When Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim picked-up the newspaper on Monday, he had even more cause to feel anxious than usual.
Already living in hiding, Abdulrahim was well aware he was a walking target.
But there, staring back at him from the front page, it was laid bare in black and white.
Veteran crime reporter Chis Vedelago detailed in print how it was just a matter of time before Abdulrahim’s many enemies caught up with him.
The reality though was they were even closer than anyone realised. The following day the prediction came true.
He was gunned down in a hail of bullets outside his hideaway in Preston’s Quest Hotel in Melbourne’s north.
He was left dying a pool of blood in front of his traumatised girlfriend, as his killers escaped in a Porsche getaway car, later found burnt out a few kilometres away.
Vedelago had been following the life and times of Abdulrahim well before he was targeted outside the Fawkner cemetery in 2022.
Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim knew he was in big, big trouble
A bullet found at the scene where The Punisher was killed
Holed-up inside Quest, Abdulrahim probably believed he was safe as he ate his cornflakes and mulled over Vedelago’s in-depth report on his sorry situation in life.
But the article went one step further and declared the feared kickboxer’s family and friends were now in the gun sights of gangsters too.
The former bikie-turned-boxer had already been the target of three murder contracts, a prison bashing, three assaults, a dozen fire bombings and seven shootings.
He had narrowly survived one attempted hit when he was shot eight times, and another where he escaped another barrage of bullets.
The Sunday Age reported a humble tradie hired to fix The Punisher’s fence was targeted with gunfire as a masked man jumped out of a stolen car parked nearby, a bullet shattering his lower leg.
‘By the time paramedics showed up, the footpath was soaked in blood,’ Vedelago wrote in The Age.
Abdulrahim read ‘police and underworld sources’ suspected a series of seemingly random or unexplainable violent attacks in the past six months were linked to his enemies.
The report claimed Abdulrahim’s family, friends and associates had come under increasing fire after the 32-year-old gangland figure went underground to escape a $1million murder contract on his head.
But Abdulrahim himself was no stranger to death threats.
He had gone into hiding last May after only narrowly escaping an ambush outside his northern suburbs home, where gunmen shot at him 17 times.
Vedelago claimed Abdulrahim had become ‘something of a ghost’ – not knowing how right those words were to become.
Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim read about himself in the newspaper before being gunned down
Concerned about his own safety, he was bouncing between Melbourne, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in an effort to stay one step ahead of his enemies.
On Tuesday, Abdulrahim’s luck ran out. The writing was on the wall…and now even in the newspaper.
The Punisher’s attempts to hide his tracks, were called out by Vedelago in the article.
‘Abdulrahim’s Instagram account has been littered with false trails about where he is and what he’s doing, including one posting a photo purportedly from Lebanon with the message: “Feels good to be in motherland” when he was actually seen partying in a bar in Melbourne,’ Vedelago wrote.
‘In September, he appeared briefly to be working as a bodyguard for Russian mixed martial arts star Khabib Nurmagomedov at an event in Kuala Lumpur.’
The story reminded Abdulrahim about just how lucky he had been over the past few years.
The prime suspect for many, but not all of the attacks, was exiled gangland boss Kazem Hamad, who allegedly put a $1 million bounty on Abdulrahim’s head as a part of a feud going back nearly a decade, it was reported.
Abdulrahim’s antics with feared gangland boss George Marrogi likely sealed his doom, Vedelago suggested.
Abdulrahim had been linked to the 2016 murder of northern suburbs drug trafficker Kadir Ors – Hamad’s best mate – outside Campbellfield Plaza.
Allies of Ors believed Abdulrahim had arranged to meet the victim at the shopping centre so he would be in position for the brutal shooting to be carried out by Marrogi.
Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim was reportedly gunned down in a car park outside the Quest Hotel in High Street, Preston, about 10am on Tuesday
Reality star Jessika Power had a brief relationship with Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim (pictured together)
Crime boss George Marrogi killed a man who had been with Abdulrahim. Some say his involvement made him a marked man
In September, The Age reported Abdulrahim had been tracked to Bali by his rival – and they didn’t intend to buy him a Bintang.
‘Sam ‘The Punisher’ has enemies everywhere,’ an underworld source told Vedelago then.
‘He’s pissed off so many people over the years by his habit of jumping from side to side to side.’
On Tuesday, Victoria Police’s Homicide Squad converged on the building where Abdulrahim was gunned down.
‘Emergency services were called to reports a man had been shot in a car park on High Street in Preston shortly after 10.30am on Tuesday, 28 January,’ a spokesperson said.
‘The man, who is yet to be formally identified, died at the scene. Police have cordoned off the area and a crime scene is in place.
‘At this early stage, police believe the incident was targeted.’
Friends of the feared gangster were seen gathering behind police tape at the scene just after midday.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has dashcam/CCTV footage, or any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
