Bassam Hamzy’s cousin Bilal Hamze shot dead in Sydney CBD
Crime figure Bilal Hamze knew his life was in danger and although police warned him there was a target on his head, he shrugged it off. Now the 34-year-old cousin of Brothers for Life founder Bassam Hamzy is dead after being shot in Sydney’s CBD.
Police & Courts
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Police warned crime figure Bilal Hamze that his life was in danger and there was a target on his back but he shrugged it off.
Now the 34-year-old cousin of notorious Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy is dead after being shot in the heart of Sydney’s CBD on Thursday night.
Hamze left a restaurant just before 10.30pm and walked on to Bridge St when he was ambushed and shot multiple times.
The shooter fled the scene in a black car, which police believe was later torched in Northwood, near Lane Cove.
One of the main theories police are now investigating is whether Hamze’s execution is linked to an ongoing war between his family and another notorious group, the Alameddines.
Criminal Groups Squad Detective Superintendent Robert Critchlow said Hamze, who had a bounty on his head, was warned he was in danger.
“He has been warned that he is at risk, he has been given advice as to his safety,” he said today.
“That advice was not received in the sense it was given.
“He sought to live his life the way he wanted to and made some choices.
“Police were certainly concerned. We have been monitoring the situation. There are regular things that arise in the criminal space that we act upon quietly and in a way that doesn’t attract attention and we avert a lot of these crimes.
“But ultimately if a violent criminal group wishes to use violence towards another person to achieve their own goals, they will do it.
“What we do now is gather the evidence and lock them up.”
Hamze, cousin of Brothers for Life founder and Goulburn Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy, had been trying to slip enemies who had put a target on his head, and was believed to be living in the CBD in a bid to throw contract killers off.
Underworld sources said Hamze knew there was a contract on his head and had been on the move in recent weeks before settling in the CBD.
Convenience store worker Mohammed Hamad was on shift last night when he heard a volley of shots.
“I heard five or six rounds and then people came in and told me there had been a shooting,” he said.
Mr Hamad was left shaken by the incident, saying it was highly unusual for it to happen in the heart of the city.
“It’s hard not to be scared. When you work in our society and you hear gunshots in the middle of the city.”
Half of Bridge Street between George and Pitt Street was closed off on Friday morning as forensic police scour the crime scene for clues.
Torn clothing is scattered near the scene of the fatal shooting, which occurred just outside popular Chinese fusion restaurant Mr Wongs.
Hamze is the son of Maha Hamze the family matriarch and herself once a victim of a shooting. She survived eight bullet wounds after being fired at outside her home in 2013.
The Auburn flat where she was injured was shot up again in October last year.
On the same morning Bilal Hamze’s cousin Mejid Hamzy was shot dead at the door of his Condell Park home. He died in a pool of blood.
In January, innocent man Mustafa Naaman was shot dead in Hurstville in a carpark. A member of the Hamze clan is believed to have been the real target.
Maha Hamze’s Auburn unit complex was against shot at in February and a nurse was grazed when a stray bullet shattered a hospital window.
The Hamze family has been locked in a bitter war with the Alameddine family, with the feud spilling over in recent months into a number of shootings and murders.
Until last night, police had been able to clamp down on the bloody feud, but the explosion in the heart of the city has put police on the highest alert.
The fight has been fuelled by claims of stolen drugs and even a mobile phone.
Police are preparing for reprisal shootings and a full scale gang war.
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