Three men and one teenager have been charged over a spate of shootings and firebombings connected to rising tensions in the city’s underworld.
Police believe conflict between the once-powerful Alameddine crime family and a group dubbed the ‘Coconut Cartel’ culminated in the shooting of Matt Utai on Tuesday.
The former NRL winger was shot leaving a home in Greenacre just after 6am in what police suspect was an attack targeting his son Iziah Utai.
Iziah Utai, believed to be overseas, is a former associate of the Alameddine network and police this week said they were investigating his links to the Coconut Cartel.
Former Bulldogs and Tigers winger, Matt Utai, who was shot in Greenacre this week. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox)
A day after the shooting, a video showed a man firing shots into a St Clair home and saying: “Utai’s family in-law … f*** you and the Coconut Cartel”.
Shortly after another video showed Iziah Utai’s Guildford West home being set alight, with a voice in the background saying: “This is the start of the destruction brother”.
The same property was shot at in December and in May last year a barbershop owned by Iziah Utai was firebombed two nights in a row.
Raptor Squad Superintendent Brad Abdy this week said the attacks targeting innocent family members were “ridiculously disgusting”.
Superintendent Abdy described the Coconut Cartel as a “crime for hire” group responible for offences committed across Sydney. (ABC News)
Superintendent Abdy described the Coconut Cartel as a “crime for hire group” who had been posting their attacks on members of the Alameddines online since December.
On Thursday, the Raptor Squad’s Strike Force Halesowen conducted several raids across Western Sydney in relation to the attacks.
In Guildford, a 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with a series of offences after police claim he allegedly picked up the gunman who shot Matt Utai.
A 16-year-old boy, who police allege handled the gun used to shoot the 44-year-old Bulldogs premiership winner, was arrested and charged in Auburn.
The pair will front the Parramatta Local Court and the Childrens Court on Friday.
An 18-year-old and a 19-year-old were also charged with the firebombing on Iziah Utai’s home in Guildford West this week.
The younger man was granted bail to face Bankstown Local Court in March while the 19-year-old was also charged with drug supply offences to appear in the same court on Friday.