The New South Wales police minister says she will not accept that gangland crime is \u201cout of control\u201d, in the wake of two shooting deaths of seemingly innocent men in as many days. <\/p>\n
Instead, she says critics were \u201ckidding themselves\u201d if they thought police were not doing enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not accept that this is out of control because, as I said, we will not surrender our streets to organised crime gangs. Not now, not ever,\u201d Police Minister Yasmin Catley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe New South Wales Police are working around the clock to address these issues. And they\u2019re not going to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described the way police locked up offenders only for them to be swiftly replaced with new young criminals as like a game of \u201cWhack-A-Mole\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sydney has been rocked by two fatal shootings this week, claiming the lives of Marco Tapia and Joshua MacDonald, with both victims believed by police to be innocent parties killed in cases of mistaken identity.<\/p>\n
Taskforce Falcon, the squad trying to break the back of Sydney\u2019s gang violence, has urged law-abiding citizens to stay \u201cvigilant\u201d as the city reels from the two murders.<\/p>\n
Multiple former and current police officers on Thursday spoke on how rookie hitmen were taking on underworld murder plots at \u201cbottom price rates\u201d and again causing devastation by killing the wrong people.<\/p>\n
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the murder of two innocent people was \u201csomething that, as an organisation, we will never tolerate\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s not something the community has to stand for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said Taskforce Falcon had made 800 arrests in 12 months and described the challenge they faced in stopping the cycle of retaliatory violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem with organised crime at the moment is \u2026 that we know that those that are organising it are recruiting young people, inexperienced people, using encrypted communications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the large majority of these organised crime offences are being orchestrated from overseas. But we know that there are people onshore who are facilitating and putting together the groups that are doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Commissioner said he understood questions over whether police had lost control, but said the number of shootings \u201cdemonstrates that there is a complete lack of respect by those that want to engage in organised crime\u201d.<\/p>\n
Police are under huge pressure to get a grip, and Taskforce Falcon Commander Detective Superintendent Jason Box told 2GB all resources \u201cwere being allocated to solve this\u201d.<\/p>\n
Supt Box said there had been eight innocent people killed in alleged underworld shootings since 2021 and police had arrested suspects in six of those cases. <\/p>\n
But he urged civilians to \u201cbe vigilant\u201d amid the current wave of violence, saying \u201cwe need all the assistance that we can get as well\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask that people be vigilant if they see a car that shouldn\u2019t be in their street. Let us know. If they see people sitting in a car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us know if they see people driving at night. Anything unusual, do not hesitate to contact us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Radio host Mark Levy asked if Supt Box\u2019s message to be \u201cvigilant\u201d meant that regular people should be \u201con edge\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it sound like \u2026 (it\u2019s) average people who need to be concerned or worried about what\u2019s happening in our city,\u201d he put to the senior cop.<\/p>\n
Supt Box replied: \u201cThere\u2019s obviously concern when these acts are occurring\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said acts of violence were being ordered by organised crime figures overseas and \u201cmost of them\u201d were being committed by \u201cjuveniles or young men \u2026 (who) are reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes after university student Mr Tapia, 23, was shot in his own bed at his family home in Glen Alpine early on Tuesday morning when a group of men burst into his bedroom.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday afternoon, Mr MacDonald, 40, was killed in a driveby shooting in Merrylands West soon after arriving at an associate\u2019s home where two children were also present.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Simon Glasser said MacDonald did not feature in any police holdings and was shot as he walked to the front door of the Bruce St home whose residents were well-known for connections to organised crime.<\/p>\n
Both incidents followed the non-fatal shooting of another man, related to members of the Alameddine crime clan, during a home invasion in Guildford on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Police are investigating if the man, Emad Alameddine, was targeted purely due to his last name, and he himself is not known to have any involvement in the underworld.<\/p>\n
It came amid a feud between the Alameddines and rival network the Coconut Cartel, with senior figures in both groups openly goading each other on social media.<\/p>\n
Many people arrested by gangland police in connection with recent underworld shootings have been teenagers or even underage, as crime networks outsource crimes to younger offenders via encrypted chats likened to an Airtasker for crime.<\/p>\n
Other shocking incidents of alleged mistaken identity murders include the kidnapping and shooting of 85-year-old widower Chris Baghsarian.<\/p>\n
Mr Baghsarian was taken from his home and his body dumped in bushland in February, with police alleging the offenders had believed him to be someone else.<\/p>\n
Another was the alleged shooting of young tradie John Versace, 23, gunned down outside his home in Sydney\u2019s southwest last year, a man police said had no criminal links.<\/p>\n
Former NSW Police detective Peter Moroney said on Thursday the shocking events of this week showed Sydney\u2019s gangland scene of 2026 was \u201cnot the underworld that we\u2019ve known\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go back ten, 15 years. If we looked at the old traditional, Italian mafia-style crime or traditional organised crime, there was a code,\u201d he told the Today show.<\/p>\n
\u201cFast forward to what we have now between allegedly the Alameddines and the Coconut Cartel is that we have guns for hire being done through apps at probably, to be honest, bottom price rates to be able to get it done and get it done very quickly. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to bring inexperience. That\u2019s going to bring haste. And what that does now do is cause a greater concern to us in the community of being targeted. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhereas in days gone by, there was generally that safety net that if we weren\u2019t involved directly in that crime generally, then we wouldn\u2019t be targeted. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat seems off the board now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former cop Vincent Hurley, now a criminologist at Macquarie University, said Sydney had entered an era of \u201cdisorganised crime\u201d where chaos reigned.<\/p>\n
An organised crime detective for 23 years, Mr Hurley said where once crime syndicates would carry out assassinations themselves, such acts were now being \u201cbrokered\u201d out for a pittance, often to \u201ckids\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because they\u2019re outsourcing it now to the kids, the kids do not have the same vested interest as the organised crime syndicate does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t have the same, for want of a better phrase, \u2018due diligence\u2019 that once organised crime syndicates would have had.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese kids \u2013 you know a 14, 15, 16, 17-year-old kid \u2013 who\u2019s offered $5000, they\u2019re going to take that money.\u201d<\/p>\n
An alleged senior member of the Coconut Cartel, Iziah Utai, has been providing a running commentary on events in Sydney via social media from his undisclosed location overseas.<\/p>\n
Utai, who is wanted for offences related to an alleged May 2025 murder in Sydney, posted a video of him dancing with a gun hours after the non-fatal shooting of Emad Alameddine.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, he reacted to the death of Mr Tapia by sharing a post reading: \u201cPopped the wrong person, didn\u2019t even get the right house\u201d.<\/p>\n
The following day he shared another post about the incident captioned \u201cinnocent victim\u201d and \u201cRIP Marco\u201d, alongside a passage from the Koran.<\/p>\n
Utai has previously posted direct references to well-known members or associates of the Alameddines, including by superimposing their heads on targets at a gun range.<\/p>\n
Asked how police stop violence allegedly being planned overseas and carried out by random criminals here, Mr Hurley said bluntly \u201cyou can\u2019t\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy to say it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n