Urban bloodshed: Sydney’s endless cycle of murder and revenge
Kill or be killed is the creed in the struggle for supremacy of Sydney’s underworld. Will a city’s apparent vengeful appetite for bloodlust ever be sated? Our interactive reveals a decade of murder on our streets.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Kill or be killed is the criminals’ creed in the struggle for supremacy of Sydney’s underworld.
After Khoder Hamdan was last month shot at up to 10 times by masked gunmen in Auburn, there still appears no end to the spiral of violence on our streets, begging the question: Will a city’s apparent vengeful appetite for bloodlust ever be sated?
A DECADE OF BLOODY VIOLENCE
Vasko Boskovski, 35
Earlwood
July 29, 2013
Sydney debt collector Vasko Boskovski was gunned down at his home, he had been shot in the head, thigh and chest.
Joe Antoun, 50
Strathfield
December 16, 2013
Mr Antoun was gunned down on the doorstep of his home in front of his horrified family.
Safwan Charbaji, 35
Condell Park
April 9, 2016
He ran for his car as the gunfire started but he was fatally wounded by a bullet that was fired through the front windscreen of a car.
Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad, 41
Bankstown
April 29, 2016
Ahmad was ambushed as he sat at an outdoor cafe on the rooftop of the Bankstown Centro Shopping Centre carpark.
Hamad Assad, 29
Georges Hall
October 25, 2016
He was executed in the driveway of his Georges Hall home as he took his nephew to school.
Pasquale Barbaro, 35
Earlwood
November 14, 2016
The 35-year old crime boss was shot dead while leaving an associate’s house.
Kemel ‘Blackie’ Barakat
Mortlake
March 10, 2017
Barakat was shot dead at point-blank range inside his flat in Sydney’s inner west.
Mick Hawi, 37
Rockdale
February 15, 2018
Hawi was shot multiple times in the head, face and shoulder as he left the Rockdale Fitness First gym in Sydney’s south in February 2018.
Fares Abounader, 39
Panania
August 29, 2020
He was shot multiple times in a targeted drive-by attack while his wife and young child were inside their Panania house.
Mejid Hamzy, 44
Condell Park
October 19, 2020
The father was shot dead outside his Condell Park home.
Amar Kettule, 34
Fairfield
January 10, 2021
He was found fatally shot in the driveway of a Ware Street home in Fairfield.
Mustapha Naaman
Hurstville
Jan 30, 2021
Naaman was shot several times as he and another man got into their car, shortly after attending a boxing match.
Mejed Derbas, 22
Smithville
January 30, 2021
Derbas was shot and was dumped in the boot of a Toyota 4WD which was then set alight in a deserted industrial estate in Smithfield.
Bilal Hamze, 34
Sydney CBD
June 17, 2021
Was shot in a drive-by shooting on Bridge Street after leaving the nearby Kid Kyoto restaurant.
Shady Kanj, 22
Chester Hill
August 6, 2021
A gunman on the run fired multiple times at the vehicle Shady Kanj occupied, shooting him with a number of bullets that resulted in his death 3 hours later in Guildford.
Salim and Toufik Hamze, 18 and 64
Guildford
October 20, 2021
Father and son were shot multiple times as they sat in the front of a red ute outside their Guildford home on Osgood St, where Salim died at the scene and Toufik shortly after in hospital.
Ghassan Amoun, 35
South Wentworthville
January 6, 2022
Amoun, 35, was shot multiple times and pronounced dead on Rawson Road at the intersection of the Great Western Highway
Mohamad Chami, 40
Merrylands
March 3, 2022
Chami was found shot multiple times in Holroyd, in Sydney’s west by emergency services who were called to a service station at Merrylands just before midnight, where Mohammad was declared dead at the scene.
Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad, 39
Greenacre
April 27, 2022
Ahmad was gunned down outside an associate’s house in southwest Sydney, he had been warned there was a price on his head in the days before he was ambushed and shot as he left the Greenacre house.
Omar Zahed, 39
Auburn
May 10, 2022
Omar died at the “horrific and confronting scene” that unfolded in front of several witnesses in the gym’s foyer after he suffered a cardiac arrest caused by the gunshot wounds to his stomach, arms and legs.
Rami Iskander, 23
Belmore
May 14, 2022
Iskander, 23, the nephew of allegedly murdered underworld heavyweight Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad, was gunned down on the driveway of the home he shared with his heavily pregnant wife and toddler as he arrived home.
Yusuf Nazlioglu, 40
Rhodes
June 27, 2022
Nazlioglu was allegedly shot up to 10 times in front of his wife as he stepped out of his car in the underground car park of an apartment complex in Rhodes
Lametta Fadlallah, 48
Panania
August 13, 2022
Was shot in the southwest Sydney suburb of Panania, in an attack that has been called a “planned murder” by police.
Taha Sabbagh, 40
Sefton
April 2, 2023
Sabbagh was shot dead outside the Elite Fight Force gym in Sefton, in western Sydney, last week as he dropped his boy off for a boxing class.
Marvin Oraiha, 24
Elizabeth Hills
May 22, 2023
Oraiha was gunned down in the driveway of his southwest Sydney home.
Alen Moradian, 48
Bondi Junction
June 27, 2023
Comanchero bikie Alen Moradian had just got into his Audi hire car to head off to the gym when two gunmen who were lying in wait in the underground carpark of his Spring St apartment block in Bondi Junction opened fire.
Ferenc ‘David’ Stemler, 28
Canterbury
July 27, 2023
Stemler was shot dead in a hail of bullets as he met with two men outside his rental home in the southwest suburb of Canterbury.
Dejan “Danny the Serb” Radulovic, 29
Balmain Street
July 29, 2023
Dejan “Danny” Radulovic was found suffering significant injuries to his head and torso.
Bol Deng, 20
Fairfield
February 26, 2024
The younger brother of a man accused of killing Comanchero bike boss Alen Moradian has been shot dead outside the front of his house in Sydney’s west in a targeted drive-by attack.
Tarek (Torek) Ayoub, 29
Parramatta
August 26, 2024
Ayoub was shot and killed in the car park of a unit complex in Parramatta.
‘Too late’: How officers missed chance to save two police dogs
An alarm system that would have alerted handlers of issues with the vehicle in which police dogs were left did its job. But nobody was close enough to hear it as two dogs perished.
Read more
‘Nothing untoward’: Priest denies sexual assault during sleepover
A northern NSW priest has denied sexually abusing a boy and using “naughty behaviours” like drinking and smoking to make the alleged victim feel he could not speak up. Here’s the latest.
Read more