Dangerous gangs set to reignite their terrifying turf war after the brutal execution of a notorious underworld figure in a suburban street

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Police probing whether Amar Kettule’s killing was linked to gang wars in Sydney 
Kettule, a senior member of True Kings, was gunned down in Fairfield on Sunday
True Kings are rivals to DLASTHR, with the Assyrian gangs feuding for years
Violence between the gangs peaked in 2016 with dozens of home shootings
By BRYANT HEVESI FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

The brutal execution of underworld gang figure Amar Kettule has reignited fears of a terrifying turf war in Sydney’s southwest.

The standover man died at the scene after being hit with a spray of bullets on a side lane near William Street in Fairfield about 2.40am on Sunday.

Kettule, 34, reportedly extorted money and was high up in the True Kings street gang, with police probing whether a feud with rival DLASTHR gang led to his slaying.

Conflict between the two Assyrian gangs peaked in 2016, with a spate of shootings and fire bombings in the city’s southwest linked to a bloody turf war.   

 
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Amar Kettule, 34, was shot dead in the street in a suspected targeted attack in Sydney’s southwest in the early hours of Sunday morning
 

 
Police are investigating whether Kettule’s brutal execution is linked to increasing conflict between the True Kings and DLASTHR rival gangs 
Fairfield City Commander Detective Superintendent Glen Fitzgerald said police were investigating whether Kettule’s killing was linked to gang wars in the area. 

‘We believe the attack to be targeted. He is well-known to police – however this is a violent attack on a suburban street and is unacceptable behaviour,’ he said.

Det Supt Fitzgerald said detectives would be looking into whether Kettule’s death was a revenge killing. 

‘It’s part of the investigation (the feud) and a line of inquiry but the cause and motive is very unknown, it’s still very early in the ­investigation,’ he said.

‘We will have a number of police out on the highway doing whatever we can to eliminate any chances of any type of action happening.

‘But until we know the cause of this, it’s difficult to say what will happen.’

Kettule and his girlfriend were driving their Toyota Prado into the Fairfield Towers apartment complex as the shooting unfolded.

  

CCTV footage obtained by The Daily Telegraph showed Kettule, wearing a white Adidas shirt and gold chains, arriving home with his partner just hours before his death at 7.30pm.

 
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CCTV footage showed Kettule, wearing a white Adidas shirt and gold chains, arriving home with his partner just hours before his death at 7.30pm
 

 
Police are pictured at the scene after the deadly shooting. Kettule is believed to be a senior member of the True Kings street gang
At 8.40pm the couple were seen emerging from the apartment. After returning six hours later, Kettule was gunned down in a nearby alleyway.

His death is eerily similar to his brother Dylann’s, who was gunned down in a suspected drive-by shooting outside his girlfriend’s unit block in January 2014.

Kettule also has links to the Nomads bikie gang and had to be restrained by police in the aftermath of his brother’s death when he demanded to see Dylann’s body.    

The conflict between DLASTHR (The Last Hour) and the True Kings resulted in more than a dozen shootings in Sydney’s southwest in 2016.

In March of that year, a True Kings member was driving with another man when shots were allegedly fired at them from another car carrying DLASTHR rivals.   

The violence peaked with two separate shooting attacks on suburban houses linked to the turf war four months later, prompting police to set-up Operation Condor. 

 

 
Pictured: Amar Kettule. He was well-known to authorities, police said on Sunday morning
 

 
Raphael Joseph (pictured), a founding member of DLASTHR, disappeared in 2014 with police believing he was kidnapped and murdered 
DLASTHR had been under close watch since the mid 2000s, with police intelligence putting the gang behind the supply of cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine in the greater Fairfield area.

The violent street gang was founded in 2004 when members of the Assyrian Kings used initials in their name to form a new group.

In 2016, the gang had at least 10 full-time members, who were tattooed with an unmistakable DLASTHR tattoo. 

Gang members were understood to be extorting or bashing small time local drug dealers in an attempt to recruit them, or run them off their turf.  

But some members of DLASTHR reportedly split from the gang in 2012 to start rival True Kings.

Both are linked to branches of the Assyrian Kings, a gang responsible for the killing of police officer David Carty. 

A founding member of DLASTHR, Raphael Joseph, 37, disappeared from a McDonald’s restaurant in Auburn in March 2014. 

Police believe he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a drug supply syndicate. 

 

 
Tensions between the rival DLASTHR and True Kings gangs peaked in 2016 with police establishing Operation Condor to stamp out criminal activity. Pictured, a member of DLASTHR who was arrested by police in 2016
Professor in criminology at Bond University, Dr Terry Goldsworthy, told NewsCorp said violence was a way to send messages to rivals.  

‘Murders are usually a means to an end, it’s the same tools used throughout the world by organised crime groups,’ he said.  

‘They use violence to establish their dominance in criminal or geographical markets.’

Gangs expert Dr Michael Kennedy said Kettule ‘could have overstepped the mark in terms of his status, or offended someone from another family’.

Kettule’s family and friends gathered on Monday for a candlelight vigil in the alleyway where he was killed. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9137239/How-two-Australias-dangerous-gangs-reignite-terrifying-turf-war.html