Police believe Sydney gangster Raphael Joseph was murdered and stuffed in 44-gallon drum
EXCAVATORS are conducting a deeper search of a rural property on Sydney’s northwest outskirts where the body of Sydney gangland figure Raphael Joseph is believed to have been disposed of four years ago.
NSW
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EXCAVATORS are conducting a deeper search of a rural property on Sydney’s northwest outskirts where the body of Sydney gangland figure Raphael Joseph is believed to have been disposed of four years ago.
Joseph’s body was most likely stuffed into a 44-gallon drum before being taken to a property on the outskirts of town where his body was then burnt.
Search crews, including the riot and bomb squads, are combing a Putty Road property at Blaxland Ridge where Joseph’s body could be buried. Today, excavators and other equipment moved in after police identified sites of interest.
Police say they have details of exactly what happened to one of Australia’s biggest drug suppliers who was lured into a car at a McDonald’s at Auburn in southwest Sydney before being tortured and then murdered.
“We are confident we know what happened. We know very well there were several people involved in this murder, we know who they are, and they can expect a visit from us in the near future,” said Detective Chief Inspector Grant Taylor from the NSW Homicide Squad said yesterday.
Joseph had risen from a violent Sydney street punk to an international drug supplier known to deal in the millions if not tens of millions of dollars and able to get his hands on extraordinarily large sums of cash quickly making him a target for other criminals.
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Detective Taylor said “greed’’ was the simple motive behind his murder and the chance to eliminate a competitor.
“We have established that Raphael was kidnapped by a drug supply syndicate, taken to a premise, which is known to us, and there he was inevitably murdered,” Detective Taylor said.
Scores of police were scouring a property at Blaxlands Ridge north west of Sydney yesterday seizing a number of large drums and will today use earth moving equipment and ground penetrating radar to help the search.
Detective Taylor said new information from the public had put “the pieces of the puzzle into place’’ and led to a series of breakthroughs which will lead them to the killers and solving the crime.
They recently located a silver commodore which Joseph was seen getting into around 11.15pm on March 20, 2014 the last time he was seen alive. That day he visited the wife of Wayne Schneider, a former Sydney Hells Angel and major drug dealer living in Thailand before he too was killed.
In the evening Joseph had dinner with friends, including a former Comanchero bikie at Star City casino when he got a text from someone he trusted which led him to be driven to Auburn and the fatal decision to get into the silver Commodore never to be seen again.
Police have also seized two other vehicles including a Toyota Hi-Ace van which they believe was used to transport his body to the Blaxland Ridge property to be disposed of. Both vehicles have “’secret stash compartments’’ used to hide drugs to be distributed in Sydney and interstate. He said the vehicles and property being searched are linked to the crime syndicate responsible for Joseph’s death.
Before becoming an international drug dealer Joseph was a founding member of DLAST HR street gang before fleeing to America when he was suspected of murdering a 24 year-old man outside a strip club in western Sydney. he was deported about six years but never charged with the murder and quickly established himself as a major drug supplier into Australia using connections from all over the world.