A second man has been charged over his alleged role in the murder of underworld boss Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad in Sydney's south-west earlier this year.
Ahmad, 39, was leaving a friend's house at Greenacre when he was peppered with bullets before his killers fled on April 27.
A 49-year-old man was charged over his alleged involvement in the murder last month and now NSW Police have also charged Jason Laria, 37, for his alleged role in planning the murder.
Mr Laria was arrested yesterday and was later charged with a range of offences including accessory after the fact to murder, knowingly or recklessly directing a criminal group, and taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug.
He was refused bail to appear in Fairfield Local Court today and his lawyers did not apply for his release.
The matter was adjourned until August.
Although two men have now been charged over the planning of Ahmad's murder, police are yet to determine who actually fired at him.
Investigators have claimed Ahmad — once known as "Mr Big" — knew he had a target on his back, but continued to go about his life as normal.
His murder investigation is part of ongoing inquiries by Task Force Erebus into several fatal shootings and criminal activities by organised crime networks across Sydney.
There's been a major escalation of Sydney's gangland wars this year and months ago the head of Task Force Erebus, Detective chief superintendent Darren Bennett, promised to "break the back" of the wave of violent crimes.
Ahmad was a prominent figure in Sydney's underworld and had a long list of enemies.
He previously served five years for the manslaughter of gangland rival Safwan Charbaji in 2016.
"His life was always in danger," NSW homicide squad boss Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty previously said.
"He was going to end up in a slab in the morgue or he was going to end up back in jail in a cell."
Police had warned Ahmad numerous times that his life was in danger and there were many people who wanted to harm him.
He was locked in a feud with the Alameddine crime network — one side of a bloody gang war with rivals the Hamzys — and it's believed the Alameddines had planned to ambush Ahmad at Rushcutters Bay Park last year.
