{"id":609215,"date":"2026-09-23T12:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609215\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T12:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:40:11","slug":"self-proclaimed-coconut-cartel-boss-iziah-utai-survives-attack-on-his-life-in-spain-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609215\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-proclaimed ‘Coconut Cartel’ boss Iziah Utai survives attack on his life in Spain, sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Underworld fugitive Iziah Utai has survived an attack on his life overseas, sources have told the ABC.<\/p>\n

Utai, a senior member of the self-proclaimed “Coconut Cartel”, is understood to have been the target of a botched home invasion at a property in Marbella, Spain.<\/p>\n

The “Coconut Cartel”, whose name comes from a historic slur against Pasifika people, have been at war with Sydney’s Alameddine crime family over the past year.<\/p>\n

Police have linked several fatal shootings, firebombings, assaults and kidnappings to the ongoing feud between the two organised crime networks.<\/p>\n

The most recent death police have attributed to the warring crime clans was the tragic mistaken identity murder of Joshua MacDonald at Merrylands West three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In one of many images from overseas, Iziah Utai posted this from Mecca this year.<\/p>\n

Supplied via ABC<\/p>\n

As the violence plays out on the city’s streets, Utai and other “Cartel” associates have remained overseas.<\/p>\n

Images publicly linked to Utai over recent months have appeared to show him in Albania, Lebanon and Asia.<\/p>\n

Sources told the ABC armed hit men this week attempted to break into where Utai was staying in the popular European tourist destination of Marbella.<\/p>\n

Utai himself appeared to reference the incident on social media on Tuesday, posting the caption: “Better luck next time. O wait there won’t be.”<\/p>\n

The NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police were contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

The attempt on Utai’s life comes after the “Cartel” leader Lorenzo Lemalu was brazenly gunned down in May on a street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\"Iziah<\/p>\n

Another picture from Europe Iziah Utai posted while on the run.<\/p>\n

Supplied via ABC<\/p>\n

Tit-for-tat violence<\/p>\n

Since fleeing Australia, Utai has publicly gloated about incidents linked to the tit-for-tat violence emerging from the dispute between the “Cartel” and the Alameddines.<\/p>\n

He is wanted by NSW Police for his alleged involvement in an underworld murder in May 2025.<\/p>\n

Utai has also been the subject of attention from his underworld adversaries over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

In February, his father, NRL premiership winner Matt Utai, was shot outside a property in Greenacre.<\/p>\n

The former Bulldogs winger is not accused of having any involvement in organised crime.<\/p>\n

Days after that shooting, Iziah Utai’s Guildford West home was torched, and another home connected to his family was sprayed with bullets.<\/p>\n

The same property was also shot at in December last year, and last May a barber shop owned by Utai was firebombed by teenage arsonists two nights in a row.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Underworld fugitive Iziah Utai has survived an attack on his life overseas, sources have told the ABC. Utai,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-609215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}