One of two women shot dead in an ‘unprecedented’ gangland ‘assassination’ was the former girlfriend of a 200kg standover man and drug dealer – and also married to one of Sydney’s most notorious gang leaders.
Lamet Fadlallah, 48, was killed in a hail of bullets as she sat in a silver Toyota 4WD outside her house on Hendy St, Panania in Sydney’s west on Saturday night.
She had just had her hair done and was preparing for a night on the town with three other people also in the car – including hairdresser Amy Hazouri, 39, who also shot dead.
A 16-year-old girl and 20-year-old man miraculously managed to escape injury but are left ‘incredibly shaken’ after the ‘planned attack’.
CCTV captured another vehicle pulling up next to the Toyota followed by up to a dozen gunshots.
The Toyota then drove a kilometre away from the scene where the 20-year-old and 16-year-old called for help.
Lameta Fadlallah (pictured), 48, was one of two women killed in a hail of bullets
Amy Hazouri (pictured), 39, was in the same car and was also shot. She is believed to have been collateral damage
Police believe Ms Hazouri was collateral damage and that Ms Fadlallah was the intended target.
Ms Fadlallah is understood to have been associated with underworld figures for years and was at one point married to Shadi Derbas in the 1990s.
Derbas was a key member of the Telopea St Gang – coined after the Punchbowl, Western Sydney street which rose to infamy between 1998 and 2000 as a hornets’ nest of Middle Eastern gang activity.
Fadlallah’s former boyfriend Halel Safi (pictured) was a notorious standover man
More recently Ms Fadlallah was the long term girlfriend of underworld figure Helal Safi – who was found dead in a Sydney apartment in January 2021 after suffering a heart attack.
Bizarrely, the crime kingpins swapped partners with Safi’s former lover Hilal going on to marry Derbas.
Detectives are investigating the links between the pair and other criminals Ms Fadlalla could have associated with – and whether she had information that others wanted to keep silent.
‘She was right into the life. She would carry the guns for the boys, give alibis when needed and right up till she was killed mixing with gangsters,’ an underworld source who new Ms Fadlallah told the Daily Telegraph said.
‘Lam was playing with the big boys and maybe knew too much.
‘She always thought she was smart but this is the most dangerous Sydney has ever been. Killing women so openly is next level.’
Safi, 45, was arrested his October 2020 (pictured) on weapons charges
Her former husband Safi, at 45-years-old and weighing 200kg, was found dead in his Stapleton Street, Pendle Hill unit after a neighbour was heard shouting for help around 4am.
He had been released from prison just weeks earlier, with police locating drug paraphernalia in the unit.
The ‘major’ gangland player had close links to criminals and was feared among Sydney’s underworld.
The former bikie and Kings Cross bouncer once survived 42 stab wounds while in jail in 2010.
The injuries put him in a coma for five months, with police saying he only survived due to his size.
Safi (pictured) was a ‘major’ underworld player and survived 42 stab wounds in jail in 2010
Det Insp. Doherty said called Saturday’s shooting ‘unprecedented’ in that an ‘unwritten law’ among Sydney’s underworld that women and families were off-limits had been broken.
He said police would stop at nothing to catch the perpetrators.
‘This is an appalling attack on two women. They have lost their lives. It was a planned murder, an assassination really, and it’s happened in a public street in Sydney,’ he said.
‘It’s unacceptable by any standards. It’s unprecedented really. And we are determined to get the answers for the family.’
‘They don’t discriminate if you’re male or female. Every rule book has been thrown out, and that is concerning.’
A 20-year-old driver managed to drive a kilometre from the shooting after the gunman opened fire on their vehicle and killed two women (pictured: Lamet Fadlallah)
Ms Hazouri’s (pictured) co-workers posted a touching tribute to the much loved hairdresser on Sunday
Forensic police work at the cordoned off crime scene on Sunday morning (pictured)
The crime scene in Sydney’s inner south-west (pictured) is one of a number following the shooting on Saturday night
One witness recounted seeing three cars tearing down the street after the shooting and then police arriving.
‘The first police car turned up, the two guys got out, everything calmed down,’ he said.
‘Straightaway, everything calmed own. These two policemen went to work on the lady, and they got out of the car, and they worked so hard on her.’
Three burnt out cars were found in surrounding suburbs which are all now undergoing forensic examination.
A Mercedes was found in Wattle Grove, another Mercedes in Yagoona, and another burnt shell of a car was found in Revesby.
Panania and adjacent Revesby are in the heart of an ongoing gangland war in Sydney.
Detectives believe the shooting was targeted with three burnt out luxury vehicles found nearby (pictured)
‘We should be all completely appalled that two women have lost their lives in an unprecedented attack. Whether it is organised crime links or not, that is part of the investigation were looking it,’ Mr Doherty said.
‘There’s no suggestion of any links to the current conflict so we are treating this on its own merits and the motive is still unclear. We need that information.’
Multiple crime scenes have been established throughout the area with the Homicide Squad and local area command working together to investigate.
Any person with information, dashcam or CCTV is urged to contact police.
Burn out cars like ones found on Saturday night (pictured) are a common method used un underworld hits, police have previously confirmed
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