Police believe they have crushed one of Sydney’s worst gangs, Dlasthr (The Last Hour)
POLICE believe they have crushed the last remaining members of a one Sydney’s worst criminal gangs with the arrest of three members of Dlasthr this morning.
NSW
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POLICE believe they have crushed the last remaining members of a one of the worst criminal gangs in Sydney, called the DLASTHR (The Last Hour) with the arrest of three members.
Heavily armed police carried out early morning raids at five addresses in southwest Sydney and arrested the three men on drugs charges.
The arrests were made by Strike Force Evesson after a two-year-investigation into the criminal activities of the notorious gang.
Those arrested were aged 26, 23, and 21. All three are to be charged with drug trafficking and also participate in a criminal organisation.
The gang, who are also linked to the Assyrian Kings have terrorised much of the Fairfield area for the past 20 years.
Today’s raids follow the arrest of 15 people last September in raids targeting the Assyrian Kings.
The Assyrian Kings were held responsible for the savage murder of a young policeman, David Carty in Fairfield in 1997.
A group of men attacked and mutilated the 25-year-old in the car park of the Hotel where he had gone to have a beer after work.
Police described the attack as one of the most vicious ever seen. One of the men involved in his murder was released from jail last year.
Just three weeks ago police said they believed Sydney gangster Raphael Joseph, a founding member of DLASTHR was abducted and murdered.
The Iraq-born Joseph was the prime suspect in the 2002 shooting of a man outside a Sefton strip club when he fled Australia for America.
Six years later, when he was arrested for being an illegal immigrant, he begged US authorities not to be sent back to Sydney because there was a contract on his life.
To avoid extradition, he petitioned then-US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, saying there was a $100,000 contract on his life. He also said the Sydney Bronx Boys gang would hunt him down and kill him.
“It is possible he was kidnapped with a view of someone making financial gain through extortion,” Detective Superintendent Mick Willing said at the time.
No ransom had been sought from the Joseph family but police indicated some of his associates may have been approached.
The Joseph family pulled out of a planned press conference yesterday because they were frightened and are now being protected by police.
Mr Joseph, also known as Rafi Tooma, spent the afternoon of March 20 at his apartment in Chiswick before he was spotted at The Star casino.
About midnight, Mr Joseph drove a Mercedes-Benz to an Auburn street. He was then seen getting into a silver sedan and has not been seen since.
‘There is a slim glimmer of hope he is alive but in all honesty we suspect he may have been murdered,” Det Supt Willing said.
Before fleeing, Joseph was linked to the street gang DLASTHR and the organised crime gang Assyrian Kings.
He told US police he was smuggled out of Australia via Turkey, Thailand and Mexico before ending up in San Diego.
After being extradited to Australia, he was charged with the murder of Dimitri Debaz, 28, and spent nearly 18 months in prison before the charges were dropped.
RT “@MJacobStanley: NSW Police film their raids on alleged Sydney crime gang #Dlasthr http://t.co/X6Z3aFT7Jj https://t.co/c8eNH6hio2”
— The Daily Telegraph (@dailytelegraph) May 8, 2014
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