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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Australia - Shooting sparks gang war fear

OFF THE WIRE
Janet Fife-Yeomans and Lisa Davies
  • From: Herald Sun

  • SENIOR police met Kings Cross nightclub supremo John Ibrahim yesterday amid fears the attempted murder of his oldest brother Sam could spark a full-scale bikie war.
    Police spoke to Ibrahim after he spent an hour by his brother's bedside.
    Detectives claimed Sam, a life member of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang, would have known his attackers.
    A senior gangs squad detective said revenge attacks could already be in the planning stages.
    assan "Sam" Ibrahim, 44, was shot once in each thigh as he stood in the front yard of his mother's home in the western Sydney suburb of Merrylands at 6.45pm on Thursday.
    It is believed senior officers later met John Ibrahim, the family patriarch, asking him to urge calm on his brother's bikie associates.
    John featured in the Underbelly series The Golden Mile, and has been romantically linked to bikini babe Lara Bingle.

  • Acting gangs squad commander Det-Insp Wayne Hayes said there was no doubt the shooting was an attempted murder.
    "I do have concerns there may be revenge attacks," he said.
    Before Christmas, Sam and nine of his Nomad mates roared into Kings Cross in full bikie gear, with a source saying: "He was there with a purpose, he was making a point.
    "He wanted to let everyone know that he, Sam Ibrahim, was back on the streets."
    Police will flood Kings Cross this weekend, with the riot squad, officers from Strike Force Raptor - which has been monitoring the bikies - and the Middle Eastern organised crime squad swelling local police ranks in the wake of the shooting.
    Police have recently banned some bikies from the Cross.
    "Police will have no hesitation in moving on anyone who is menacing or behaving in an intimidating way. And that means wearing bikie colours," commander Supt Tony Crandell said.
    Sam Ibrahim was in a stable condition in hospital yesterday.
    For the Ibrahim clan, it was another shooting, another bedside vigil.
    John Ibrahim, with his wealth and clifftop mansion, cultivates an aura of respectability - but there can now be no doubt the family's empire is under threat.
    His second-youngest brother Fadi, 36, still bears the scars of an attempted assassination after five bullets slammed into his black Lamborghini in 2009.
    Last month, the home of one of the Ibrahim sisters, Armani Haddad, was peppered with 25 bullets.
    John Ibrahim, 40, declined police assistance last year after reports a price had been placed on his head.
    s, supposedly by members of the Comanchero bikie gang.
    Then the Comanchero, who set up a clubhouse in the Lincoln Hotel just metres from Ibrahim's trophy twin nightclubs, the Trademark Hotel and Piano Room, stormed the Trademark late last year after making sure the man himself was inside.
    They were forced back by security guards on the door.
    Sources have told The Daily Telegraph that Sam recently suggested to John that it was time to get out of the Cross and move to Parramatta.
    "He was worried about the Comanchero in the Cross and thought Parramatta, with its new nightclubs and restaurants opening up, could be the new Cross and money could be made. But John is too established in the Cross and the Eastern Suburbs lifestyle," the source said.
    As police investigate the latest shooting, family and friends are comforting the Ibrahim matriarch Wahiba, 63, who is gravely ill with cancer and who witnessed the attack.
    A close friend of Sam's, who was standing beside him when he was shot, described the fear, and running for his life, when the gunman opened fire on the group.
    "Everyone is in shock, especially the mother. She is very sick and it happened all in front of her eyes," the friend, Raymond, said.
    Additional reporting Mark Morri and Clementine Cuneo






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