A "code of silence" continues to frustrate police as the number of unsolved gangland murders in Sydney over the past two years rises to more than a dozen.
The killing of two women in a targeted shooting in Sydney's south-west at the weekend "will not be tolerated", and officers are "throwing all resources" at the investigation, NSW Police Minister Paul Toole said.
Mr Toole, however, acknowledged many of the recent killings linked to organised crime in Sydney remain unsolved months or years after they were committed.
"What we are seeing though is that these people are behind the scenes," he said.
"There are families that are involved, and they are actually going through a code of silence.
"Nobody's talking."
The latest victims — Lametta Fadlallah, the former wife of a gangster, and hairdresser Amy Hazouri — take the body count to at least 15 since August 2020.
Of those alleged murders, including two double slayings, police have only pressed charges over two incidents.
They are the alleged hit on crime kingpin Mejid Hamzy in October 2020, and the alleged ambush of underworld figure Mahmoud "Brownie" Ahmad in April this year.
In total, six men have been charged with various roles across the two alleged murders, including two men police allege were the gunmen who shot Hamzy dead.
The recent deaths of Ms Fadlallah and Ms Hazouri aside, here are the fatal shootings police are still trying to solve:
- Fares Abounader: Former Comanchero shot outside his Panania home on August 29, 2020
- Mejed Derbas: Found shot and dead inside a burning car in Smithfield on January 30, 2021
- Mustafa Naaman: Shot leaving Hurstville Entertainment Centre on January 31, 2021
- Bilal Hamze: Gang boss killed outside Kid Kyoto in Sydney CBD on June 17, 2021
- Shady Kanj: Low-level Alameddine figure shot dead in Chester Hill on August 6, 2021
- Salim and Toufik Hamze: father and son murdered in Guildford on October 20, 2021
- Ghassan Amoun: Bassam Hamzy's brother gunned down in Wentworthville, January 5, 2022
- Omar Zahed: Bikie associate murdered inside an Auburn gym on May 10, 2022. His brother, Tarek, was shot 10 times but survived
- Rami Iskander: Shot outside his Belmore home on May 14, 2022
- Yusuf Nazlioglu: Former Lone Wolf Bikie died in hospital after being ambushed in Rhodes on June 27, 2022
The deaths of Ms Fadlallah, 48, and Ms Hazouri, 39, have sparked particular outrage among police and the community alike.
Lebanese-born Ms Hazouri became the third victim police have openly stated was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The first was expectant father Mustafa Naaman, shot dead leaving a boxing match in Hurstville in January 2021 in a case of mistaken identity.
Second was Toufik Hamze, a tradesman, who was killed alongside his teenage gangster son Salim last October.
Police are investigating if Ms Fadlallah may have been the intended target of the latest shooting due to her underworld links, according to Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty.
But documents tendered to Bankstown Local Court reveal Ms Fadlallah had a limited record herself.
She was convicted in February of mid-range drink-driving but had no criminal history listed in prosecution documents.
There have been a series of arrests in relation to a duo of allegedly unsuccessful murder plots, which police say were planned by rivals of the Alameddine and Hamzy crime clans.
Ibrahem Hamze, the cousin of gang leader Bassam Hamzy, is in custody facing charges of solicit to murder over an alleged botched shooting at a Western Sydney gym.
Police say Hamze himself was the target of a foiled assassination bid in August 2021 — alleged Alameddine associate Joseph Vokai is one of three men charged in the wake of that incident.
The homicide and organised crime squads have established several strike forces to dismantle Sydney's crime networks, under the umbrella of Taskforce Erebus.
More than 250 people have been arrested on more than 800 charges since a major crackdown began after the consistent killings late last year.
