Exiled Hasan Topal investigated over 2018 Hampton Park tattoo parlour shooting

Another attack has been added to the long list of shootings with suspected links to an exiled underworld wild man, who has fled overseas.

Exiled underworld wild man Hasan Topal was investigated over the tattoo parlour shooting ambush of Comanchero-linked bikie Robert Ale.

The case adds to a long list of gun attacks suspected of being linked to Topal as he ran amok in Melbourne before fleeing overseas in 2019.

Ale was shot as he was being given a tattoo at the Nitro Ink parlour in Hampton Park in February 2018.

Nitro Ink had previously been linked to Comanchero supremo Mick Murray.

Ale, who had been viewed as Murray’s right-hand man, was shot nine times by two balaclava-clad gunmen who stormed the shop in Fordholm Rd.

The gunfire was so frenzied that bullets pierced the walls of adjacent businesses.

Police later said the hit-team drove a short distance, torched their vehicle and escaped in another car left at that site.

Police at the scene of the Hampton Park tattoo parlour shooting in February 2018.

A burnt-out car near the scene of the shooting.

Hasan Topal was probed over the shooting.

The underworld figure fled overseas in 2019.

Ale is now doing a long prison term for his activities running the Last Kings gang, a Comanchero affiliate.

The Last Kings were implicated in attempted murders, drive-by shootings and drug dealing.

The Hampton Park attack on Ale came in a period of major instability within the Comanchero gang.

There was disunity about the gang’s leadership style as some members backed their former boss Amad “Jay” Malkoun.

At the time of the shooting, Ale was on bail over the high-level charges laid after a major Echo task-force investigation.

No charges have ever been laid over the tattoo parlour ambush.

Topal left Australia in 2019 and is not expected to return any time soon because of heavy police scrutiny and the threat of his many gangland foes getting even.

He is wanted for questioning over separate 2017 wrong-victim hits that claimed the lives of Muhammed Yucel at Keysborough and Zabi Ezebyar at Narre Warren.

Comanchero-linked bikie Robert Ale was shot at the tattoo parlour. Picture: David Crosling

Hasan Topal is not expected to return to Australia.

The former bikie has made many foes.

The intended victims in those cases were two Mongol OMCG-linked figures.

In the same year, Topal shot former Comanchero mate Mark Balsillie, wounded two Bandidos riding with other gang members on the Bolte Bridge and peppered a Richmond car dealership with bullets as part of a standover campaign of terror.

Months later, he was involved in a vicious strip club brawl in Canberra, for which he was later jailed.

Topal flew out of Australia soon after as police scrutiny intensified and his number of enemies grew.

There has been further consternation about his involvement in pushing the disastrous AN0M app to fellow gangsters while overseas.

The Sunday Herald Sun revealed earlier this year that Topal spruiked and communicated on AN0M, a supposedly surveillance-proof platform which was infiltrated by police.

CCTV caught innocent passers-by fleeing for their lives as shots were fired.

One of those arrested in the subsequent Australian Federal Police operation Ironside was Topal’s brother Muhammed.

Comanchero leadership is again in the spotlight after the arrest in April of national president Murray.

He has been charged over the 2019 murder at Dandenong North of gangland figure and former Mokbel empire player Mitat Rasimi.

Tarek Zahed was mooted as a possible replacement but he was severely wounded in a Sydney hit which claimed the life of his brother last month.

Sydney boss Allan Meehan is now regarded as the most likely Comanchero supremo.

Police believe the Comanchero are struggling because of their leadership instability and impact of the probe into AN0M, which has left many key players behind bars.

Echo is also closely watching the Mongols gang after Toby Mitchell was banished in April.

Other members were also given their marching orders or quit the outfit in the wake of that bust-up.