Tarek Zahed likely successor to Mick Murray at Comancheros

With Mick Murray behind bars, one highly connected and ambitious Comanchero appears his likely successor. But if chosen, he may want to think twice about it.

With Mick Murray out of action, Tarek Zahed looks poised to take charge of the club.

Key Comanchero Tarek Zahed stands as the most likely successor to Mick Murray as the gang’s national president.

Murray, 44, was charged and remanded in jail over the 2019 murder of Mitat Rasimi on Thursday after almost a decade as club boss.

In 2013, Murray took over as Victorian president from smooth underworld player Jay Malkoun. Three years later he became national president, replacing Sydney Comanchero Mark Buddle after he fled to Dubai.

Both Malkoun and Buddle have spent periods in the Middle East, where it is understood they rapidly boosted their wealth as they expanded the club’s reach.

Murray, who was also bumping up his wealth, flexed the gang’s muscle domestically.

The “Comos’’ have in recent years become law enforcement’s most-scrutinised outlaw bikie gang.

Mick Murray leads the Comancheros on their run from Hallam last year. Picture: David Crosling

It may have also been the nation’s most prolific organised crime entity — period.

Billions of dollars run through the top echelon of the club, mainly abroad, essentially through the illicit drug trade.

It is a sophisticated crime group, and Zahed, who is the club’s national sergeant-at-arms, is one of its highly connected and ambitious members.

Although he appears to have shunned “ink’’ on his skin — almost unheard of in the outlaw world — he does enjoy the finer things in life.

Unlike former bikie Toby Mitchell, Zahed wasn’t banned from the Australian Open.

Zahed’s muscular frame was beamed across television screens as he unintentionally disrupted play during the men’s tennis final between Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev.

It was a clear sign Zahed was settling into life in Melbourne, his new hometown, after relocating from Sydney.

TV cameras catch Tarek Zahed at the Australian Open.

Zahed now lives in Melbourne after moving from Sydney. Picture: James Gourley

It was a move of necessity.

For years, Zahed had absorbed the heat of NSW Police, who in 2021 went to court to get an order to control his activities.

He did however manage to get an exemption from the federal government on compassionate grounds to travel with his family to the Middle East.

Astoundingly, Covid-19 restrictions did not prevent him from international travel.

While abroad, where he travelled via Lebanon, police could not monitor his movements and whether or not he caught up with Comanchero associates such as Buddle.

Ultimately, Zahed moved to Victoria, otherwise known in bikie terms as “Switzerland’’, to avoid the clampdown by NSW law enforcement.

It was also late January this year when Murray led his gang on its national run from his gym in Hallam to Port Phillip Prison.

In what was seen as a show of support for his “brothers’’ remanded over the Australian Federal Police ANOM sting.

Under the watchful eye of police and prison staff, Murray, who was flanked by Zahed, led about 50 Comancheros into the carpark of the prison.

Then, on the president’s command, the bikies revved their Harley Davidsons in unison so it could be heard over the wall.

Now on remand, Murray may soon be on the other side of that Port Phillip Prison wall where a wing is packed with his comrades.

From there he will not be able to rule the club, rated as the most powerful outlaw motorcycle gang in the nation.

During his time in charge, Murray has dealt with significant intra and interclub violence.

The club warred with the Rebels in 2015 after Murray was attacked by its members at a strip club in Darwin.

In 2017, again at a strip club, this time in Canberra, Murray watched his own gang fight one another on the dance floor.

It ended with one of the club’s members, former fashion model and suspected hitman Hasan Topal, smashing a glass over his own forehead.

And while he faces a murder charge, his wealth may take an almighty hit.

Murray is fighting the Australian Taxation Office in Federal Court over $15m bill the taxman says he owes.

It’s tough at the top.

Zahed, if chosen, may want to think twice about it.