THE cops know how big time drug dealer Raphael Joseph spent his last day on Earth.
They know he was expecting to collect millions for his latest shipment. They know he was murdered so he wouldn’t have to be paid. And they know which rival syndicate killed him.
All police need now are key pieces of information to complete the jigsaw so charges can be laid — and today they are putting up a $1 million reward to get them.
“We know a lot about what happened but need a few more pieces,’’ said Detective Superintendent Scott Cook head of the NSW Homicide Squad.
“Mr Joseph certainly knew his killers and they killed him rather than paying the substantial amount of money they owed him.’’
Before he fell victim to the perfect double cross in March 2014, Joseph had organised and delivered a major importation of drugs, worth millions of dollars, and was waiting to talk about the terms of the deal.
Once a founding member of a bloodthirsty Sydney gang called DLAST HR, police say Joseph had broken away from his old drug syndicate mates and gang connections to set himself up as “sole trader’’.
While he made massive amounts of money on his own, and flew under the radar by not flaunting his wealth, it’s a decision that probably cost him his life because he no longer had the protection of a gang.
On the day he died, Joseph was dining at Fat Noodle in Star City casino with a friend who had major connections to Sydney bikie gangs when he got a text message on his BlackBerry. The former street punk and accused killer was relaxed when he stood from the table and announced he had business to attend to out west.
Police suspect that Joseph was under the illusion it was to talk about the finer details of the drug deal.
“There is nothing to indicate in his actions that he thought there was any danger,’’ Det Supt Cook said. “Joseph got one of his old friends to drive him in his Mercedes-Benz to McDonald’s at Auburn.
Like a lot of successful crooks, Joseph had learnt to keep a low profile and was considered an expert at hiding his money.
The friend had known him for years from his Fairfield days and Joseph had hired him as a driver after losing his licence.
It was typical Joseph, according to police. He wouldn’t risk bringing attention to himself by being caught driving without a licence but at the same time would be on his BlackBerry organising multiple million dollar shipments of any drugs he could get his hands on.
The pair stopped briefly at his unit in Chiswick where he went inside for a few moments before going onto to Auburn.
It was about 11.20pm when he got out of the car and told his friend he’d be back in about 30 minutes. Joseph instructed him to park behind a silver Holden Commodore parked in Dartbrook Rd, got out and slid into the Commodore’s back seat.
It was the last time he was ever seen. Police have good information that once Joseph got into that car he was a dead man.
He was driven to a nearby home where he was killed and then put into a 44-gallon drum that had been taken to the address earlier specifically for the purpose of transporting his body. The drum was loaded into a white Toyota HiAce van and driven to a property on the outskirts of Sydney.
Police later searched a property at Blaxlands Ridge at the foot of the Blue Mountains — they also took possession of the silver Commodore at another location. Police spent days searching unsuccessfully for his body.
They also have a number of HiAce vans, which have a sophisticated “stash’’ compartment that can be used to conceal drugs. Like a lot of successful crooks, Joseph had learnt to keep a low profile and was considered an expert at hiding his money.
While he drove a Mercedes it was several years old and not one of the flashier models. He resisted the temptation of living in a waterside mansion instead resided in a comfortable but not overly luxurious apartment. But none of this was enough to keep him alive.
THE FULL STORY
DOUBLECROSS
THE murder was not a drug deal gone wrong but a premeditated killing to get out of paying for their drugs. Joseph, a man who had been involved in many of his own drug rips had clearly underestimated who he was dealing with.
$1 MILLION REWARD
THE NSW state government has now put up a $1 million reward for information which can help them put his killers behind bars. the added attraction for police will be the dismantling of the drug syndicate behind the murder,
It's a massive amount of money but its needed if police are to entice anyone from the underworld to give up information on known killers. For gangland murders rewards of $500,000 to a $1 million are not uncommon. In this case police already have considerable details about the murder. They know who the syndicate is, its members and where and how Joseph was killed.
EVIDENCE SEIZED
THEY also have seized the silver commodore which he was last seen getting into and have a number of high ace vans, which have sophisticated “stash’’ compartment used to conceal drugs.
“We know a lot about what happened but need a few more pieces to fall into place before we can charge those involved,’’ said Detective Cook.
“Mr Joseph certainly knew his killers and they killed him rather than paying the substantial amount of money they owed him,’’ he said.
The week before his death Joseph had spent a few days in Dubai with a new girlfriend where its believed he mixed pleasure with business organising further drug importations.
Between overseas trips he would go to work most days at his car businesses in Woodville road at Villawood like any other businessman.
“He was trying to fly under the radar,’’ said detective Cook.
“By giving the appearance of living a fairly mundane life he hoped not to bring attention to himself.’’
But that hadn’t always been the case. Originally from Iraqi Joseph had made his name as a young street thug in western sydney who was believed to be a founding member of DLAST HR _ one of the most blood thirsty gangs in Sydney in the late 1990s until it was dismantled in 2014.
DLAST HR had evolved out of another street gang, the Assyrian Kings who carried out the most vile bashing murder of a police officer called David Carty in Fairfield in 1997.
There have been recent attempts by misguided would-be gangsters in Western Sydney to revive the gang.
In 2002 Joseph was accused of being involved in the shooting death of a man called Dimitri Debaz outside a strip club in Sefton while in the company of DLAST HR leader Raymon Youmaran. The murder was believed to be a gang dispute over drug turf.
Joseph fled overseas and lived under a serious of assumed names in America before he was arrested in 2008.
He fought extradition and famously petitioned then secretary then-US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice claiming that the would be killed if he was extradited back here by a gang known as the “Bronx boys.’’
The move failed and Joseph was brought back to Australia where he spent 18 months in jail waiting trial for the murder of Debaz before the charges were suddenly dropped.
After that he set about networking himself in Sydney and then overseas and within a decade had established himself as a major international drug dealer.
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