Dead man walking: Why ‘The Punisher’ refused to go into hiding

The good news for homicide detectives probing the long-anticipated murder of Sam “the Punisher” Abdulrahim is they will inherit a comprehensive file from gangland investigators that will contain a list of the victim’s enemies – including the person who may be suspected of ordering the hit.

The bad news is that Sam rubbed so many bad people the wrong way that the list of names is long and dangerous.

Sam Abdulrahim was shot dead in Preston.Credit: Instagram

Usually, homicide detectives can put together a couple of names of those who may want someone murdered. In the case of Abdulrahim, the list is a dark version of Who’s Who, or in modern terms, “Wicked-Pedia”.

Gang detectives, who will work with homicide, will already have a good idea of who ordered the hit as it has been an open secret that there was a million-dollar contract on his head.

He had been the subject of more failed hits than a B-grade British boy band.

The outcome was never in doubt. It was only the location and timing that would need to be filled in on Abdulrahim’s death certificate.

The trouble is that the person who ordered the hit may live overseas, and there are a staggering number of young crooks prepared to kill for cash.

After all, some will torch a tobacco shop for $500.

A couple of generations ago there was only a handful of paid killers in the underworld, but now there are hundreds of would-be apprentices. It is so popular it should be a TAFE course.

Catching the soldiers is one thing, the General, quite another.

Following several attempts on his life and having been shot so many times he had more lead in his guts than the saddlebags of a Melbourne Cup favourite, Abdulrahim remained remarkably upbeat.

Always the optimist, just five weeks after having 17 shots fired at him in a failed ambush in Lalor in May last year, Abdulrahim travelled to Asia to have his nose (badly damaged from professional fights in the ring) reconstructed by a renowned private specialist. It proved to be a short-term investment.

Years earlier, the equally disliked underworld heavy Nik Radev spent a fortune on cosmetic dental surgery just before being shot in the head.

As an aside, have you noticed how many gangsters have Hollywood teeth? It is not only social influencers who are keen to keep up appearances.

As the underworld walls began to close in on him, Abdulrahim tried to give the impression he was bulletproof. He once remarked that getting shot was easy; it was the recovery that was hard.

Nik Radev (pre-Hollywood teeth), who was shot dead in Coburg in 2003.

After being shot multiple times in a Fawkner funeral procession, he was brought back from an induced coma and underwent months of rehabilitation, including learning how to walk again. A combination of good luck, determination and human growth hormones brought him back to near full strength.

While the former boxer returned to being a physically imposing figure, his power base was terminally damaged. Attacks on associates sent a message that if you sided with Sam you were a target.

He dropped off social media but told friends that one of the failed hit teams were “idiots” because they targeted a house he no longer owned. As his media profile grew, he bagged reporters who wrote about him, but also seemed to revel in the notoriety. When not on the run, he doted on his baby girl, who was just five days old at the time of the cemetery shooting. She was one of the reasons he decided not to try to disappear.

But deep down he knew he was a dead man walking. He was the fox who could hear the baying of pursuing hounds growing louder.

His only option was jail time, witness protection and a new identity – something he considered worse than death.

Abdulrahim travelled overseas, considered trying to keep a lower profile by moving interstate, but was drawn back to Melbourne, making his movements easier to track.

Almost certainly he knew what was coming but preferred to spend his limited time with friends and family rather than hiding alone.

Usually, the death of a high-profile gangster involves retributions, but in this case, it’s unlikely the underworld will want to punish the people who finally saw off The Punisher.

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