Police believe Comanchero and crime family feud link to Zahed shootings, murder of Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad

Police have revealed in court they believe a feud between a Sydney crime family and the Comanchero led to three killings that have defined Sydney’s bloody underworld war.

For the first time, police have publicly revealed who they believe was involved in three brutal slayings that have defined this bloody era of Sydney’s underworld war.

Police believe the Comanchero bikie gang are behind the brutal murders of underworld figure Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad and his nephew Rami Iskander that saw the gang war explode.

The stunning details were revealed after Ahmad’s brother, Youssef Ahmad, asked to be released from jail where he has been held since police locked him up for ­allegedly breaching his parole.

Police lifted the lid in the Federal Court this week on the bloody feud between the Ahmads and the Comanchero that saw three people killed within a matter of weeks earlier this year.

Ahmad was gunned down in Greenacre in April.

It was “widely known” Mahmoud Ahmad had a conflict with the bikie gang before he died, police said in documents in support of revoking his brother’s parole.

Police have previously said several underworld figures were being extorted by Mahmoud Ahmad before he died and the slain gangster is believed to have been behind a series of break-ins targeting their businesses.

Police believe weeks later Comanchero heavyweight Tarek Zahed and his brother Omar were gunned down outside an Auburn gym on May 10 “as revenge” for the death of Mahmoud Ahmad.

Omar and Tarek Zahed were shot “as revenge” police said in asking for Youssef Ahmad’s parole to be revoked.

Omar died in the shooting but Tarek Zahed miraculously survived despite being shot 10 times.

Four days later police believe the Comanchero retaliated with a “reprisal shooting” of Mahmoud Ahmad’s nephew Rami Iskander in front of his Belmore home, the court heard.

The “retaliation” shooting of the Zaheds is one of several police allege Youssef Ahmad was planning after the death of his brother Mahmoud in April.

Youssef Ahmad is fighting Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus for his freedom despite detectives stating they returned him to prison, in part, for his own safety. A police intelligence report detectives are relying on noted Ahmad was “at ­extreme risk of being murdered”.

Youssef and his slain gangster brother Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad.

Rami Iskander, 23, was shot dead as a “reprisal shooting” after the Zahed brothers were shot, it has been alleged in court.

Ahmad’s legal team disputed what they said was the “bold assertion” that he was plotting revenge attacks in the wake of the loss of his relatives. They also argued the only thing linking his to the family’s organised crime network was his last name.

“A nonviolent man with no evidence of violence … to now have put against him that he is planning multiple murders – that is a great leap,” his barrister said.

Lawyers acting for the Attorney-General said Ahmad never denied being part of the Ahmad crime network and that his weapons convictions meant he “had the means” to retaliate.

A parole report into Ahmad said he “felt pressured to uphold his reputation and his family name”.

He had been released in 2021 on parole for serious drugs charges and if his appeal fails he will remain in custody to serve out the rest of that sentence until July 2023.

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