Mick Hawi: Bad blood in WA part of murder investigation
SLAIN ex-bikie boss Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi was embroiled in a toxic conflict with an interstate chapter of the Comanchero gang. In the days before an assassin pumped several bullets into the former bikie kingpin, Hawi made contact with an influential underworld figure.
NSW
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SLAIN ex-bikie boss Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi knew he had a target on his back.
In the days before an assassin pumped several bullets into the former Comanchero kingpin, Hawi made contact with an influential underworld figure.
The man was a potential peacemaker. A meeting was arranged on Tuesday. The meeting never happened. On Thursday Hawi was assassinated as he sat, alone, in his Mercedes 4WD in the carpark of the Fitness First gym in Rockdale.
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Unusually, Hawi, who served five years behind bars over a fatal Sydney Airport brawl in 2009, wasn’t with his minders.
He rarely went anywhere without an entourage.
“Hawi was literally alone in the end; he trusted no one,” one underworld figure remarked this week.
The 37-year-old Hawi was embroiled in a toxic conflict with an interstate chapter of the Comanchero gang and police believe this may have led to his downfall.
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As investigators collect theories surrounding the once-feared bikie boss’s demise, they have been tipped off about Hawi’s recent ties to Western Australia.
It is understood he had been flying between Sydney and Perth recently, much to the discomfort of the West Australian Comanchero.
There is intelligence Hawi had been arguing with a senior member of the gang’s Perth-based chapter.
A cryptic and potentially threatening image posted on social media days before Hawi’s murder this week has added weight to the intelligence.
However, it is only one of at least six theories police are examining, each as plausible as the other but yet to be firmed up.
Investigators are not short of potential suspects either. Many people had fallen out with Hawi or held grudges against him.
“The man had more enemies than I’ve had hot dinners,” one police source said.
Hawi vowed to his wife, ahead of his release on parole in 2015, that he would steer clear of the Comanchero fraternity.
While police don’t believe he had patched back in, he was associating with some old bikie friends, just not in large groups.
The State Crime Command’s Criminal Groups Squad is leading the investigation and an obvious line of inquiry is Hawi’s bad blood with his replacement as Comanchero leader, Mark Buddle, now believed to be in the Middle East.