Sydney bikie gangs: Underworld turf wars claim lives on Sydney streets

Sydney’s turf wars have resulted in the deaths of countless people and as tensions rise once again we take a look at the killings that rocked sections of the underworld.

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Underworld turf wars continue to unravel across Sydney.

There’s fears of an all-out Sydney gang war after the recent death of Mejid Hamzy, the brother of underworld figure Bassam Hamzy.

Police issued fresh calls for information this week following the shooting of Hamzy on Simmat Ave, Condell Park on October 19.

Mejid Hamzy

Strike Force Courier is investigating the death while Strike Force Raptor has started a high-visibility police operation to suppress further acts of violence following recent public place shootings.

Bassam Hamzy is known for starting the Brothers 4 Life gang, while police believe Mejid Hamzy was one of the killers of hit man Hamad Assaad in 2016.

We take a look at the deaths of Sydney’s gangland figures that have rocked the underworld and the communities that live in and around Sydney.

Some have tried to get out prior to their deaths, while others knew they had a target on their back.

Fares Abounader

Bikie Fares Abounader

The veteran Comanchero was shot in front of his Panania home just before midnight on August 29 2020.

A friend told The Daily Telegraph he was a “softie” who lived the bikie life because “he was just a kid who wanted all that brotherhood stuff”.

The 39-year-old marshalled his fellow members for their most infamous outing – the fatal 2009 Sydney Airport brawl which saw Anthony Zervas killed.

In 2012, Abounader pleaded guilty to a charge of riot over his role in the deadly airport brawl between the Comancheros and Hells Angels.

In the months before his execution, he is said to have defected to the Bandidos, possibly for protection. Nobody has been charged in relation to his death.

Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi

In February 2018, former Comancheros boss Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi was shot dead in his black Mercedes after finishing a workout at a Fitness First gym in Rockdale.

The execution rocked Sydney’s underworld as he was shot numerous times in the head and body in broad daylight by two unknown masked gunmen.

Lone Wolf Bikie Ahmad ‘Adam’ Doudar was sentenced to his role in Hawi’s death after pleading guilty to accessory after the fact to murder, with police facts tendered in court stating Doudar was one of three men who loaded one of the getaway cars onto a white tow truck from a safe house in Bexley.

Vision shows the moment former Comancheros boss Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi was gunned down. Picture: Supplied

Former Comanchero bikie boss Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi.

In September 2020, a NSW Supreme Court found two men not guilty of the murder of Hawi.

Hawi had joined the Comanchero around 1998 and took over as president at the age of 22.

He was jailed in 2015 over the 2009 killing of Hells Angel associate Anthony Zervas during a daylight brawl in the middle of Sydney Airport. This infamous brawl sparked a massive police crackdown on bikies with laws introduced that effectively banned bikie gangs.

Hawi, a father of two sons to Carolina Gonzalez, had kept a low profile after his release from jail in 2015.

Ricky Ciano

A former Rebels enforcer’s decomposing body was discovered in his BMW in February 2017.

Mr Ciano’s body was discovered on the side of a road near Oberon on Valentine’s Day. His family had reported him missing the day before.

Mr Ciano had left the bikie gang in 2015 on the understanding he could walk free if he removed any tattoos linking him to the Rebels.

Ricky Ciano’s body was found in his BMW in the Central Tablelands in 2017.

Soon after, he survived an attempt on his life in 2015 when a hit man pretending to deliver a pizza knocked on the door of Mr Ciano’s Wamberal home but he refused to open it.

Mr Ciano, who died at the age of 35, was a former enforcer in the outlawed motorcycle club’s Sydney chapter.

Prior to his death he had moved to the Gold Coast for a fresh start, following a long list of brushes with the law. In 2012 he was acquitted by a jury after police accused him of opening fire inside a Sydney strip club, wounding a man.

In early 2014 he was told by a magistrate to behave in public after he pleaded guilty to involvement in a fracas with a group of men on the Surfers Paradise nightclub strip.

Nobody has been charged in relation to Ciano’s death.

Kemel Barakat

Kemel Barakat had 10 bullets pumped into his stomach and chest as he slept in his unit in Mortlake in 2017.

The 29-year-old crime figure known as “Blackie” had links to the Hells Angels and was believed to be a suspect in the October 2016 shooting of Hamad Assaad.

Barakat was an enforcer for the Ahmad crime family, which has been at war with a number of other Middle Eastern crime families.

Hells Angel Kemel 'Blackie' Barakat was shot dead as he slept.

At the time of Barakat’s death, police were baffled with no forced entry into his apartment complex.

In October 2020, Barakat’s former friend Ahmed Jaghbir was found guilty of being an accessory before the fact with the NSW Supreme Court hearing he passed on an apartment key to the killers. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Hamad Assaad

Gangland hit man Hamad Assaad was shot multiple times in Sydney’s southwest in October 2016.

Assaad was just 29 when he was shot 22 times in his driveway in Georges Hall.

Prior to his death, Assaad was under investigation for drugs and firearms offences.

Hamad Assaad was just 29 when he died.

The underworld figure was the key suspect in the shooting of gangland boss Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad in April 2016.

He was also charged with shooting Mohamad Alahmad in Granville in 2007.

In 2019 plumber Osama Hawat was found not guilty of the murder of Assaad.

Adrian Buxton

Ex-Lone Wolf bikie Adrian Buxton was putting out the bins at his Colyton home when he was executed in May 2016.

Buxton was gunned-down on his driveway with his wife and son inside their home.

Just prior to his death, Buxton had completed a stint behind bars for drug supply and had parted ways with the bikie fraternity on his release.

Antonio Hermiz, who had been linked to Assyrian crime gang The Last Hour, was being investigated over the murder before he was shot dead seven months later.

Adrian Buxton was the victim of a gangland style execution in the Sydney suburb of Colyton

Antonio Hermiz, 20, was shot dead at Wetherill Park in December 2016. Source: Facebook

The 20-year-old was shot in the head on December 23 2016 in broad ­daylight at Lizard Log Park in Wetherill Park.

The group he was with met up with another group who opened fire, killing Hermiz in front of families at a nearby playground.

In early 2017, police officers revealed to The Daily Telegraph that Hermiz “had possession of” the vehicle used in the murder of Buxton.

Nobody has been charged in relation to Buxton or Hermiz’s death.

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Teenager Comanchero Bassil Hijazi

Bassil Hijazi was just 18 when he was shot and killed in a parked car in Bexley in July 2013.

Sydney drug dealer Joseph Gatt was sentenced over the murder in the NSW Supreme Court to a maximum 28 years in prison with a non-parole period of 21 years.

While a jury found him guilty, Justice Monika Schmidt said exactly who unloaded a “hail of bullets” hitting Mr Hijazi twice fatally in the neck and chest cannot be proved.

Bassil Hijazi was killed at the age of 18.

When he testified in court, Gatt blamed a friend for pulling the trigger.

It appeared Hijazi had a mark on his head, surviving a bullet two weeks earlier, in what was believed to be a revenge attack following the death of two Hells Angels bikies.

Just hours before he was killed, Hijazi had reported for bail at St George police station on drug supply charges.

Johnny Salafia

The gangland murder of Johnny Salafia rocked the NSW’s south coast in 2013.

The father of three was gunned down at his front door in Kings Point as his family slept inside on June 23.

Senior Rebels bikie Sami Esko Hamalainen is set to be sentenced for his role in the murder, after pleading guilty to being an accessory to murder and recruiting for criminal activity earlier this year.

Johnny Salafia who was shot at point-blank range on the front doorstep of his south coast home at Kings Point in 2013.

Documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court revealed tensions between Hamaleinen and Salafia, who had a brief flirtation with the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang. The agreed facts state Hamalainen believed Salafia had given out his home address, along with addresses of other Rebels members, to Comanchero nominee Steven Balshaw.

Rebels Sydney chapter president Robert McCloskey was convicted of accessory to murder for his role in Salafia’s death and sentenced to 18 months jail.