Rival gangs were competing to murder bikie Ricky Ciano
Former Rebels bikie enforcer Ricky Ciano was a dead man walking. Today, we reveal why police believe rival gangs all wanted him dead and how he may have been killed over a large debt.
NSW
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RIVAL gangs were queuing up to kill former Rebels bikie enforcer Ricky Ciano, who escaped being assassinated by a pizza delivery man only to be killed by being injected with drugs, police believe.
More than 16 months after the 35-year-old’s body was found partially dressed and sprawled on the back seat of his BMW, a police investigation into Ciano has discovered several lines of inquiry.
Ciano owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to a senior rival club member, a debt that may have motivated his attempted murder in 2015.
But police believe it was another gang that was responsible for the Gold Coast man’s eventual, mysterious demise in country NSW last year.
Detectives have been told that Ciano owed a large debt — possibly up to $500,000 — to a senior Lone Wolf bikie.
While it is not unusual in today’s organised crime environment for rival clubs to do business together, the Lone Wolf and Rebels bikie gangs have had a longstanding hatred.
PIZZA PLOT: TWO CHARGED OVER BOTCHED 2015 PLAN
By the time an accused hitman turned up on Ciano’s doorstep allegedly ready to shoot him dead in 2015, the clubs were engaged in a violent feud with brawls, stabbings and other
attacks occurring between chapters around the state.
The fact that Ciano had walked away from the Rebels, of which he was Sydney chapter president, did not seem to matter.
Ciano should have died in August 2015 but refused to open the front door when a “pizza delivery man” came knocking.
Police claim Abuzar Sultani was on the other side of the door, having allegedly accepted a $500,000 contract to kill Ciano by posing as a pizza delivery man.
Sultani, who has been charged with conspiracy to murder, was allegedly acting at the behest of someone else.
No one else has been charged over the alleged plot.
The alleged assassination came months after Ciano left the Rebels amid tit-for-tat violence with the Lone Wolf group.
In February last year, Ciano travelled to Sydney from his home on the Gold Coast, telling family he was going to visit his daughter.
Police believe he drove to a rural area near Bathurst and visited a property being used as a drug lab not long before he died.
On February 14, 2017, Mr Ciano — after his family reported him missing — was found dead, possibly after being injected with a “hotshot” of drugs.
Police have said in the past they don’t believe Mr Ciano’s death was linked to the 2015 attempt on his life.
This week, police charged former close friend of Ciano and Rebels member Robert McCloskey over an unrelated shooting at a Lone Wolf figure’s Sydney home in 2014.
A group of men turned up outside Thomas Taulahi’s Ashbury home in November 2014 and opened fire, prompting Mr Taulahi’s brother — who was at home with other relatives, including children — to return fire.
McCloskey, who hails from Batemans Bay but had strong ties to the Rebels in Sydney, told police he dropped the gunmen off but left before the bullets started flying.
McCloskey, who was charged with shoot with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, was friends with Ciano and slain Rebels bikie Mark Easter, who was murdered in 2016.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
► CHAPTER ONE: Inside the squad that beat Sydney’s gangs
► CHAPTER TWO: The real-life police fight club
