Raptor police raid bikie chief Mick Hawi’s funeral procession
OUTLAW motorcycle gang members at the funeral of a top bikie boss were hit with consorting charges yesterday after a surprise police raid on the way to Rookwood cemetery.
NSW
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OUTLAW motorcycle gang members at the funeral of a top bikie boss were hit with consorting charges yesterday after a surprise police raid on the way to Rookwood cemetery.
State Crime Command’s bikie-busting Strike Force Raptor swooped on targets who had just paid their respects to one-time Comanchero president Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi, gunned down last week.
Officers stopped a convoy of white Rolls Royces at Greenacre as they made their way in the procession from an Arncliffe mosque, ordering a dozen men out of the cars and onto the ground.
Among them were convicted bikies who were handed a total of 16 charges for consorting.
Hawi’s family was not stopped and the procession travelled onto the Muslim section of Rookwood Cemetery for the burial of the 37-year-old father of three, who was shot in broad daylight after his final gym session at a Rockdale gym on February 15.
Hawi’s funeral at the Al Zahra Mosque attracted hundreds of mourners but for a bikie funeral, there was a distinct lack of motorcycles, leather jackets and gang colours on display.
Dozens of people also wore T-shirts with Hawi’s smiling face pictured above his name and the dates 29.05.80 to 15.02.18, and a wreath of flowers was sent from the “Brisbane chapter”.
However, among the mourners were muscular men with buzzcuts, tatts and tight black tees, while uniformed police kept a watchful eye on the day.
SLAIN BIKIE MICK HAWI WAS A THUG WHO LIVED BY THE SWORD
Hawi’s family was only able to hold the funeral yesterday after waiting for an autopsy and an extraordinary bid by his wife Carolina Gonzales to extract a sample of his sperm after his death.
VIPs, believed to include Ms Gonzales and their children, were driven quickly past cameras in a convoy of luxury cars. Then came a large group of men in three stretch limousines who filed in behind a framed photograph of him.
Bikie funerals were once colourful and dangerous to attend.
But Hawi’s was a solemn affair, occurring under police guard, after his family requested there be no bikes and bikie-busting laws prohibiting the wearing of gang colours.
The underworld is swirling with rumours about who wanted Hawi dead, including suspicion around internal ructions among the Comanchero.
Yesterday, at the same time the funeral was being held, a man was shot and seriously injured at a tattoo parlour in Melbourne linked to the Comanchero gang.
When he was national Comanchero president Hawi was imprisoned over the bashing death of Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas in a wild brawl at Sydney Airport in 2009.
The Daily Telegraph is not suggesting any mourners pictured here are members of any outlaw motorcycle gang or were charged yesterday.
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