Updated ,first published
The son of former NRL star Matt Utai was allegedly targeted twice in a night by members of a rival crime gang believed to have shot his father outside his western Sydney home less than 24 hours earlier in an escalation of an underworld conflict.
The shooting of Utai and a home linked to his son, Iziah, 24, and the firebombing of another property linked to the family, has sparked the establishment of a 100-strong police taskforce to quell the violent feud.
Iziah, also known as Ziggy, has emerged as a key figure in the conflict between the notorious Alameddine crime family and a new rival syndicate dubbed the “Coconut Cartel”, according to police.
Violence linked to the months-long conflict escalated on Tuesday morning, when Utai, 44, was shot twice in a “brazen ambush” outside his Greenacre home by gunmen believed to be linked to the Alameddine crime network.
Messages addressed to “the rat Ziggy Utai” and shared with SCN Worldstar, an independent media channel focused on Sydney’s underworld, suggest both properties were targeted because of Iziah’s links to them.
“This is just the start,” one message says.
“Its [sic] a losing battle for u [sic] and anyone that dares to come against us.”
The messages are signed by “the one and only crime family, forever strong” – an apparent reference to the Alameddine crime family.
Utai, a member of the Canterbury Bulldogs’ premiership-winning side in 2004, was shot in the chest and leg as he walked to his car parked outside the home he shares with his wife and children at about 6am on Tuesday. He was taken to hospital to undergo surgery and remains in a serious condition.
Detectives believe Utai was targeted because of Iziah’s alleged links to the Coconut Cartel, which police sources say has been attempting to wrest control of Sydney’s lucrative drug trade from the fractured Alameddine network since late last year.
Iziah was described in court documents in 2023 as an Alameddine associate after being charged with gun and drug offences, which he was later convicted of. However, videos, images and messages circulated within Sydney’s underworld on Wednesday suggest Iziah has aligned himself with the Alameddine network’s new rivals. Detectives believe Iziah is currently overseas.
On Wednesday morning, 18 hours after Utai was shot, a St Clair home linked to Iziah was peppered with more than a dozen bullets, several of which became lodged in the roller door at the front of the property.
Footage circulated through Sydney’s underworld, and published by SCN Worldstar, show at least one gunman firing at the property. “F— you and the Coconut Cartel,” another man says moments before the shooting begins. A woman in her 50s was home at the time, but was uninjured. No arrests have been made over the shooting.
Just after 6am on Wednesday, another home linked to Iziah was firebombed in the third attack on the Utai family in 24 hours. A video circulated throughout Sydney’s underworld shows a man setting the front of the Guildford West property alight.
“F— him and the Coconut Cartel … this is the start of the destruction,” a man says in the video.
In December, several shots were fired at the same home. Two women and a child were inside at the time, but were uninjured.
The conflict between the two groups has been escalating since the splintering of the Alameddine network after several senior members defected from the group to form their own rival crime syndicate. The defections sparked a gangland war and a series of retaliatory shootings in which several people were injured or killed.
On Wednesday, police launched Strike Force Halesowen, a 100-strong operation comprised of specialist anti-gangs detectives and uniformed officers, to investigate the incidents targeting Iziah.
“We believe the Coconut Cartel – a name they’ve given themselves – is a violent criminal organisation that are involved in crime for hire, essentially, and they’re committing offences across Sydney,” Detective Acting Superintendent Brad Abdy, the acting commander of NSW Police’s Raptor Squad, said.
“This escalation, which appears to be targeting innocent members of particular families – it’s ridiculously disgusting offences that they’re committing. These people are ordinarily innocent people that are now being targeted by violent criminal syndicates, and they have no association with the criminality of the people in their particular families, or their particular associates.”
Abdy said Iziah’s alleged criminal links were a central part of Strike Force Halesowen investigations.
“We believe he’s associated with criminal entities and that is the reason for the current spate of offences,” Abdy said. Detectives are yet to speak with Iziah, whose exact location is not known.
SCN Worldstar’s Zaky Mallah told the Herald he was impartial and treated “all crime news equally”.
“Sydney underworld gangs send shooting videos to SCN Worldstar because it’s known for gang news in the area,” he said.
“Shootings, firebombings, kidnappings, turf wars and other crimes are usually posted there first.”
A Merrylands barbershop registered to Iziah was torched twice in two nights in May, after he registered the business in his own name in August 2024. CCTV captured a man setting himself on fire as he tried to light accelerant.
The investigation into the barbershop arson attacks was taken up by Taskforce Falcon, which was established last May to quell the violence linked to the Alameddine conflict. Police have not publicly linked that conflict to the current feud between the Alameddine network and the Coconut Cartel.
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Daniel Lo Surdo is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously helmed the national news live blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
