Shooting victim Rami Iskander not a blood relative of the Ahmad family

Theories in the underworld have been swirling about why the father-of-two Rami Iskander was targeted above other more well-known members of the Ahmad family.

Gangland shooting victim Rami Iskander was not an Ahmad by blood but became involved with the family crime network after his mother remarried, it can be revealed.

He paid with his life and ­Iskander’s role in the notorious and insular family is now the source of intense underworld speculation.

Police investigating his shooting in the driveway of his Belmore home last weekend are 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, killed in Greenacre in a similar ­attack.

As investigators hunt Iskander’s killers, they are charting his life from a young tradie from Belmore to his final breaths in front of his pregnant wife and two-year-old child.

Gangland shooting victim Rami Iskander was related to the Ahmad family by marriage and not blood. Picture: Facebook

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.

Theories in the underworld have been swirling about why the father-of-two was targeted above other more well-known members of the Ahmad family.

His minor links to the clan had some questioning whether he was gunned down over something else other than his role in the Ahmad family.

Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was shot dead in Greenacre in April. Picture: Supplied

Underworld sources said Iskander was introduced to the family business when his mother remarried into the Ahmads, but was not considered “a heavy” among the notorious siblings. He was a concreter by day who reportedly dabbled in low-level crime.

A murder charge against his stepfather, Yasser, fell over before it got to trial and in 2003 he was jailed for glassing in the face a young woman who refused his advances at Embassy nightclub.

Iskander was buried beside Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad who he was related to via marriage. Picture: David Swift

“I’m going to ruin your pretty face, you think you’re gorgeous, you think you’re sexy, you think you’re all that,” a court heard he said.

With Mahmoud gunned down this year, his oldest sibling Walid killed in a hail of bullets in 2016 and Ahmad “Rock” Ahmad in jail over a drug sting, Yasser, Youssef and Mohammed are the only Ahmads left on the outside.

The crime network has lost its power and strength in parts of western Sydney in the past 10 years but a new generation is emerging, police sources said, looking to pick up where they left off.

His death was the 10th fatal Sydney gang hit in 18 months.