is not exactly known, but it’s believed it certainly escalated things,” a police source said.
The Alameddines, from Merrylands, are a well known crime family who have been in conflict with the Hamzys — who live around Auburn and Condell Park — for a long time.
Senior police said the feud would be over drug distribution rights which has become personal.
Assistant police commissioner Peter Thurtell yesterday said Mejid Hamzy, 44, was “obviously” targeted for a reason when he was shot dead outside his home in Simmat Avenue, Condell Park.
“They are organised criminal groups targeting each other. The rationale behind targeting each other is obviously drug related,” assistant commissioner Thurtell said.
“We will be targeting associates and known offenders. They can expect us to be in their face. They know we will come knocking on their door.”
At 2am on Saturday morning, the home of Mejid and Bassam’s aunt, Maha Hamze, in Auburn was shot at. There is no suggestion Ms Hamze has engaged in any criminal conduct.
One of the Alameddine family’s homes was the target of a drive by shooting late on Sunday.
The most infamous member of the tight-knit Alameddine clan is Talal Alameddine, who is locked up in Goulburn’s Supermax alongside Mejid Hamzy’s notorious brother Bassam Hamzy, 41.
Both men are hard-line ISIS sympathisers with Talal Alameddine convicted of sourcing the gun that was used in the cold-blooded murder of NSW police accountant Curtis Cheng.
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Earlier this year, Talal, 27, was convicted of assaulting Bassam in a Supermax exercise yard.
Bassam Hamzy is a convicted killer who founded the notorious gang Brothers 4 Life in 2008 while in Lithgow jail.
NSW Police Force State Crime Command director, Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett, said one line of inquiry was that Mejid Hamzy’s murder was a professional hit by a gun for hire.
“We‘re very concerned about the ongoing conflict amongst Middle Eastern organised crime groups in southwest Sydney,” he said yesterday.
“These people are well-known to the police and they are in groups and we call them organised crime groups. So from time to time, conflict does arise in relation to their activities. And we‘re looking at that as part of our line of inquiry.”
He confirmed that Bassam Hamzy had been spoken to in jail.
“He does know about it. That side of things will form part of the investigation,” he said.
QUIET MEJID THE REAL POWER
Secretly pulling in millions in drug deals and one of the most feared men on the street, slain Mejid Hamzy, and not his more notorious brother Bassam, went by the title “King of the Hamzys.”
“All you hear in the media is Bassam Hamzy but Mejid had the power,” an underworld source who was close to him told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
Mejid, 44, the oldest of the four Hamzy brothers and one sister, stole the headlines from Bassam, 41, when he was assassinated on Monday outside his Condell Park duplex.
“He was very smart. He was a different kettle of fish and was the backbone to the family financially,” the source said. “He was very, very dangerous.”
Bassam Hamzy remains locked up in Goulburn’s Supermax and is not eligible for parole until 2035.
Mejid Hamzy had commercial drug importation charges from 2010 dropped last year after spending some time behind bars on remand which he put to good use studying business courses.
“He spoke like a professor. Everything about the bloke was different,” the source said. “He learned every letter of the law to outsmart authorities.”
Court documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph reveal Mejid Hamzy was allegedly found in possession of Anabolic steroids at his Condell Park home as police repeatedly targeted his home in raids earlier this year.
The documents alleged four ampoules labelled “Alphabolin Methenolone Enanthate” were found during a raid on April 22.
However his lawyer Ahmed Dib said Hamzy had pleaded not guilty to the possess prohibited drug charge and was fighting the allegations on the basis he had been diagnosed with low testosterone.
Hamzy was due to front court next on November 4.
Mejid Hamzy has also been linked to the murder of a key prosecution witness in a drug importation trial, Gemahl Maika, in 2011. The syndicate smuggled in more than 300kg of cocaine in the mid-2000s hidden in packets of “saw blades”. Mejid Hamzy was not one of those charged over the drugs or the murder.
He was a quietly-spoken and exceptionally intelligent man who read a lot in prison, the source said. “It’s the ones you don’t hear about that are the most dangerous,” he said.