Rami Iskander underworld murder: Second man charged over Belmore shooting

A second man has been charged by police investigating the high-profile Sydney underworld murder of Rami Iskander earlier this year, after his older brother was also charged in October.

Rami Iskander was shot dead in the driveway of his Belmore home.

A second man has been arrested and charged by police in connection with a high-profile Sydney underworld murder earlier this year.

Lee Paul Lambroglou, 29, was charged on Wednesday for his alleged involvement after the fatal shooting of Rami Iskander at his Belmore home on Knox Street early in the morning of May 14 this year.

Mr Lambroglou was arrested by police on Wednesday morning at around 10:30am on York Street in Sydney and taken to Day Street Police Station, before being charged with accessory after the fact to murder and conceal serious indictable offence.

He was refused bail and is set to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday where police will allege in court that he assisted those in the incident following the murder of Mr Iskander.

The 23-year-old was found by emergency services with gunshot wounds, treated at the scene by paramedics and died shortly after.

Mourners gather at Rami Iskander’s funeral earlier this year at Rookwood Cemetery. Picture: David Swift.

Mr Lambroglou’s older brother, Vincent Bill Lambroglou, 42 was arrested at an Oatley property five months later in October as part of ongoing inquiries and charged for allegedly organising and preparing the getaway cars used by the gunmen who shot Iskander dead.

Mr Lambroglou remains before the courts.

Police are continuing their investigation under Task Force Erebus into Iskander’s death, as well as several other fatal shootings and criminal activities by organised crime networks in Sydney.

Iskander’s death was the third fatal shooting linked to Sydney’s gang war in as many weeks at the time, with the other two victims including his step-uncle and notorious underworld figure Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad and rival Comanchero bikie Omar Zahed.

Homicide Squad detectives arrested and charged 42-year-old Vincent Bill Lambroglou in October for his alleged involvement in the incident. He remains before the courts.

Iskander was not an Ahmad by blood but became involved with the family crime network after his mother remarried.

Iskander’s role in the notorious and insular family has been the source of intense underworld speculation following his death.

Police investigating his shooting in the driveway of his Belmore home have been trying to decipher the reason for the execution of the 23-year-old, who was not a direct blood relative of the Ahmads but was buried beside Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad.

Police, as part of investigations, charted Iskander’s life as a young tradie from Belmore to his final breaths in front of his pregnant wife and two-year-old child.

He was the stepson of Yasser Ahmad, the younger brother of “Brownie” Ahmad, after his mother remarried. There is no suggestion his mother is involved in any wrongdoing.

Slain gangster Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad is buried next to his nephew Rami Iskander.

The quick-fire deaths of Iskander, Zahed and Ahmad led to the formation of Taskforce Erebus by NSW Police, to coordinate the investigations into the 16 tit-for-tat murders since the city’s gang war exploded in late-2020.

NSW Police Homicide Squad boss Danny Doherty said he was confident that after a number of recent arrests by Taskforce Erebus more were on the way, even issuing a warning to high-profile Sydney crime figures who have fled overseas.

“We’ve already shown over the last few weeks and months that we have been making inroads and getting the upper hand in relation to these organised crime murders,” Det Supt Doherty said.

“These are always hard cases to crack because of the nature of the people we’re dealing with.

“No one is untouchable, including the organised crime networks that we’re investigating at the moment… it doesn’t matter if they live in Sydney, or if they’ve fled interstate or overseas, we’ll continue to work on them and to get justice for the families.”