Deadline: One-time associate of slain gangster Hawre Sherwani keeping low profile after Caroline Springs execution

The brutal killing of Hawre Sherwani in Caroline Springs has a one-time associate of the slain gangster — present at a shooting a decade ago — keeping a very low profile.

Australia’s top crime reporters Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with their weekly dose of scallywag scuttlebutt.

Hits and long gangland memories

Hardly anyone really knows who was in the hit crew that murdered Hawre Sherwani at Caroline Springs last Thursday.

It was a brutal crime carried out with ruthless efficiency by killers who posed as cops, right down to the lights, sirens and VW Tiguan commonly driven by Victorian police nowadays.

Regardless of who was responsible, it was an event which might have had a former Sherwani associate checking his security systems were up to scratch over the weekend.

One of Sherwani’s suspected shooting victims from almost a decade ago was a bloke who has become one of the Melbourne underworld’s prime powerbrokers.

This man was once not shy of pulling the trigger himself but has moved on to a more “managerial” role, with considerable success.

Sherwani frantically knocked on doors after being shot in Caroline Springs. Picture: 7News

He collapsed at the front door of a property. Picture: 7News.

He might be a long way away nowadays but he has a tonne of money and an appetite for settling scores.

That could explain why the once-flamboyant man reputed to have been with Sherwani the night he opened fire back then has been keeping a very low profile in recent years.

Once a familiar face on the socials with gaudy displays of wealth, he wisely chose to retreat to the shadows.

Sadly for those trying to investigate the matter, Sherwani had racked up many more enemies than most.

Born in Iraq, he was aged nine when he came to Australia after leaving a refugee camp with his family.

Sherwani managed to finish year 12 but by the time he reached his 20s had developed a reputation for violence which preceded him in the northern suburbs.

The young man known as Harry the Commo because of his Comanchero bikie connections didn’t generate as many headlines as some of his counterparts but he made waves.

Police at the scene of a shooting on January 10. Picture: David Crosling

The car used in the Sherwani hit was found torched in Fraser Rise. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

He is suspected of targeting some heavy players with gun crimes and arson, none of which resulted in charges.

Sherwani is reputed to have had a role in one near-fatal ambush out west which could have had dire consequences for some blameless bystanders.

His name has also rated a mention in relation to the case of hardworking dad Rachad Adra, killed when a drive-by attack at Thomastown resulted in him being fatally wounded while lying in bed.

Mr Adra was no gangster but the intended target would most likely have had some strong thoughts on what happened.

The wheel started to turn about two years ago.

Sherwani, already with some frightening foes, found himself on the hop after butting heads with a group of growing gangland stature.

In March last year, he dodged a bullet — in fact, 20 of them — in an ambush at Fraser Rise.

That was off the back of his close associate Robert Issa being fatally shot five months earlier in a Craigieburn car park hit.

Global guzzler’s grog gift

A senior cop won’t be far from the thoughts of his colleagues in 2025.

That’s because he came up with the unusual Christmas gift idea of printing a calendar documenting his international boozing exploits over the years.

Each month has a different photo of some exotic drink he’s chugged down in exotic locations around the world.

“It was a very thoughtful gift. It’s been very well-received,” one chuffed recipient said.

Bachar gave Tigers a rocket

Some jokes are only an option for certain people.

A prime example of that is a tale in The Bright Side, a book released a while back by Richmond premiership star Jack Riewoldt.

Riewoldt tells readers how his teammate, the great Bachar Houli, was justifiably portrayed as a model citizen but was a man who also possessed a wicked sense of humour.

Bachar Houli was a constant prankster at the Tigers. Picture: Michael Willson

Jack Riewoldt revealed details of one of Houli’s best jokes in his book The Bright Side. Picture: Michael Klein.

He said Houli constantly pulled pranks, one of them using a long thin box which was used to carry property to games interstate.

“It looked like a container for a rocket launcher,” Riewoldt recalled.

He said before a game in Perth one night, Houli snuck off with the container.

“Later, he came running back into the change rooms with the box propped up on his shoulder like a bazooka,” the book says.

“He had his shirt off and was yelling in Arabic. Half the team completely shat themselves.”

Not Houli, though. He was too busy laughing, Riewoldt wrote.

Undieworld criminal

Someone in forensics at Victoria Police may have just been handed a real stinker of a job.

That’s thanks to the latest case of Melbourne’s army of brain dead firebombers setting themselves alight.

The bloke concerned was trying to blow up a business in Doncaster when his clothing burst into flames, as some comical CCTV showed.

Victoria Police get some stinkers of jobs. Picture: Supplied

After dancing around like a human torch, he eventually ripped off his burning pants and undies, leaving the world to see his buttocks on the news that night after police released the footage.

It is to be hoped this fellow’s high level of fear didn’t cause him to have a bit of an accident before getting his gear off or someone at forensics is really going to wonder why they ever got that science degree.

Originally published as Deadline: One-time associate of slain gangster Hawre Sherwani keeping low profile after Caroline Springs execution