Alameddines outdo Hamzy brutality in bloody gang war

Never-before seen photos show what life is like inside the Alameddine clan and their devotion to Rafat Alameddine, the man police allege is the boss.

It was late-2013 when Masood Zakaria’s teenage relative opened the front door of her family’s Blacktown home to find a group of men asking to see him.

When she shut it in their face one man fired a shotgun through the door, hitting her in the back.

It is almost a decade on, but underworld sources say Zakaria — the second-highest ranking member of the Alameddine crime clan — has not forgotten about the attack by the Brothers 4 Life gangsters he used to associate with.

It is just one theory as to why the feud between the Alameddines and Hamzys — who were the founders of the once brutal B4L — continues to escalate, with unprecedented regard for danger or daylight.

NEW PICTURE: (From left) Hamdi Alameddine, Rafat Alameddine and Shaylin Zreika.

The body count from the suburban gunbattles stands at eight since October 2020 — five of them have been relatives of the Hamzy family.

The Daily Telegraph can today reveal never-before seen photos showing what life is like inside the tight knit Alameddine clan and their devotion to Rafat Alameddine, the man police allege is the boss.

In one photo mid-level member Shaylin Zreika — who has allegedly been targeted on multiple occasions by his rivals with drive-by shootings and bashings — kisses the hand of Rafat as his cousin Hamdi Alameddine watches on.

Former top cop Peter Moroney says the currently gang war is particularly brutal. Picture: Tim Hunter

Former senior cop Peter Moroney worked on the Hamzys in the mid-2000s and early-2010s and said while he has seen gangland feuds come and go before, the current incarnation was particularly violent and brutal.

“You’ve just got to look at the root causes. Generally the root cause … going back in time, is drugs, money and power,” Mr Moroney said.

“This one will end like all the rest of them end, in the sense that there will be more killing, more deaths, more violence. What initially kicked off the feud would’ve been long running tension, now it’s just tit for tat.”

NEW PICTURE: Rafat Alameddine (left) and Shaylin Zreika.

The recent assassination of Ghassan Amoun — the brother of B4L founder Bassam Hamzy — occurred in broad daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses and on one of Western Sydney’s busiest roads.

Over the past 18 months there have been at least eight other similar gangland shootings.

Each one creates a mountain of work for NSW Police and puts pressure on senior officers to stop it occurring again, but former cops now out of the force and free to share their knowledge say gangland feuds such as that involving the Alameddines and Hamzys are nothing new.

Killer: Arthur ‘Neddy’ Smith.

Disgraced detective: Roger Rogerson.

In the 1970s there were the feuding Painters and Dockers, in the 1980s Neddy Smith,Christopher Dale Flannery, Bryan McCann and Roger Rogerson caused chaos on the streets, while in the 1990s Danny Karam’s “DK’s Boys” crew were involved in bloodshed and in the 2000s the Darwiche and Razzak families feuded.

“It’s not a bad analogy to say it’s just like having different teams in the grand final,” Mr Moroney said.

NSW Police intelligence reports tendered in the Supreme Court as part of an application to limit the movements and capabilities of high-ranking Alameddine and Hamzy gangsters laid out what current officers believe led to tensions escalating.

Alleged attacker: Ibrahem Hazme.

Alleged attacker: Haissam Hamzy.

Alleged attacker: Tareek Hamzy.

Jailed: Bassam Hamzy.

In early-October 2020, Alameddine associate Shaylin Zreika was allegedly attacked by three Hamzy members — Ibrahem Hamze, Haissam Hamzy and Tareek Hamzy.

Police will allege Zreika was punched, kicked and beaten with a metal pole.

The attack on Zreika came four months after a drive-by shooting on his Westmead home.

Home shot at: Rafat Alameddine.

Murdered: Mejid Hamzy.

Rafat Alameddine’s home was then shot at on October 18. The next day Mejid Hamzy, one of his family’s bosses, was gunned down outside his Condell Park home.

Since then his brother Ghassan and his cousin Bilal have also been assassinated. Bilal’s death came just weeks after he tried to broker a peace deal with the boss of his rival clan.

The ruthless attitude of the Alameddines likely has a lot to do with who they are up against.

In the mid-2000s to mid-2010s, the B4L gang dominated the streets of Sydney’s west with an iron fist.

Murdered: Scene of Ghassan Amoun’s assassination.

Murdered: Bilal Hamze.

Mr Moroney says that the younger breed of Alameddines must have realised that to take over, they had to be even more ruthless than their rivals.

“Back when the Hamzys were asserting themselves there was certainly pushback in terms of them trying to infiltrate areas they didn’t have hold of,” he said.

“But they certainly ran over others very quickly just through their sheer violence.

“So I suppose if you think about it, let’s just say the Hamzys rose through power and one of their successful tools was violence, if someone’s going to wrestle that off them, then the only way to do that is to go for more excessive violence.

“Obviously more has to be done because it’s just going to end up in more deaths, but what can be done? I think the families themselves have to answer for that,” he said.

“It’s not solely a police problem, they have to be willing to take some responsibility.”