Revealed: NSW’s most wanted gangsters

Between the AN0M app sting and bikie-busting Raptor squad, many of NSW’s worst organised crime bosses are behind bars but other high-profile suspects have eluded capture. SEE THE LIST

Between the FBI-led AN0M app sting and the award-winning bikie-busting Raptor squad’s work, many of NSW worst organised crime bosses are behind bars.

Many others suspects saw the writing on the wall and fled the country before authorities could pin them down to question or charge them.

Below is a list of those who have so far eluded arrest — NSW’s most-wanted gangsters.

Mark Buddle

While Covid has stopped many from travelling in recent years, it has done little to halt the jet setting of Comanchero bikie gang president Mark Buddle.

Buddle had set up a life for himself, his partner and daughter in Dubai, in the wake of leaving Australia in 2016 — but a poolside incident that was captured on video brought him unwanted attention from local authorities.

Former Comanchero boss Mark Buddle.

Since then — and in less than one year — he has spent time in Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and most recently Cyprus.

One of Australia’s biggest drug importers, he is also wanted for questioning over the death of Chubb security guard Gary Allibon.

The only way Buddle is likely to ever return to Australia is with police officers either side of him — something that has so far proved difficult to bring about.

Masood Zakaria

The right-hand man of alleged Alameddine crime clan boss Rafat Alameddine went missing last December, just days before police burst through the front door of his home to arrest him.

Masood Zakaria has not been seen since.

Wanted over the ultimately failed plot to kill rival gang boss Ibrahem Hamze, as well as his involvement in organising the Alameddine network, The Daily Telegraph revealed this week that Zakaria is thought to have escaped the country on a fishing trawler out of Western Australia.

Masood Zakaria.

Hakan Ayik

Life on the run has been particularly difficult for Australian drug lord Hakan Ayik over the past 12 months in the wake of the FBI-led AN0M sting.

For a number of years before the international police operation, Ayik had been promoting the use of encrypted messenger service AN0M throughout the underworld.

Sydney drug lord Hakan Ayik.

As a major player worth hundreds of millions of dollars, many of his counterparts listened.

The only problem? The AN0M app had been set up by police as a Trojan horse and while the app was supposed to give users unparalleled anonymity in their messaging, in reality every word could be seen by authorities.

When police arrested thousands of people across the world in simultaneous raids those who had promoted the app — such as Ayik — had a target on their back from not only authorities, but their criminal counterparts.

Last known to have been in Turkey, he is sure to be keeping a low profile for years to come.

Marko Coffen

A one-time Comanchero bikie, Coffen has found a place for himself in the criminal sphere thanks to his computer tech expertise.

By owning the rights to Cipher — the encrypted phone messaging service widely used to coordinate and carry out crimes — in Australasia he has become one of the biggest heavyweights in the underworld.

Former bikie and IT expert Marco Coffen with his wife. His wife is not accused of any wrongdoing. Picture: Facebook

Police wish to speak to him over his involvement in servicing crime, however that has done nothing to stop him spruiking his work on the internet.

On his own website and social media he openly talks about leaving behind Australia for Dubai.

“He lives with his wife and four children — two sons and two daughters — in Dubai United Arab Emirates,” he states on LinkedIn.

He also discusses his interest in cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin, the anonymity of which has proved difficult for police in their efforts to crackdown on proceeds of crime.

James Dalamangas

Suspected murderer James Dalamangas fled Australia in the wake of the death of father-of-two George Giannopoulos at a Greek nightclub in Sydney’s south-west in 1999.

That came two years after the shooting murder of bouncer Tim Voukelatos, over which he is also wanted for questioning.

James Dalamangas.

Thought to have taken up residency in Greece — where he is a dual citizen — there is still $200,000 on offer for any information that leads simply to his arrest.

Often, cash rewards are only offered for a successful conviction.

Dalamangas is another one to have had his life rudely interrupted by the crash of AN0M and the handing over of more than 25 million messages to authorities.

Angelo Pandeli

Pandeli was last year named one of multiple “national targets” by police over his alleged involvement in major international crime.

Drug dealer and bikie Angelo Pandeli.

The former head of the Hells Angels bike gang is the enemy of Comanchero boss Mark Buddle but the pair share a similarity in both being ex-pats of Australia.

Pandeli has long been sought by police for his role in importing drugs and despite living overseas continues to rank as one of Australia’s most influential bikies.

Bilal Haouchar

Under investigation by police over his involvement in three murders, Bilal Haouchar saw the writing on the wall and got out of Sydney.

He had only been released from prison just months earlier and police were hoping to put an ankle monitoring bracelet on him in an effort to restrict his movements.

Bilal Haouchar.

Haouchar went straight to Lebanon, a country where he has family and friends, and a nation that Australia has no extradition treaty with.

In recent years he has become a key figure in the movements of other major underworld figures such as Mark Buddle, after his departure from Dubai, and Comanchero bikie Tarek Zahed, when he briefly left Australia last year.

Haouchar is understood to have used his Lebanese contacts to help them get in the country and find their feet.

Erkan Keskin

Erkan Keskin.

For years the once high-profile Lone Wolf bikie, who is thought to have funded a number of major murders and large scale drug imports, was on the most wanted list for NSW Police.

However Keskin died from a suspected heart attack earlier this month after days of partying hard in Turkey, the country he made his new homeland after leaving Australia in 2019.

He is believed to have amassed an illegal fortune of between $200 million and $300 million.

Keskin leaves behind four children and a wife, all of who made it back to Australia for his funeral last week.

But he also leaves a massive hole in the underworld, with police sure to keep their eye on whoever looks to take over his position of influence.