Foreign crime groups are setting up headquarters in Sydney because they do not ‘fear’ Australian police.
Mexican drug cartels, Nigerian gangsters, Armenian cocaine dealers, Italian mafia and Chinese syndicates are all planting their roots in the New South Wales capital city, according to law enforcement veterans.
The gangs are setting up shop in Sydney because they have no respect for the Australian police, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Italian gang members have based operations in Sydney’s west for years. Pictured: Pasquale Barbaro, who was gunned down in an execution-style murder outside his home in Earlwood
With the arrival of more and more gangs, the city is home to more drugs and gang-related crimes than ever before, according to the publication.
NSW Police acting Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said Australia was ‘one of the most lucrative’ countries for drug sales in the world due to Australians’ willingness to pay top dollar.
Former police deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas said it was ‘now undeniable that Australia is on the radar and is a desirable location for a diverse range of criminal groupings from Mexicans and South American cartels to Russians’.
‘It is also perfectly clear now that crime groups do not recognise, nor are they daunted by, borders or law enforcement,’ he told the publication.
‘Put simply, many do not fear Australian police or many other law enforcement agencies.’
Assaad, 29, was gunned down in front of his 12-year-old nephew in Sydney’s south-west just months earlier in October of the same year
A Vietnamese woman was arrested by police investigating a money laundering syndicate in Sydney’s west on Monday.
Police also seized more than $50,000 in cash, and electronic devices allegedly used to aid gang-related crimes.
Jamie Gao was murdered during a drug deal in 2016. He talked about becoming a gangster before his death
An Armenian drug dealer reportedly faked his own death in Russia to avoid being arrested, but continued to operate a business brokering fake passports and importing cocaine into Sydney.
Italian gang members have based operations in Sydney’s west for years.
Pasquale Barbaro, 35, lost his life to suspected gang wars in 2016.
Barbaro, was gunned down in an execution-style murder outside his home in Earlwood.
The underworld figure was a key suspect in the fatal drive-by shooting of gangland hitman Hamad Assaad.
Assaad, 29, was gunned down in front of his 12-year-old nephew in Sydney’s south-west just months earlier in October of the same year.
Assaad was believed to be the shooter who pulled out a gun and unleashed a hail of bullets on Barbaro in 2015 prompting suspicions his murder was a tit-for-tat retaliation attack.
Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi, a key player in a violent feud between the Comancheros and rival gang the Hells Angels, was also killed in a brazen daylight shooting.
Hawi was leaving a Fitness First gym in Rockdale in February this year when he was shot multiple times in the face.
Shaking the bikie underworld, Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi (pictured) was killed in a brazen daylight shooting when he left a Fitness First gym in Rockdale
Before Hawi’s execution, violent bikie gangs terrorised Sydney streets for years.
Drive by shootings, bashings, fire bombings and car thefts have been ongoing in recent years of conflict between outlaw groups Comancheros and the Hells Angels.
Retired assistant police commissioner Ken ‘Slasher’ McKay warned it was Lebanese crime gangs who were best known for harbouring grudges.
‘Both in the Christian and Islamic Middle Eastern families they hold onto old grudges and pass them down through generations so generational change has no impact,’ he said.
Commissioner McKay said grudges were never forgotten because younger relatives took over when they came into power.
Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi, a key player in a violent feud between the Comancheros and rival gang the Hells Angels, was also killed in a brazen daylight shooting in February this year
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