Police announce new taskforce targeting spate of underworld violence in Sydney
NSW Police will set up another mega taskforce over growing fears underworld violence will explode on Sydney's streets again.
Taskforce Falcon will consist of more than 150 officers and draw help from the New South Wales Crime Commission in a bid to put pressure on feuding organised crime networks.
It will absorb investigations currently underway as part of 13 different underworld based strike forces and will be led by Criminal Groups Squad Commander Jason Box.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley on Tuesday morning promised to "find every single one of these crooks".
"The recent violence we have seen on our streets is absolutely horrific," Ms Catley said.
"We will not tolerate these lawless thugs getting out there with their vendettas against each other and putting in danger innocent victims in our community.
"Let me tell you, if you intend to become part of these organised gangs you are either going to end up in a small cell for the rest of your life or indeed at the morgue."
Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said police believed the current conflict centred around the battle for drug supply networks around Sydney.
Referencing previous efforts that saw organised figures flee overseas, Deputy Commissioner Hudson warned officers would leave "no stone unturned".
"We consider periphery players in the commission of these jobs as equally as responsible as those who pull the trigger.
"We will pursue them relentlessly."
The move comes after three shootings in the space of a fortnight sparked fears of more retaliation.
Underworld figure Dawood Zakaria, 32, is not expected to survive his injuries from the shooting that wounded him and Parramatta lawyer Sylvan Singh on Sunday afternoon.
A week before that 23-year-old plumber John Versace was gunned down on the driveway of his family home.
That came just days after a 29-year-old man survived an attempt on his life, when a gunman ambushed him on a Yennora industrial estate.
The move from police comes after the force's previous efforts through Taskforce Magnus quelled underworld bloodshed that began in 2020 and saw more than two dozen people killed.
It drew 100 officers from across Sydney's local police area commands in an attempt to stop the bloodshed between the warring Hamzy and Alameddine families in Western Sydney.
At the time it was set up in 2023, Magnus detectives claimed to have thwarted two gangland murders in the space of just five weeks.
Its most notable underworld scalps saw arrests in the murder of crime boss Alen Moradien, whose Bondi car park slaying sparked the taskforce's formation.
Before the recent spate of shootings there had been a seven month gap between fatal attacks linked to underworld disputes.
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