Alen Moradian shot in Bondi: Executed drug lord was the underworld’s ‘Mr Big’
A Sydney crime boss shot dead in Bondi Junction was warned by his wife he wouldn’t survive unless he stopped showing off.
A Sydney crime boss shot dead in a peak-hour execution at Bondi Junction had been warned by his wife that he wouldn’t survive unless he stopped showing off and started acting like TV gangster Tony Soprano.
Her warning came true at 8.30am on Tuesday when flashy underworld figure Alen Moradian was ambushed by two men as he sat in his parked car off Spring St.
The drug trafficker and associate of the Comanchero bikies gang was executed on one of Sydney’s busiest thoroughfares, with the killers fleeing in two stolen cars, which were dumped nearby.
Moradian, 48, was warned years ago by wife Natasha Youkhana that he would be killed if he didn’t rein in his ego, and she encouraged him to follow the example of fictitious American-Italian mafia character Soprano.
“Why do you just sit there and show off … do you see Tony Soprano doing that?’’ she said in an email tendered to court in 2011.
“He points it all off on a junior for a reason – to take the heat away from him. You, on the other hand, want the attention, you get a big head, you love it. People like that won’t survive.’’
Her warning came after Moradian flashed the proceeds of crime, including buying luxury cars and motorcycles, and extravagantly decorating the couple’s West Pennant Hills home in Sydney’s northwest – dubbed “Versace Palace’’ for its luxe gold interiors and Sistine Chapel-inspired murals.
He was sentenced in 2011 to 16 years for his role in the “Golden Gun’’ cocaine smuggling ring – so named because police seized a golden gun when the gang was broken up – but became eligible for parole in 2017 due to time served. The gang led by Moradian was accused of importing and selling more than 300kg of cocaine. Moradian, known at the time as “Fathead’’, pleaded guilty to importing 40kg of cocaine.
A Versace salesman told the court Moradian spent more than $1m on branded furniture and homewares for his “Versace Palace”. “He loved the Versace furniture and the excess. It was his vision and it was my job to carry his vision through,” the salesman said.
As a major player in the underworld for decades, Moradian had friends, contacts and enemies across crime gangs, bikie groups and international drug cartels, meaning the list of suspects is likely to spread far beyond Sydney’s persistent gangland feud.
“He could have been hit by a Mexican cartel, that’s how big he is,’’ one source said. “He had his tentacles everywhere.”
Such a public execution brings back memories of Melbourne’s gangland wars two decades ago, when 27 people were murdered in a tit-for-tat battle between the Carlton Crew and drug dealer Carl Williams. Carlton Crew members Jason Moran and Pasquale Barbaro were murdered in June 2003 as they sat in a van at an Auskick game.
Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Moradian’s assassination “bears the hallmark of an organised crime murder” and he had “a big target on his back”.
The gangster seemed to know it, and just last week was working on a major security upgrade involving a spiked, 2m-high fence at a home purchased by his wife in Kurrajong Hills, 75km northwest of Sydney.
One neighbour said they heard the couple “fighting and bickering” while outside the home. They were also surprised a dam at the property was protected by an electrified fence and barbed wire.
“I think they’re trying to keep someone out, when people do fences like that around here, it’s more of a threat, than keeping anything in,” the neighbour said.
Security cameras were also being installed at the four-bedroom property.
“During this time, they had a German shepherd that got out for over a day that I was like, wasn’t sure if it was good to go near,” one neighbour said.
Ms Youkhana was supposed to be celebrating her 51st birthday on Tuesday.
She recently opened a wholefoods business, and previously ran a car-hire business with gangland mother Lametta Fadallah, who was shot dead in August 2022.
A manhunt was under way last night after police found what they believed were getaway cars – a silver Porsche and a red Holden Commodore – abandoned nearby.
The Porsche was removed from James St, near private boys school Waverley College and popular sporting ground Waverley Oval at about 1.30pm.
The exterior of the vehicle appeared undamaged but there were signs of minor fire damage on the interior. Other vehicles on the street, which is lined by red-brick art deco apartments, were dusted for fingerprints.
The burnt-out Holden Commodore was located at the corner of Cook and McPherson lanes in Zetland, an inner-southern suburb, on Tuesday morning.
Superintendent Doherty said police were focused on obtaining CCTV vision and taking to witnesses. “We believe this is a targeted shooting and we believe it’s a targeted shooting of a high level organised crime identity,’’ he said.
“He (Moradian) is a high-level criminal identity. He’s a major player and because he’s a major player in the organised crime network and also has links to the Comancheros OMCG (outlaw motorcycle gang), he also had a big target on his back.
“We’re saying this is a well-planned executed murder of a high level criminal identity.”
Police were called to the Spring St carpark immediately after the shooting and found Moradian unresponsive in the car. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Spring St, which is home to Eastgate shopping centre, remained cordoned off on Tuesday afternoon.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS
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