AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2010
VIC:Triple murders ignite gangland war fears
By Steve Lillebuen, Melissa Jenkins and Paul Mulvey
MELBOURNE, Aug 13 AAP - Three people have been shot dead on a bloody day in Melbourne,
sparking fears that another gangland war has erupted.
The mayhem began early on Friday with a drive-by shooter taking out the patriarch of
the Chaouk crime family, Macchour Chaouk, in the backyard of his home in Melbourne's west.
Six hours later, as homicide detectives expressed concern about the potential for revenge
attacks, a pokies bar along the city's busy Lygon Street exploded in violence with two
men shot dead.
One was found slumped over on the footpath, the other in the doorway of Players on Lygon.
Although both died before paramedics arrived at the scene, police quickly arrested
a suspect, a man believed to be in his 50s.
While police weren't immediately sure all three shootings were linked, they triggered
fears that another underworld war had broken out.
The last decade-long war only ended months ago with the prison death of Carl Williams.
"People are just freaked out," said Surbhi Puri, who runs a Lygon Street cafe near
the double murder scene.
"It's pretty scary."
At the 11am solo shooting, the gunman drove down a side street behind Chaouk's heavily
secured Brooklyn home and shot him through a fence.
The 65-year-old's wife, another family member and three of his pre-school aged grandchildren
were home at the time.
As they desperately tried to revive him, the gunman fled down Geelong Road and late
on Friday was still on the loose.
Chaouk had a string of convictions, including serious assault and two for heroin trafficking.
Two of his five sons, Ali and Matwali, are in custody on charges of assault and attempted
murder and 19-year-old son Omar is on bail following a raid on the house last month.
In 2005, police shot dead another son, Mohamed, during a raid.
Friday's daylight shooting occurred in a midst of a violent feud with the rival Haddara
family, whom police say could be involved in this latest outrage.
"We have to look at that as an avenue," Detective Senior Sergeant Murray Fraser told reporters.
As nearby schools were closed, Special Operations Group officers stormed the Chaouk
house and a large crowd of family and friends gathered outside.
Last month, another police raid resulted in the seizure of guns, ammunition and blank passports.
The raid followed a drive-by shooting in June in nearby Altona, in which Sam Haddara,
18, was shot in the face while sitting in a car.
Sam is a cousin of Mohamed Haddara, who was killed a year earlier in a drive-by shooting,
and there have been a series of alleged tit-for-tat violent incidents between the two
families since.
Chaouk's nephew Ahmed Hablas, 22, was charged in June with Haddara's murder.
Hablas' lawyer Alan Swanwick said his client feared for his life in custody as members
of the Haddara family had vowed to take revenge.
Mr Swanwick also represented Omar Chaouk in his bail hearing last month, arguing his
client should be released because he was needed to help protect his family.
Magistrate Fiona Stewart said that was precisely why he should not be released.
"There is an ongoing war between two families and the court should be extremely worried
about the danger posed to the community by it," she had told the court.
After last month's raid, police said they believed the situation was under control
despite the threat of violence.
"We would like to send a clear message to any of those involved in this sort of activity
that ... we have the resources and the capacity to make a difference and solve those crimes,"
Superintendent Doug Fryer said.
Macchour Chaouk came to Australia from Lebanon in 1969. Six years later he was charged
with assault and in 1983 was convicted of trafficking heroin.
In 1985, he was charged with assaulting police and in 1991 of recklessly causing serious injury.
In 2000, he was sentenced to five years in prison for trafficking in heroin.
Police remained on guard outside the Chaouk home overnight.
AAP sbl/pmu/it/mn
KEYWORD: CHAOUK WRAP (WITH PIX)
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