The group includes a 19-year-old charged with being an accessory after the fact to shoot at with intent to murder, participate criminal group contribute criminal activity and also be in possession of prohibited drug.
Charges laid against a 16-year-old include being an accessory after the fact to shoot at with intent to murder, supply pistol to person unauthorised to possess it, and also participating in a criminal group to contribute criminal activity.
There is no suggestion that the former Kiwis and Samoa league international has any criminal connections, with police saying his shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity.
But his son – Iziah – is known to have previously been an associate of the powerful Alameddine crime network.
Former Kiwis star and NRL Premiership winner Matt Utai remains in an induced coma. Photo / Herald composite
He has now been linked to the rival Coconut Cartel, who are involved in a bloody turf war with the Alameddines.
The Daily Telegraph has today reported that Iziah Utai – who is aged in his early 20s – is wanted by New South Wales Police homicide detectives investigating the gunshot murder of a senior Alameddine member Dawood Zakaria.
The 32-year-old was fatally injured after being shot multiple times in his vehicle while it was stopped at a set of traffic lights last May.
His lawyer was also shot in the incident but survived.
“Homicide Squad detectives hold an active arrest warrant for Iziah Utai under Strike Force Arrino,” a NSW Police spokesperson said in a statement.
“The 24-year-old is wanted by virtue of an outstanding arrest warrant for alleged criminal group-related offences.
“He is currently believed to be offshore.”
Police now believe that Iziah Utai is a member of the Coconut Cartel; a group whose members include numerous ex-members of the Alameddine crime network.
Matt Utai was shot as he prepared to drive to work. Photo / Photosport
After Zakaria’s murder, police spoke of how they feared the incident could lead to more bloodshed on Sydney’s streets.
Detective Superintendent Jason Box said of the incident: “This was a brazen shooting at 5pm on a Sunday in the middle of Sydney … there could have been multiple innocent victims.”
The Daily Telegraph reported it was understood that Iziah Utai left Australia on May 30, five days after the shooting.
Just weeks earlier, the Sydney barbershop owned by him was twice firebombed and is now listed as “permanently closed”.
‘Start of the destruction’
The day after Matt Utai was critically injured, footage emerged of a home being shot at in a reported “revenge” attack.
Police are also investigating a series of suspicious vehicle fires – including one which spread from a torched vehicle to a car – in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
One of those is at a property said to be the home of Utai’s son – Iziah Utai – with audio of the incident featuring a male voice saying: “F*** him and the Coconut Cartel. This is the start of the destruction”.
Iziah Utai, the son of ex-Kiwis player Matt Utai who was critically injured in a drive-by shooting, has reported links to Sydney’s underworld and convictions for firearms, drugs and armed robbery. Photo / Supplied
Audio from video of two of the incidents has been played on Ben Fordham’s 2GB Sydney breakfast show. The footage of the revenge attack has also appeared on the Sydney Morning Herald.
The first shooting occurred at around 1am in the Sydney suburb of St Clair.
Fordham said the video showed “a hooded figure dressed in black firing directly at a house”.
The gunman is given directions about where to fire his gun during the clip, including saying: “Aim at the windows.”
Fordham then told his listeners: “It now looks and sounds like this is payback for what happened to Matt Utai when he was shot twice yesterday outside his home.”
The man talking in the video mentions the Utai family.
Footage of another incident in the early hours of this morning has surfaced on social media, with audio played on Fordham’s show.
Iziah Utai, the son of ex-Kiwis player Matt Utai who was critically injured in a drive-by shooting, has reported links to Sydney’s underworld and convictions for firearms, drugs and armed robbery. Photo / Supplied
Fordham then read out a message that has circulated on social media around Sydney and he said was “understood to have come from the Alameddines”.
“To the rat Ziggy Utai and his joke of a cartel, this is just the start of a losing battle for you and anyone that dares to come up against us.
“Stay tuned from the one and only crime family, forever strong.”
Superintendent Rodney Hart said in a media briefing on Tuesday that the shooting was a “brazen attack” and that this “was definitely targeted”.
“Whether the victim was the intended target or it was somebody that he knows or associates with or is related to will all form part of the investigation,” Hart said.
In trouble with the law: Iziah Utai
Iziah Utai has a criminal record and previously been linked to being an associate, or a member, of the notorious Sydney organised crime network the Alameddine crime family.
But, since mid-last year, property owned by him has been targeted repeatedly in crimes that are being investigated by a New South Wales Police gang and organised crime taskforce.
Those included the Sydney barbershop owned by him and which was twice firebombed in May and is now listed as “permanently closed”.
Iziah Utai’s Western Sydney barbershop before it was targeted by two arson attacks last year and is now permanently closed. Photo / Supplied
Prior to the arson attacks, Iziah Utai had given the establishment a five-star Google review, adding the barber was under “new management, open six days a week”.
The fires have been probed by officers from a specialist police squad created to target warring gangs.
In December, a Sydney home reported to be linked to the son of the ex-league star was also shot at.
He is known to police, with officers previously arresting and charging him after finding weapons, cash and drugs after a raid of a Sydney home.
In 2023, he was sentenced to 18 months’ jail with a nine-month non-parole period.
He also has an earlier conviction for armed robbery.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 34 years of newsroom experience.
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