The Road To War: The moment that sparked Sydney’s 2000s gang war

As Sydney finds itself in the grips of another bloody crime feud, the moment that sparked the city’s first bloody gang war can be revealed.

A rocket launcher was to be fired on NSW Police by some of Sydney’s hardest criminals if the cops ever tried to arrest them during the city’s first Middle Eastern gang war in the 2000s, it can be revealed for the first time.

As Sydney finds itself in the grips of another bloody crime feud, an exclusive three-part video documentary by The Daily Telegraph – The Road to War – turns back the clock to where it all started, with the conflict between crime families the Razzaks and the Darwiches, who were the first to regularly carry out public executions and shootings on the city’s streets.

The Road To War: First episode released Monday, June 23

The Daily Telegraph's The Road To War

The Telegraph can also today reveal that “no go” zones for police were taken back by force, using tactics that could not be deployed by the cops today in the fight against crime gangs.

In the past month alone in Sydney, an innocent man has been killed outside his home, a woman has been shot while working behind the counter in a kebab shop, and a passenger in a car has been murdered on one of the city’s busiest roads on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

But the daylight hits and spraying of bullets in public places first became commonplace during the Razzak-Darwiche gang war from 2001 to 2009. Five people died and there were too many shootings and attempted murders to count.

After the arrest of the main players, it was discovered 10 rocket launchers had been stolen from the Australian Army and sold to Sydney criminals. Only one has since been recovered and senior police today say criminals are still insisting that they are out there.

Ballistics police examine bullet holes at home in Lawford Street, Greenacre in 2003.

The shooting in Greenacre, where 96 bullets were fired, that was the first Sydney knew of the 2000s gang war.

The first Sydney knew of the 2000s gang war was when 96 bullets were fired into a Greenacre home in 2003, killing an innocent 22-year-old woman, Mervat Hamka (nee Nemra), and Ziad Razzak, who was hiding from his gang rivals, the Darwiches.

The war was over drugs and bad marriages between the families, which each ran major Middle Eastern organised crime syndicates operating under the radar.

The trouble all started when Bilal Razzak robbed a drug dealer who worked for the Darwiches in early 2001.

From there, the violence exploded on the streets.

“It was unprecedented, there had been nothing like this before,” said retired Detective Superintendent Stuart Wilkins, who investigated the murders and shootings at the time.

“The underworld killers like Neddy Smith did their business quietly and often disposed of the bodies in sand dunes.

Abdul Darwiche.

Adnan Darwiche.

“This was in your face, confronting intimidation and violence against police and the public.

“They would shoot and leave bodies in carparks, outside restaurants and service stations, wherever. Whenever they decided to attack somebody, you would be shot and killed.”

Mr Wilkins, along with other senior officers, said Sydney was on the verge of losing control of the streets to gangs of Middle Eastern criminals, who had no fear of police.

“Union St in Auburn was pretty much a no-go zone,” he said. “If police went there they were met with bricks thrown at them.”

A hand-picked team of police was then chosen to execute some warrants in Union St. “There was some carnage, you could say,” Mr Wilkins recalled. “But we had to take back some of those areas in a way you couldn’t do today.”

After Bilal Razzak robbed the drug dealer, he was bashed by Adnan Darwiche and his enforcer, Khaled Taleb, at Bankstown Shopping Centre. Tit for tat drive-by shootings were then followed by attempted peace deals that all fell apart when brothers Adnan and Abdul Darwiche stormed a Bankstown unit and shot Razzak four times.

While in hospital, Razzak broke the criminal code and told the police about the feud and the shootings that the two clans had engaged in.

Ziad Razzak.

Abdul Razzak.

In 2003, Adnan Darwiche sold his drug business and went overseas. The Razzaks decided to get revenge with him out of the country.

Taleb, the feared Darwiche enforcer responsible for shooting at least eight people, was at a Bankstown Halal butcher shop in 2003 when two Razzak soldiers entered and shot him four times in the legs. The shooting infuriated Adnan Darwiche, who came back from overseas to unleash his fury.

A drive-by shooting at a Razzak family home in Condell Park saw 55 bullets shot at Frank Razzak, the father of Ziad Razzak.

Two days later, Ali Abdul-Razzak was shot to death in his car outside the Lakemba Mosque, the first fatality in the war. Retaliation was swift, with the Liverpool home of Ramzi Aouad, a Darwiche soldier, peppered with bullets hours later.

Then four gunmen opened fire on the rented home in Greenacre, where Ziad Razzak was hiding from the Darwiches. Mervat Hamka was shot dead while asleep in bed and Ziad Razzak died from a shot to the neck as he slept on the couch.

A burnt-out car is believed to have been used for the drive by shooting in 2003 that sparked Sydney’s gang war.

The three murders were quickly linked and the Razzak-Darwiche feud was now public knowledge.

Taleb fled to Lebanon after a falling out with his leader Adnan.

Then Ahmad Fahda, a Razzak associate, was shot 29 times at a petrol station in Punchbowl.

A month later Adnan and Abdul Darwiche were arrested and locked up in Goulburn Supermax for various charges.

The case against Adnan Darwiche was boosted when two detectives tracked down Taleb in Lebanon and convinced him to talk. Part of his deal was protection for himself, his family, and immunity for the people he shot. In 2006, Taleb flew back to Australia and was put into protection and gave evidence against Adnan Darwiche, Ramzi Aouad and Naseam El-Zayet and another man for multiple murders. Darwiche, Aouad and Elzayet are now serving life in prison without parole.

In 2009, the final chapter played out when Abdul Darwiche was shot in front of his family as he walked out of a restaurant at Bass Hill.

Mohammed Fahda was convicted of the murder, to avenge the killing of his brother Ahmed.

You can watch The Road To War episode one ‘Til Death Do Us Part from Monday, June 23 on The Daily Telegraph

Originally published as The Road To War: The moment that sparked Sydney’s 2000s gang war