Four men charged with murder of underworld figure Pasquale Barbaro

FOUR men have been charged over the murder of underworld figure Pasquale Barbaro, but police say yesterday’s raids are just the beginning.

FOUR men have been charged over the murder of underworld figure Pasquale Barbaro following dramatic raids across Sydney on Tuesday.

The men, aged between 23 and 28, will appear in Sydney courts later today. The men on murder charges were arrested by the Tactical Operations Unit at Sydney’s Olympic Park just before midday yesterday.

A 24-year-old arrested during those raids was charged participating in a criminal group but not murder.

State Crime Commander Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins confirmed this morning the murder charges all related to the death of Mr Barbaro, who was gunned down in Sydney’s south earlier this month.

His death led to the formation of a special strike force, Osprey, to combat the rising number of deaths in Sydney’s underworld.

There have been eight killings since June last year.

As well as the four on murder charges, four others — all men aged between 18 and 29 — were charged with a variety of offences including belonging to a criminal enterprise, and drug and theft charges.

All four were granted conditional bail to appear before later this year or early in 2017.

Those men, along with the 23-year-old charged with murder, were arrested after further raids at properties in Sydney Olympic Park, Wentworth Point, Baulkham Hills, Gladesville, Merrylands, Constitution Hill, Meadowbank, Five Dock, Alexandria, Silverwater and North Rocks.

Nine people were arrested during the raids. Picture: Channel 9

One of the men arrested on Tuesday.

A man being taken into custody from Sydney’s Olympic Park.

Acting NSW Deputy Commissioner Frank Mennilli said the police crackdown was just the “tip of the iceberg”.

“This is just the first phase. There is no end game, we will continue to target these individuals...”

Mr Mennilli said there would be “ongoing arrests” to protect residents of New South Wales, and praised the “tenacity and skill” of officers to make the arrests.

“Public acts of violence are dangerous and will not be tolerated by police. We will not back down; we will continue to target anyone who shows a blatant disregard for community safety.”

Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins said there was no confirmed link with the other murder investigations, although Strike Force Osprey was only in its early stages.

“The Homicide Squad is pursuing numerous lines of inquiry in relation to the other seven murders, which will continue to be overseen by Strike Force Osprey,” he said.

He promised police wouldn’t rest until the killings stopped.

“I can assure the community we will not give up until we have resolved these issues, while people choose to commit crime we will target them and put them before the court.”

The raids began just after midday on Tuesday comprised of officers from squads including the Tactical Operations Unit, Riot squad and Bomb Disposal Unit.

During the operation police seized more than 40 mobile phones/devices, 11 vehicles, a safe, cash, stolen NSW Police Force identification, and a variety of documentation, which will be examined by specialist forensic accountants from the Fraud and Cybercrime Squad.

Earlier in the investigation, police from Strike Force Raptor also seized 20 long arms, 23 hand guns, 15 prohibited weapons, including ballistic vests and masks, silencers, a stun gun, and a homemade pipe gun; ammunition, methylamphetamine, ecstasy, and five vehicles.

Police have made nine arrests.

The raids were part of Strike Force Osprey.

During Tuesday’s raids cars were seized with tow trucks brought in to take a Holden away from near an apartment block on Australia Avenue. A grey Mercedes Benz was also taken away, while other luxury cars were searched in the apartment buildings basement.

Officers also took away items collected from the properties in evidence bags.

Images from the raids showed the arrested men on the ground with their arms behind their backs, while another sat on the footpath with blood coming from a wound on his face.

The charged men allegedly had connections to a Sydney “hit squad’ that had been offering its members as “guns for hire”, sources told The Daily Telegraph.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione launched Strike Force Osprey less than two weeks ago after a series of bloody executions on Sydney’s streets of notorious crime figures.

Nine people charged in relation to investigation of Burwood Chapter of Rebels bikes and the death of Pasquale Barbaro. Picture: Police Media

Pasquale Barbaro. Picture: Instagram

Items taken away in evidence bags during the raids. Picture: Craig Wilson

Police said at the time they had discovered links between some of the murders. The victims were all either bikies or known to police.

Mr Barbaro, 35, was shot in Earlwood on November 14 and hitman Hamad Assaad, 29, was shot on his driveway in Georges Hall on October 25.

In April, gangland kingpin and convicted killer Walid Ahmad, 40, was killed in a daylight execution as he sat at a cafe at Bankstown Central shopping centre. His murder is believed to be in retaliation for the fatal shooting of Safwan Charbaji outside a Condell Park panel beater several weeks earlier.

Rebels outlaw motorcycle member Mark Easter was killed in June 2015, Rebels bikie ­Michael Davey in March 2016, bikie ­associate Adrian Buxton was shot in May, while another bikie associate, Mehmet Yilmaz, was killed in St Marys in September.

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