Monday 16 May 2022 05:49 PM Last photo of slain gangsters Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad and nephew Rami Iskander ... trends now
Crime kingpin Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad was seen smiling alongside his favourite nephew, fellow gangster Rami Iskander, while out to dinner just months before both men were shot dead.
The pair appeared relaxed as they sat elbow-to-elbow posing for a photo at a restaurant in Sydney earlier this year.
In the picture, which has been exclusively obtained by Daily Mail Australia, the men looked as if they had not a care in the world.
But in truth, the seemingly cheerful dinner had a chilling undercurrent in play, with Ahmad having been released from prison last November to warnings by anti-gang squad police that he was in grave danger of being killed.
Within months of the happy snap being taken both would be killed in execution-style murders just 17 days apart in what is believed to be a bloody gang drug war gripping southwestern Sydney.
Slain gangsters Rami Iskander, 23, (pictured left) and his uncle, kingpin Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad (right) dine together at an Asian restaurant in Sydney - just months before they were gunned down in gangland executions
Relatives hold each other in grief after the latest shooting of Rami Iskander in the early hours of last Saturday morning
Distressing scene of Raptor Squad police trying to revive Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad in a Greenacre street after he was gunned down in April
Underworld 'Mr Big' Ahmad, 39, was gunned down in Greenacre outside a home on Narelle Crescent in April.
Iskander, 23, was shot in front of his pregnant wife and two-year-old child last Saturday morning, just five days after two brothers were felled in a hail of bullets at a Sydney gym, with his murder forcing NSW Police to form a 'super taskforce'.
The bloody conflict has claimed 13 lives in 18 months, and the state opposition claims there have been at least 35 major violent incidents involving gangs in NSW since June 2020.
Iskander's other uncle and Mahmoud's brother was drug boss Walid 'Wally' Ahmad, who was gunned down in 2016 while sitting at a busy cafe at a Bankstown shopping mall.
Brownie Ahmad had fled to Lebanon after killing gangland rival, Safwan Charbaji in 2016, and was arrested on his return, allegedly to see his newborn child, and pleaded guilty to manslaughter for which he served five years' prison.
Released from jail after six months, Ahmad was warned by Anti-gang Strike Force Raptor that he was a 'marked man' and in imminent danger.
But as Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty later said, Ahmad 'continued to associate with people of the criminal milieu and did not want to hide. His life was always in danger.'
Around 9pm on the evening of April 27, Ahmad was outside his Narelle Crescent, Greenacre home, when multiple assassins lying in wait mowed him down in a hail of bullets.
Raptor Squad police patrolling nearby performed CPR with vision of the harrowing scene showing 'Mr Big' fighting for his life, but they were unable to revive him.
Rami Iskander was slain outside his home at 4am leaving his heavily pregnant wife with their two-year-old child to find him lying in the street, but he could not be revived
Chaos outside the Belmore home of Rami Iskander, 23, in the early hours of last Saturday after he was shot in the street and then died at the scene
Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad had a $1m bounty on his head after he killed a rival gangster, fled to Lebanon, came ghome and served five years and then was released from jail as a 'marked man'
When his distraught family members arrived hours later, they were denied entry from the cordoned-off crime scene, sparking angry scenes with police.
Detectives described the killing as 'a meticulous assassination'.
Less than two weeks later, about 8pm on May 10, Comanchero bikie boss Tarek Zahed, 41, and his brother Omar, 39, were sprayed with bullets at the BodyFit gym on Parramatta Road in Auburn.
Omar died at the scene, with Tarek taken to hospital fighting for his life. He is now in a stable condition following surgery.
Omar was laid to rest at a funeral attended by bikies among 80 mostly Muslim mourners at Rookwood Cemetery, and observed by very large contingent of Raptor Squad, plain-clothed, uniformed and Highway Patrol police.
Less than 16 hours later, just before 4am on Saturday, Iskander was shot outside his Knox Street home in the suburb of Belmore.
The death of Iskander brings the number of gangland style executions to rock the city in the past 18 months up to 13
The first theory is that Iskander could have been shot pre-emptively to stop him carrying out a revenge plot after his uncle Ahmad (pictured) was gunned down on April 27
Gunmen opened fire, shooting him in the torso and fleeing the scene, leaving his heavily pregnant wife and and two-year-old child to make the horrific discovery.
Relatives performed CPR on Iskander in a desperate attempt to revive him. Paramedics then arrived on scene and tried to treat his injuries before he died.
Police, now operating as part of the newly-formed Task Force Erebus, believe Iskander was targeted for one of three reasons.
The first theory is that Iskander could have been shot pre-emptively to stop him carrying out a revenge plot his uncle Ahmad's April 27 shooting.
The second theory is that Iskander was targeted in retaliation for the shootings of Tarek and Omar Zahed.
The third theory is that Iskander disrespected a person's wife or girlfriend and was shot in retaliation.
State Crime Command Director detective chief superintendent Darren Bennett said police were dealing with a 'spate of tit-for-tat shootings around organised criminals around southwest Sydney'.
'We've clearly got a war-of-sorts in south-western Sydney around drug supply and organised crime,' he said.
Superintendent Bennett said Iskander was on a list of people under police surveillance.
'We've got a list of people we focus on. This person who is now deceased, was part of that cabal,' he
