A calculated killer is on the run after a ‘big, big fish’ of Sydney’s underworld gangland war was gunned down while visiting an associate in city’s south-west.
Police sources said Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad, also known as Mr Big, had no obvious connection to Greenacre, where he took his last breath on Wednesday night.
He had more enemies than friends and detectives aren’t shocked Ahmad was gunned down, after he repeatedly failed to heed their warnings to lay low following his release from jail in November last year.
It’s understood he had a $1million bounty on his head.
But there are now suspicions that Ahmad may have been betrayed by someone he trusted.
‘He wasn’t supposed to be here,’ one police source told Daily Mail Australia. ‘Whoever did this was given a heads up that they could find him here.’
Homicide Squad commander Danny Doherty said: ‘It was a meticulous assassination … they weren’t going to muck around with this one.’
Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was gunned down while visiting an associate in Sydney’s south-west. Pictured are police trying to revive the underworld figure
A series of bullet holes could be seen in the side of a white Toyota Hilux that was towed away in Greencare on Thursday morning
Police are investigating whether two burnt out luxury cars (one pictured) found near the scene are linked to the shooting death of Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad
Forensic officers paid particular attention to this white FWD, swabbing for prints and taking photos
Detectives fear Sydney’s underworld is set to explode in a series of tit for tat reprisals after kingpin Mr Big Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was gunned down in a suburban street
When Ahmad came out of the two storey home at the end of the street, he was immediately set upon and fell to the ground in a hail of bullets.
Detectives have described the assassination as ‘incredibly brazen and callous’.
Seven cars have since been taken from the scene, including a white ute with five bullet holes.
While it’s only very early in the investigation, police were able to obtain several Firearm Prohibition Orders late on Wednesday and on Thursday.
This allowed them to launch a targeted raid on several addresses linked to known underworld figures.
It’s unclear if they found anything of interest in the coordinated raids on Thursday morning.
Pictured: Forensic officer dusting for finger prints on a white FWD at the crime scene
Seven cars in total have so far been towed from the crime scene, including this blue one
Narelle Crescent in Greenacre remained cordoned off by police on Thursday morning after underworld kingpin Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was shot dead in a hail of bullets
It’s still not entirely clear how Ahmad fits into the equation, but Homicide Squad boss Danny Doherty noted he had a lot of enemies
The two burnt out luxury cars found near the scene – a Porsche and a BMW – were both stolen.
There are mounting fears of a retaliatory attack as the list of victims in Sydney’s underworld war soars to 17 in 18 months.
‘You’d think the Hamze’s would call it,’ the source said. ‘There aren’t too many left.’
Earlier, a police officer explained how the Alameddine crime network were ‘picking the Hamze’s off like flies’.
It’s still not entirely clear how Ahmad fits into the equation, but Homicide Squad boss Danny Doherty noted he had a lot of enemies.
Just last October, Ahmad dodged another attempt on his life when he was tipped off about a planned hit on him in broad daylight at a park at Rushcutters Bay.
A burnt-out Porsche 4WD was found in Greenacre shortly after the shooting (pictured)
Firefighters contained the blaze (pictured) and it is unconfirmed if the two incidents are linked
‘There is a long list of people that would like to see or do harm to rally and someone last night managed to do so,’ Detective Superintendent Doherty said.
‘Even up until last week police were executing firearm prohibition orders on associates, warning them that by being associated with him they’re in danger.
‘He’d (also) been warned in the past that he was a marked man but… he didn’t heed those warnings.
‘(This is) the consequences of him continuing on in the Bankstown area of going about his normal business as if he hadn’t care in the world, but he was in imminent danger and it was warning that had been given to him.’
Ahmad had very little concern about any perceived danger to his life and ‘didn’t want to hide’, police say.
A white Hilux ute was peppered with bullets (pictured) on the passenger side of the vehicle
Bystanders gather in the street (pictured) after word of the shooting spread and hoards of police and emergency services vehicles arrived
Distressed associates of Ahmad were involved in a tense exchange with police when they arrived at the scene on Thursday morning
Police spent Thursday morning speaking to neighbours in the cordoned-off street as a manhunt for the gunman was launched
It’s understood Ahmad had connections with the Hamze and Alameddine wars but was also involved in a separate organised crime network.
‘He was a big, big fish,’ one cop said. ‘This is pretty significant in terms of his family and his associates.’
Regardless, police aren’t expecting the violence to subside any time soon.
‘Emotions are running high and when these boys act with their emotions it doesn’t always end well… I think we’re in for a long couple of days.’
Ahmad had only recently been released from prison after serving five years for the manslaughter of another underworld figure at a Sydney scrap yard in 2016.
All morning on Thursday friends and family of the deceased were driving past the scene or trying to get inside.
Two men, claiming to be family, were eventually let in after a standoff with police.
They refused to speak with media, insisting they knew nothing about the attack or underworld threats.
While some neighbours noted it wasn’t unusual for crime and gang activity in Greenacre, several others said it’d never been this close to home before.
Officers speak to bystanders after the shooting in Sydney’s west on Wednesday (pictured)
Multiple police vehicles attend the scene at Greenacre, Sydney (pictured) after a man was killed in a hail of bullets
Narelle Crescent in Greenacre has been blocked off from the public since Wednesday night, with police ushering neighbours in and out by foot.
A sniffer dog was on the scene going from door to door in the cul-de-sac looking for clues as police launch a major investigation into the assassination.
‘I thought I heard something but I wasn’t sure,’ one neighbour, 34-year-old Zarif, told Daily Mail Australia.
‘When I came out to check it was pandemonium. Police, all my neighbours, we were all on the street.’
Since 2020, NSW Police have focused considerable resources on a gangland war between the Alameddine and Hamzy groups which has seen at least seven people killed.
Police are scouring multiple crime scenes, including the street where Ahmad was gunned down on Wednesday night
After a number of arrests and top-level Alameddine enforcer Masood Zakaria fleeing overseas the war appeared to have quietened.
But Ahmad’s death could ignite a new blood-feud police will have to contend with.
Police sources previously told Daily Mail Australia the organisations target vulnerable teenagers from an early age, luring them into the underworld with the promise of cash, infamy and a sense of belonging.
‘They get them young,’ the source said.
‘These kids are usually the ones stealing the cars, pushing the drugs. It’s insidious.’
It’s alleged the chosen youths have ‘stealing cars down to an art’ and hand them over to the senior members accused of carrying out or soliciting hits on their enemies.
Ahmed being arrested by police in 2016 after touching down in Sydney airport from Lebanon where he fled in the aftermath the gunfight at a smash repair business
THE TIMELINE OF SYDNEY’S BLOODY GANGLAND WAR
MAY 2007 – Prison officers find notes in Bassam Hamzy’s Lithgow jail cell referring to the Brothers 4 Life bikie gang for the first time
OCTOBER 2012 – Tensions between the Bankstown and Blacktown chapters of B4L blow up with the shooting of Yehye Amood, 27 and Bassim Hijazi. Amood is killed but Hijazi survives and flees to Lebanon
MARCH 9, 2013 – Bassam Hamzy’s aunt Maha Hamze is shot eight times in the legs, but survives, in a reprisal attack for her son Ashkan Rajabi demanding money from another gang member’s mother
JULY 2013 – Ashkan Rajabi and Bilal Hamze survive an assassination attempt in Wenworthville
OCTOBER 29, 2013 – Mahmoud Hamzy – cousin of Bassim Hamzy – shot dead in Revesby Heights. Five B4L members were later charged with the murder
NOVEMBER 3, 2013 – B4L member Michael Odisho shot but survives
NOVEMBER 4, 2013 – Masood Zakaria – an Alameddine associate – survives shooting attempt but his 13 year old sister is injured by shotgun pellets
DECEMBER 16, 2013 – Standover man Joe Antoun shot dead in Strathfield
JANUARY 1, 2014 – Farhad Qaumi shot at as his yacht pulls into Rose Bay Marina in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs (pictured) after the NYE fireworks
DECEMBER 11, 2014 – Bassam Hamzy’s mother Lola Hamzy was shot through her front door in Auburn
APRIL 9, 2016 – Safwan Charbaji – a relative of Alameddine associates – shot dead outside a smash repair shop in Condell Park
APRIL 29. 2016 – Wally Ahmad – associate of the Hamzy family – shot dead in Bankstown
OCTOBER 25, 2016 – Hamad Assad executed in Georges Hall. Assad was suspected of killing Ahmad
MARCH 20, 2017 – Hell’s Angel bikie Kemel Barakat is shot dead at home in Mortdale
MARCH 28, 2017 – Emed Sleiman is shot dead in his car park in Auburn. He was suspected of killing Barakat
OCTOBER 4, 2020 – Shaylin Zreika – an associate of the Alameddines – is beaten with a metal bar in a street fight in Strathfield
OCTOBER 18, 2020 – Rafat Alameddine’s former home is shot up in a drive-by shooting
OCTOBER 19, 2020 – Mejid Hamzy is shot dead in Condell Park
JANUARY 30, 2021 – Mustafa Naaman is shot dead in Hurstville in a suspected mistaken identity attack on Ibrahem Hamze
JANUARY 30, 2021 – Mejed Derbas is shot dead in Smithfield
FEBRUARY 15, 2021 – Bilal Hamze’s mother Maha Hamze comes under gunfire again in another drive-by shooting at her home in Auburn
MARCH 12, 2021 – A home linked to the Alameddine family in Guildford is shot up
JUNE 17, 2021 – Bilal Hamze is shot dead outside Mr Wong’s restaurant in Sydney’s CBD
JUNE 18, 2021 – Bilal Hamze was killed in a “brutal, execution-style murder” in Sydney’s CBD
AUGUST 6, 2021 – Alameddine low-level associate Shady Kanj is shot in Chester Hill and found dead by police in Guildford
AUGUST 14, 2021 – Police foil alleged gangland hit on Ibrahem Hamze when they spot stolen Mercedes in North Sydney
OCTOBER 20, 2021 – Salim and Toufik Hamze are gunned down outside their home in Guildford
NOVEMBER 10, 2021 – Drive-by shooting at Guildford home of Alameddine associate. No-one is hurt
JANUARY 6, 2022 – Brother of Bassam Hamzy, Ghassan Amoun, is shot dead at 35 years of age in a brazen daylight execution as he sat in a BMW outside an apartment building in Western Sydney.
APRIL, 4, 2022 – ‘Mr Big’ is gunned down in a hail of bullets – after being warned by police that he had a million-dollar bounty on his head for his role in deadly shooting in Greenacre.
Police at the scene of the double murder of Salim and Toufik Hamze in Guildford
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