{"id":915649,"date":"2026-06-26T20:12:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/sydneys-underworld-war-spirals-as-gangs-battle-for-billion-dollar-drug-illegal-tobacco-trade\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T20:12:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:12:35","slug":"sydneys-underworld-war-spirals-as-gangs-battle-for-billion-dollar-drug-illegal-tobacco-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/sydneys-underworld-war-spirals-as-gangs-battle-for-billion-dollar-drug-illegal-tobacco-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney’s underworld war spirals as gangs battle for billion-dollar drug, illegal tobacco trade"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A top cop tasked with quelling Sydney\u2019s<\/a> underworld activity has issued a warning as crime gangs jostle for a slice of a lucrative market worth billions.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four people have been killed in the harbour city\u2019s gangland wars since 2020, with underworld activity reaching unprecedented levels of violence.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Sydney\u2019s deadly gang war spirals out of control<\/strong><\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/title><\/svg><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This week, an innocent relative of the Alameddine crime family and his teenage daughter narrowly escaped death<\/a> when a gunman\u2019s weapon jammed during an attempted shooting at after school pick-up.<\/p>\n

Days earlier, close to 30 rounds were fired at a Punchbowl function centre<\/a> thought to be hosting a wake for \u201cCoconut Cartel\u201d boss Lorenzo Lemalu, who was gunned down in Vietnam last month.<\/p>\n

Three people, including two 17-year-old boys, have been charged over the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not really knowing what they\u2019re getting into,\u201d Detective Superintendent Jason Box told 7NEWS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve warned them on numerous occasions that there\u2019s every likelihood they\u2019re going to be targeted themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/picture>
Close to 30 rounds were fired at a Punchbowl function centre thought to be hosting a wake for ‘Coconut Cartel’ boss Lorenzo Lemalu.<\/span> Credit: 7NEWS<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The veteran of more than 30 years on the force said he had never seen offenders acting so brazenly.<\/p>\n

For years, the Alameddine crime network has held top spot in Sydney\u2019s underworld.<\/p>\n

Its biggest rival, the Coconut Cartel, has been significantly weakened following the death of leader Lemalu.<\/p>\n

Whether they will be completely disbanded is yet to be seen.<\/p>\n

Smaller gangs including G7, KVT (which translates to Fijian Warriors), the OC Jail Gang and Lone Wolves could be preparing to move in.<\/p>\n

Established organised crime groups including outlaw motorcycle gangs, Asian crime gangs like The Final Crime Family, and even overseas-based alleged drug kingpins could also be angling for a slice of a drug and illegal tobacco market worth billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether their existence is one person or a hundred, there are people out there wanting to commit serious acts. That won\u2019t stop,\u201d Box said.<\/p>\n

\"Taskforce<\/picture>
Taskforce Falcon commander has never seen Sydney’s underworld criminals be so brazen.<\/span> Credit: 7NEWS<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Box is the commander of Taskforce Falcon, which was announced in May, 2025 and designed to crush organised crime.<\/p>\n

Through the work of the 150-strong team, 500 arrests and 1500 charges have been laid.<\/p>\n

The commander has issued stark warnings to people being recruited into gang violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been too many good results for anybody. It\u2019s a bad outcome for all,\u201d Box said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Liam Tapper
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A top cop tasked with quelling Sydney\u2019s underworld activity has issued a warning as crime gangs jostle for a slice of a lucrative market worth billions. Twenty-four people have been killed in the harbour city\u2019s gangland wars since 2020, with underworld activity reaching unprecedented levels of violence. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Sydney\u2019s deadly gang war<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":915650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95376,29142],"tags":[95374,150586],"class_list":["post-915649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydneys","category-underworld","tag-sydneys","tag-underworld"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}