{"id":74414,"date":"2026-08-18T04:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T04:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/74414\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T04:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T04:00:15","slug":"fears-shooting-of-crime-family-patriarch-fadi-haddara-could-fuel-further-underworld-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/74414\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears shooting of crime family patriarch Fadi Haddara could fuel further underworld violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The attempted assassination of one of Melbourne’s most notorious crime family patriarchs has sparked fears of an escalation in the city’s gangland war.<\/p>\n

Fadi Haddara had just pulled into the driveway of his home at Altona North, in Melbourne’s western suburbs, on Sunday evening when he was ambushed and shot multiple times.<\/p>\n

The 48 year old was found by a family member lying in a pool of blood next to his BMW before being taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

\"police<\/p>\n

Fadi Haddara was found in a pool of blood in his driveway in Altona North on Sunday evening. (ABC News: Tara Whitchurch)<\/p>\n

He remains in a critical but stable condition.<\/p>\n

Underworld sources now fear the attack could be a catalyst for more violence in a bloody battle for turf that has shown no signs of abating.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately it’s a big war that won’t stop,” one source said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Detective Inspector Adam Tilley from the Armed Crime Squad said police had not identified any suspects.<\/p>\n

“Everything is on the table and everything will be fully explored,” Inspector Tilley said.<\/p>\n

\"Fadi<\/p>\n

Fadi Haddara is believed to have been a major player in Australia’s illicit tobacco market until 2023, when Hamad launched a hostile takeover. (AAP: James Ross)<\/p>\n

But finding out who is behind the attempt on Haddara’s life will be a challenge for investigators as the crime patriarch has a long list of enemies \u0605\u2014 among them, jailed kingpin Kazem Hamad.<\/p>\n

The motivation for Sunday’s attempted hit is yet to be made clear, but underworld sources said it was likely Hamad’s group \u2014 known as “The Commission” \u2014 throwing its weight around and sending a message to rivals.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to share with the ABC? Contact Olivia Jenkins at jenkins.olivia@abc.net.au<\/a>, oliviajenkins98@protonmail.com<\/a> via Signal at @oliviajenkins.22<\/a>. If you’re sharing sensitive information, read our tips on how to contact us confidentially<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A long-running conflict<\/p>\n

Haddara is believed to have been a major player in Australia’s illicit tobacco market until 2023, when Hamad launched a hostile takeover, violently striking at his enemies.<\/p>\n

Hamad, who in that year was deported to his native Iraq for drug trafficking, launched a campaign of terror from afar.<\/p>\n

A series of firebombings at Haddara-owned and aligned businesses took place before the two warring clans settled on an uneasy truce, leaving Hamad a clear path to seize control of the market.<\/p>\n

\"Kazem<\/p>\n

Hamad was sentenced to life in prison by an Iraqi court after being convicted of drug trafficking. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n

Over the next three years, Hamad and his crew implemented a new tax on tobacco retailers \u2014 between $10,000 and $25,000 a week \u2014 who also had to sell cigarettes smuggled from the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Hamad was this year sentenced to life in an Iraqi prison for drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the conflict has been punctuated by a number of high-profile killings, including the shooting death of former bikie Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim last year.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Arson attacks on tobacco shops in Melbourne have become common in recent years. (ABC News: Costa Haritos)<\/p>\n

Abdulrahim, who was aligned with Haddara, was a bitter enemy of Hamad who blamed him for the death of another man, Kadir Ors, who was shot to death by jailed kingpin George Marrogi.<\/p>\n

There were two unsuccessful attempts on Abdulrahim’s life before he was killed last year.<\/p>\n

The execution of Melbourne’s most-hunted man<\/a><\/p>\n

Another deadly shooting in 2016 sparked a feud between two underworld figures that would span a decade. Sources believe it may be what led to the killing of Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim.<\/p>\n

In 2022, he was shot eight times while leaving a family funeral at Fawkner cemetery and drove himself to a police station for safety.<\/p>\n

Two years later, gunmen fired 17 shots outside his home before he fled.<\/p>\n

Ali al-Huseini, the man believed to be behind the first attempt on Abdulrahim’s life, fled Australia days after the attempted assassination.<\/p>\n

He is now believed to be a senior shot-caller within Hamad’s syndicate.<\/p>\n

Attack could be the start of a ‘big change of events’<\/p>\n

On Monday, police said they would do everything they could to “prevent, disrupt and stop” an escalation in activity.<\/p>\n

“We hope this isn’t the start of any ongoing feud,” Inspector Tilley said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A neighbour told ABC they heard two large bangs on the night of the shooting.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tara Whitchurch)<\/p>\n

One senior law enforcement source told the ABC the attempted hit on Haddara was likely a “power move” from an enemy.<\/p>\n

“Someone trying to show who’s boss within,” the source said.<\/p>\n

Late on Monday, another underworld source speculated that Haddara must have again come into conflict with Hamad’s group.<\/p>\n

Another told the ABC the ambush was unlikely to go unchallenged in the underworld, where perceptions of strength are significant.<\/p>\n

“Surely this starts a big change of events. It makes them look weak,” they said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The attempted assassination of one of Melbourne’s most notorious crime family patriarchs has sparked fears of an escalation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[27563,104212,10650,108019,6260,108018,66890,260,849,13607,1559,43541,108017,2183,23305,895,2481],"class_list":["post-74414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-altona-north","tag-fadi-haddara","tag-gangland","tag-george-marrogi","tag-illegal-tobacco","tag-kadir-ors","tag-kazem-hamad","tag-melbourne","tag-organised-crime","tag-sam-abdulrahim","tag-shooting","tag-the-commission","tag-the-punisher","tag-tobacco","tag-tobacco-shop-fires","tag-tobacco-wars","tag-western-suburbs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}