Slain gangster ‘Brownie’ Ahmad’s nephew Rami Iskander executed in front of family
Three theories have now emerged as to why a member of a well-known crime family was killed in front of his family in the latest shooting murder to rock south western Sydney.
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Three theories have emerged as to why a member of a well-known crime family was executed on his driveway in the latest shooting murder to rock Sydney.
Rami Iskander, a 23-year-old father and member of the Ahmad family, died in the arms of his panicked relatives when gunmen shot him multiple times outside his home on Knox St, Belmore, just before 4am on Saturday.
Iskander was the nephew of slain gangster Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad, who was shot dead outside a Greenacre house on April 27. The first people who saw the lifeless body of the latest gangland war victim were his distraught in-laws across the road.
It comes in the same week as a shooting of senior Comanchero bikie Tarek Zahed who survived being shot 10 times at an Auburn gym on Tuesday night. His brother, Omar Zahed, was killed in the attack.
Police are now investigating if all three shootings are linked.
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The first theory is that Iskander was planning revenge for the shooting of his uncle but was killed in a pre-emptive strike before he could carry it out.
A second theory is that Iskander was involved in this week’s shooting of the Zahed brothers Tarek and Omar and was murdered in a revenge hit.
The third is that Iskander was killed in retaliation for disrespect shown to an unidentified criminal’s wife or girlfriend.
The distressing scene played out on a suburban street full of families, where one neighbour reported hearing a volley of 10 shots.
Father-of-two Iskander, 23, bled out on the driveway after that hail of bullets, surrounded by his wife, in-laws and a neighbour, who is a registered nurse, trying to perform CPR.
One family member told The Sunday Telegraph they had “no idea” why someone would target Iskander with his pregnant wife inside the home.
His wife had to be taken to hospital after running out to see her husband dying in the driveway.
A neighbour, who didn’t want to be identified, said the gunshots woke up his newborn, who was sleeping just metres from the scene.
“My wife said ‘Did you hear that? I think that was gunshots’,” he said.
The trajectory of the shots broke the rear glass window of Iskander’s property, metres from the bedroom of the neighbour’s baby son.
Another neighbour said they heard “about 10 shots” before seeing a car speeding down their street.
The young concreter was training to be a foreman in the business.
His killers meticulously planned the hit, lying in wait in his street, rolling up to the home he recently rented and firing multiple shots into him before speeding off.
Iskander’s murder is being investigated by the NSW Police’s homicide squad with the assistance of other agencies in an operation known as Strike Force Bati.
Two burning vehicles, thought to have been used in the murder, were found a short time later at Croydon Park and Bexley North.
The 23-year-old had arrived home only shortly before the shooting.
Speaking outside the Sydney Police Centre on Saturday, Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett said it appeared to have been a continuation of the “tit for tat” organised crime shootings that had plagued Sydney over the past two years.
“We’ve clearly got a war of sorts in southwest Sydney around drug supply and organised crime,” Superintendent Bennett said. “That crosses over with inter-family relationships and the like and we are dealing with it as best we can. And we know how violent these people are.”
He said Iskander was not a known target prior to the murder.
“He’s not a person that we have warned about being a target as we have with others,” he said. “But he is certainly known to us as being involved in that milieu.
“There is information that fits him into that milieu through family and associations but he hasn’t got an extensive criminal record.
“No one deserves this …(but) it’s the way these people choose to live their lives, is one part of it.
“It’s pretty horrific. It’s in the middle of a suburban street, it’s numerous shots fired, with numerous shots hitting the person who has clearly been targeted.
“It’s unacceptable in modern society but unfortunately across the world it happens from time to time. It’s a by-product of organised crime and a certain subculture that we have in southwest and Western Sydney,” he said.
NSW Labor has accused the Perrottet Government of losing the battle against criminal gangs in Sydney’s south west – with Iskander’s death the 13th gang-related homicide recorded.
NSW Shadow Minister for Police Walt Secord said gangs in western Sydney were “running rampant”.
“Crime gangs are carrying out attacks with impunity and with no regard for the safety of others,” Mr Secord said.
“Frankly, I’m less concerned about feuding gangsters killing each other – and far more concerned about innocent bystanders getting killed in the crossfire.
“The community has been patient. The wave of shootings has gone on too long. This is about community safety.
“Western Sydney residents do not feel safe walking their streets knowing that vicious gang violence could strike anywhere, anytime.”
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