A harrowing picture shows Sydney underworld kingpin ‘Mr Big’ fighting for life after he was brazenly executed in a hail of bullets in the city’s south-west last night.
Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was gunned down while visiting an associate in a suburban street in Greenacre at 9.30pm on Wednesday night, after a $1million bounty was placed on his head.
Ahmad walked free from jail six months ago after serving a five-year jail sentence for killing a gangland rival – and his enemies were out to get him.
Just last October, Ahmad had dodged another attempt on his life when he was tipped off about a planned hit on him in broad daylight at a park at Rushcutters Bay.
Police say Ahmad was warned multiple times more recently that he was a marked man and that his life in imminent danger.
It comes as Ahmad’s distraught family members arrived at the scene on Thursday morning where they were denied from entering the cordoned off vicinity, sparking angry scenes with police.
A harrowing picture shows Sydney underworld kingpin ‘Mr Big’ fighting for life after he was brazenly executed in a hail of bullets in the city’s west last night
A series of bullet holes could be seen in the side of a white Toyota Hilux that was towed away in Greencare on Thursday morning
Distraught relatives of Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad arrived at the scene of the deadly shooting around 9am on Thursday and became furious as they were refused entry to the crime scene
Ahmad’s grieving relatives were stopped by officers from entering the cordoned off scene with one shouting that his ‘uncle’ was the one shot dead
Narelle Crescent in Greenacre remained cordoned off by police on Thursday morning after underworld kingpin Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was shot dead in a hail of bullets
Detectives fear Sydney’s underworld is set to explode in a series of tit for tat reprisals after kingpin Mr Big Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was gunned down in a suburban street
Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty revealed Ahmad was in the street visiting an associate and was gunned down by ‘a large hail of bullets’ while leaving.
He added a number of people were with Ahmad were in the street at the time, along with innocent bystanders and that it was ‘an absolute miracle’ no one was killed or injured.
Police are looking at a long list of ‘persons of interest’ and suspects who may have been involved in Ahmad’s death but are keeping an open mind.
‘The intention was to kill him and they were going to do that by firing as many bullets at him as they could,’ Detective Superintendent Doherty said.
‘He’s been warned in the past he was a marked man but he didn’t heed those warnings.’
‘As a result of the consequences of him continuing on his normal business as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he was in imminent danger. He didn’t want to hide.
‘His life was always going to be in danger. He was always going to end up on a slab in a morgue or end up back in jail.’
‘Unfortunately for him, he’s in the morgue as we speak.’
‘We’d be here for a long time if we were to go through the history of everyone he was in conflict with.’
‘He didn’t care and didn’t want to hide and he’s borne the consequences of his actions.’
Ahmad’s distressed relatives arrived at the cordoned off scene around 9am on Thursday where they were blocked from entering the crime scene.
Officers told Ahmad’s relatives weren’t allowed to pass the threshold under any circumstances.
‘That’s my uncle. When that’s your family in there you’ll do anything to get in,’ one of the young men was heard saying.
Distressed associates of Ahmad were involved in a tense exchange with police when they arrived at the scene on Thursday morning
Ahmad’s relatives were denied from entering the cordoned off vicinity in Greenacre
He got more agitated as the minutes dragged on, lashing out at bystanders and begging police to reconsider.
‘We’re going to get in there. We need to be in there,’ he said again.
The two men took multiple phone and video calls throughout the tense stand-off.
‘How do you think I feel?’ the second man said.
The men returned about an hour later and again crossed the tape against police orders.
A plain clothes senior detective met them and allowed one of the men access to the crime scene.
Bullet holes were evident in the side of a white ute with tinted black windows which was removed from the home about 10.30am.
A white Hilux ute was peppered with bullets (pictured) on the passenger side of the vehicle
Narelle Crescent in Greenacre remained a crime scene on Thursday morning
The street, Narelle Crescent, has been blocked off from the public since Wednesday night, with police ushering neighbours in and out by foot.
A sniffer dog was on the scene going from door to door in the cul-de-sac looking for clues as police launch a major investigation into the assassination.
‘I thought I heard something but I wasn’t sure,’ one neighbour, 34-year-old Zarif, told Daily Mail Australia.
‘When I came out to check it was pandemonium. Police, all my neighbours, we were all on the street.
‘I’d like to say I’m surprised but I don’t know, I don’t know if he was a very good person.
They told him the gang had put the price on his head and warned him to steer clear of the park because of the danger to bystanders.
Now police fear Ahmad’s execution in Greenacre overnight will spark yet another escalation in the bloody gang war on Sydney’s streets.
Ahmad was shot dead about 9.30pm Wednesday.
‘It was four banging noises at 9.32pm,’ one local resident told Nine’s Today show. ‘And then I heard a car drive off. It just drove off normally – it didn’t drive off quickly.
‘There’s always things happening in Greenacre – that’s just the way it is.’
Police have appealed for other people in the street at the time to come forward, particularly those with mobile phone or dashcam footage.
‘My understanding is a lot of people were in the street at the time,’ Detective Superintendent Doherty said.
Paramedics tried to treat Ahmad but he died at the scene. The gunman fled the scene with a Porsche four-wheel-drive and a black BMW found both found on fire a short time later. Police have ‘multiple’ crime scenes.
Ahmad had only recently been released from prison after serving five years for the manslaughter of another underworld figure at a Sydney scrap yard in 2016.
Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad died at the scene, despite desperate attempts to revive him
Police are scouring multiple crime scenes, including the street where Ahmad was gunned down on Wednesday night
Officers from Homicide Squad, Criminal Groups and Raptor Squads are at the crime scene
A Narelle Crescent home was cordoned off with police tape following the fatal shooting
Police are investigating the shooting death of a notorious gangster boss outside a Greenacre home in Sydney’s south-west
Multiple police vehicles attend the scene at Greenacre, Sydney (pictured) after a man was killed in a hail of bullets
A burnt-out Porsche 4WD was found in Greenacre shortly after the shooting (pictured)
Firefighters contained the blaze (pictured) and it is unconfirmed if the two incidents are linked
In a statement on Thursday morning, the NSW Police Force said they were investigating after ‘reports of a public place shooting’
Police said the Homicide Squad, Criminal Groups and Raptor Squads were also in attendance and investigating.
‘Inquiries are also underway to determine whether two vehicles which were located on fire in Greenacre and Belmore are related to this incident.’
Ahmad pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Safwan Charbaji in 2016 shortly after returning to Australia from Lebanon where he fled in the aftermath.
He served five years in prison and was only released six months ago.
The chaotic scene at Greenacre in southwest Sydney on Wednesday night (pictured)
NSW Police had previously warned Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmed there was a contract out on him (pictured: the scene at Narelle Cres Greenacre)
‘Brownie’ Ahmed refused to leave Sydney despite the danger he was facing
Bystanders gather in the street (pictured) after word of the shooting spread and hoards of police and emergency services vehicles arrived
Charbaji was shot in a gunfight outside a south-west Sydney smash repair business owned by Ahmed’s brother Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmed.
Wally Ahmad was himself shot dead in a hail of bullets on the rooftop carpark of Bankstown Centro shopping centre weeks later – sparking a gangland war that would claim another four lives.
Ahmed being arrested by police in 2016 after touching down in Sydney airport from Lebanon where he fled in the aftermath the gunfight at a smash repair business
Ahmad pleaded guilty to the manslughter of Safwan Charbaji (pictured), 32, who was shot outside a smash repairs business in southwest Sydney in 2016
Multiple police stand guard at the crime scene with the Criminal Groups and Raptor Squads also in attendance (pictured)
Afterwards he briefly left Sydney for the Middle East and when he returned had been surrounding himself with allies in a bid for protection.
Since 2020, NSW Police have focused considerable resources on a gangland war between the Alameddine and Hamzy groups which has seen at least seven people killed.
After a number of arrests and top-level Alameddine enforcer Masood Zakaria fleeing overseas the war appeared to have quietened.
But Ahmad’s death could ignite a new blood-feud police will have to contend with.
Officers speak to bystanders after the shooting in Sydney’s west on Wednesday (pictured)
Police sources previously told Daily Mail Australia the organisations target vulnerable teenagers from an early age, luring them into the underworld with the promise of cash, infamy and a sense of belonging.
‘They get them young,’ the source said.
‘These kids are usually the ones stealing the cars, pushing the drugs. It’s insidious.’
It’s alleged the chosen youths have ‘stealing cars down to an art’ and hand them over to the senior members accused of carrying out or soliciting hits on their enemies.
Raptor detectives often find one – sometimes several – burnt out stolen cars when they arrive at a crime scene linked to the Hamzys or Alameddines.
NSW Police assistant commissioner Peter Thurtell previously said there was no doubt the ongoing gang wars on the streets of western Sydney are drug related.
‘They are organised criminal groups targeting each other,’ Asst Comm Thurtell said.