Mick Hawi
{{Short description|Lebanese-Australian outlaw biker and gangster (1980–2018)}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Mick Hawi
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Mahmoud Hawi
| birth_date = {{birth date|1980|05|09}}
| birth_place = Beirut, Beirut Governorate, Lebanon
| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|02|14|1980|05|09|df=yes}}
| death_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = {{hlist|Outlaw biker|crime boss}}
| years_active = 1999–2018
| known_for = National president of the Comanchero
| predecessor = Jock Ross
| successor = Duax Ngakuru
| allegiance = Comanchero MC (1999–2018)
| conviction = Drug possession (2005) Manslaughter (2014)
| conviction_penalty =
}}
Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi (9 May 1980 – 14 February 2018) was a Lebanese-Australian outlaw biker and gangster who served as the second national president and "supreme commander" of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club.
The Comancheros
Hawi was born in Beirut, Lebanon into a Sunni Muslim family. In 1985, his family fled the Lebanese Civil War as refugees and settled in Sydney, New South Wales.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}} Hawi had what his judge at his 2011 trial called an "uneventful, if meagre" childhood.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}} He attended Punchbowl Boys High School in the Punchbowl suburb of Sydney.[https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/life-and-times-of-slain-bikie-gang-leader-mahmoud-mick-hawi/55DMSU3OG4L6VAOEWQUTAKPHLA/ Life and times of slain bikie gang leader Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi] Candace Sutton, The New Zealand Herald (16 February 2018) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109153910/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/life-and-times-of-slain-bikie-gang-leader-mahmoud-mick-hawi/55DMSU3OG4L6VAOEWQUTAKPHLA/ |date=9 November 2020 }} In 1995, Hawi started to date an Australian woman, Caroline Gonzales.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}} Hawi left high school at the age of 16 and worked in his father's spray painting business.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}} In 2001, he married Gonzales after she converted to Islam.{{cite news |last1=Zemek |first1=Steve |title=Widow of former bikie boss Mick Hawi threatened developer hours after murder |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/widow-of-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-holds-back-tears-at-murder-trial/news-story/860b66b52f51d48087871ee30fd037db |access-date=13 August 2023 |publisher=New.comAu |date=11 August 2020}} The couple were married in a private Islamic wedding, but were never legally married under Australian law.{{cite news |last1=Zemek |first1=Steve |title=Widow of former bikie boss Mick Hawi threatened developer hours after murder |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/widow-of-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-holds-back-tears-at-murder-trial/news-story/860b66b52f51d48087871ee30fd037db |access-date=13 August 2023 |publisher=New.comAu |date=11 August 2020}} Hawi had two children by his wife.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}}
At the age of 19, Hawi joined the Comanchero Motorcycle Club in 1999.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}} Tall and muscular, Hawi stood out in the Comancheros.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}} In 2002, Hawi led a group of younger Comancheros to meet the Comanchero "supreme commander" "Jock" Ross at his house. The Australian policeman Duncan McNab in his 2013 book Outlaw Bikers in Australia wrote that: "Ross was unsuspecting and outnumbered and the discussion was quick and violent. The Comancheros, led by Mick Hawi, delivered a comprehensive beating to the much older leader. They left him battered and took both his club colours and his Harley-Davidson. It was the outlaw equivalent of spitting in Jock's face."{{sfn|McNab|2013|p=114}} In 2003, Hawi proclaimed himself to be the new Comanchero national president and "supreme commander".{{sfn|McNab|2013|p=114}} In 2005, Hawi was convicted of drug possession.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}}
Following the 2005 Cronulla riots, in which Middle Eastern Australian youths clashed with Anglo-Celtic Australians, Hawi called for peace and met with the Bra Boys gang of Maroubra. In November 2007, he survived a shooting attempt when the car he was travelling in was fired upon by two men outside Grappa Ristorante in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt. According to Hawi, a bullet lodged in the headrest of his car seat. Subsequently, he began occasionally travelling in a bulletproof car.
In 2008, the Comancheros were involved in a gangland struggle against the Hells Angels.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Malcolm |title=Bikie mayhem at airport: one murder conviction, two new trials for manslaughter |url=https://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/938925/bikie-mayhem-at-airport-one-murder-conviction-two-new-trials-for-manslaughter/ |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=The Maitland Mercury |date=9 November 2012}} On 22 March 2009, Hawi along with several other Comancheros was involved in a brawl at Sydney Airport with the Hells Angels led by the Hells Angels Australian national president Derek Wainohu.{{cite news |title=Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi pleads guilty to Sydney airport death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/05/comanchero-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-pleads-guilty-to-sydney-airport-death |access-date=7 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=5 September 2014}} Both Hawi and the Weinohu were on the same flight from Melbourne to Sydney, which led to a fierce fight at Sydney airport.{{cite news |title=Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi pleads guilty to Sydney airport death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/05/comanchero-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-pleads-guilty-to-sydney-airport-death |access-date=7 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=5 September 2014}} During the flight, Hawi and Wainohu exchanged words and afterwards texted their respective members of their gangs to be present at Sydney airport.{{cite news |last1=Wells |first1=Jamelle |title=Bikie boss guilty of murder over airport brawl |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-02/comancheros-boss-guilty-of-murder-over-airport-brawl/3610910 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=ABC News |date=1 November 2011}} At gate 5 of the airport, a brawl broke out as the Hells Angels and Comancheros fought each other.{{cite news |last1=Wells |first1=Jamelle |title=Bikie boss guilty of murder over airport brawl |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-02/comancheros-boss-guilty-of-murder-over-airport-brawl/3610910 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=ABC News |date=1 November 2011}} One witness, Naomi Constantine, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation News: "They started grabbing the metal poles that break up the check-in area and swinging them almost like swords at each other's heads. I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came up with a pole and just started smashing it into his head."{{cite news |title=Deadly brawl at Sydney airport |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7957863.stm |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=BBC |date=22 March 2009}}
The brawl ended with Anthony Zervas, a brother of the Hells Angel Peter Zervas, being punched and kicked to death in public by the Comancheros.{{cite news |title=Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi pleads guilty to Sydney airport death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/05/comanchero-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-pleads-guilty-to-sydney-airport-death |access-date=7 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=5 September 2014}} Zervas was not a member of the Hells Angels, but as the younger brother of Peter Zervas, the sergeant-at-arms of the Angels Sydney chapter, was so closely associated with the Hells Angels that he was considered to be an unofficial member.{{sfn|Veno|2011|p=331-332}} The security camera footage showed the Comancheros displayed extreme sadism as they gleefully punched and kicked Zervas while smashing in his head with a 17-kilogram metal bollard.{{sfn|Veno|2011|p=331-332}} According to witnesses, Hawi left the scene telling Peter Zervas: "You're dead. You're fucking dead. Next time we see you, you're going to have bullet holes through you". After killing Anthony Zervas, the Comancheros boarded a taxi and shouted at the driver "go, go, go!"{{sfn|Veno|2011|p=332}} Hawi went into hiding after the airport incident and was for a time Australia's most wanted man.{{sfn|Veno|2011|p=332}} The security camera footage of Zervas's death was frequently played on Australian television and forever ended the popular image in Australia of outlaw bikers as loveable outcasts from a society that the bikers claimed to be oppressive.{{sfn|Veno|2011|p=332}}
Hawi was charged with second degree murder in connection with Zervas's killing.{{cite news |title=Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi pleads guilty to Sydney airport death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/05/comanchero-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-pleads-guilty-to-sydney-airport-death |access-date=7 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=5 September 2014}} His trial began on 25 May 2011.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Malcolm |title=Bikie boss Mick Hawi convicted of murder over airport brawl |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bikie-boss-mick-hawi-convicted-of-murder-over-airport-brawl-20111102-1mv2z.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=2 November 2011}} The Crown Attorney prosecuting Hawi, Natalie Adams, stated that the feud with the Hells Angels led to the "perfect storm" at the Sydney airport as the hatred between the two gangs was such that members of both gangs were willing to kill each other.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Malcolm |title=Bikie mayhem at airport: one murder conviction, two new trials for manslaughter |url=https://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/938925/bikie-mayhem-at-airport-one-murder-conviction-two-new-trials-for-manslaughter/ |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=The Maitland Mercury |date=9 November 2012}} During the trial, the Crown introduced as evidence skin flakes whose DNA matched Hawi's that were found under Zervas's fingernails.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Malcolm |title=Bikie boss Mick Hawi convicted of murder over airport brawl |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bikie-boss-mick-hawi-convicted-of-murder-over-airport-brawl-20111102-1mv2z.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=2 November 2011}} On 1 November 2011, Hawi was found guilty of second degree murder and affray (i.e fighting in public).{{cite news |last1=Wells |first1=Jamelle |title=Bikie boss guilty of murder over airport brawl |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-02/comancheros-boss-guilty-of-murder-over-airport-brawl/3610910 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=ABC News |date=1 November 2011}} Justice Robert Allan Hulme stated that he felt that the Crown had not established that Hawi had personally inflicted any blows on Zervas, but that: "His presence would undoubtedly have had the effect of authorising and approving the actions of the other man who bludgeoned Anthony Zervas to death."{{cite news |title=Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi pleads guilty to Sydney airport death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/05/comanchero-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-pleads-guilty-to-sydney-airport-death |access-date=7 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=5 September 2014}} Hawi appealed the murder conviction and in a plea bargain with the Crown on 4 September 2014 pleaded guilty to manslaughter.{{cite news |title=Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi pleads guilty to Sydney airport death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/05/comanchero-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-pleads-guilty-to-sydney-airport-death |access-date=7 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=5 September 2014}} Besides for his convictions in relation to the Sydney airport incident, Hawi had a number of minor driving convictions alongside convictions for his use of offensive language in public.{{cite news |last1=Proudman |first1=Daniel |title=Rumours swirl over who may have wanted former bikie boss Mick Hawi dead |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rumours-swirl-over-who-may-have-wanted-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-dead-20180215-p4z0h5.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 February 2018}} In 2015, Hawi was released on parole.{{cite news |last1=Hedayat |first1=Sergei |title=What We Know About the Death of Ex-Bikie Boss Mick Hawi |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/what-we-know-about-the-death-of-ex-bikie-boss-mick-hawi/ |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Vice |date=15 February 2018}} One who knew him stated: "Mick was a big player in Sydney before being a bikie was fashionable and tensions with the [Hells] Angels and his own club have been high ever since he got out [of prison]. He was a man of his word, he had balls, demanded respect, and didn't give a fuck."{{cite news |last1=Hedayat |first1=Sergei |title=What We Know About the Death of Ex-Bikie Boss Mick Hawi |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/what-we-know-about-the-death-of-ex-bikie-boss-mick-hawi/ |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Vice |date=15 February 2018}} In January 2023, a photograph was released which showed Hawi having dinner in a posh Istanbul restaurant with Duax Ngakuru and Hakan Ayik. {{cite news |title=New Zealand police confirm Kiwi-born Comancheros 'Supreme Commander' Duax Ngakuru arrested in Turkey |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealand-born-comancheros-supreme-commander-duax-ngakuru-reportedly-arrested-in-turkey/4JNMVYIKS5AMTC3DMQGH74INQ4/ |access-date=24 December 2023 |publisher=New Zealand Herald |date=14 January 2023}}
Murder
Hawi was in the parking lot of the Rockdale Fitness First gym on the south side of Sydney on 14 February 2018 when he was shot dead in his automobile.{{cite news |last1=McKinnell |first1=Jamie |title=Former Comanchero boss Mick Hawi allegedly murdered by friend who 'embarrassed' him, court hears |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-11/mick-hawi-allegedly-murdered-by-former-friend-court-hears/12545568 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=10 August 2020}} Assistant Commissioner Mal Lanyon of the New South Wales police stated: "I'd say it was a targeted and planned attack and completely without regard to human life".{{cite news |last1=Kidd |first1=Jessica |title=Former bikie boss Mahmoud Hawi dies after being shot outside Sydney gym |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-15/bikie-boss-mahmoud-hawi-shooting-at-rockdale-gym/9450570 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=ABC News |date=14 February 2018}} Immediately after his murder, Hawi's widow, Carolina Gonzales, went to see a Sydney property developer, Eddie Haragli, and threatened to kill him as she believed he was the man behind her husband's murder.{{cite news |last1=Zemek |first1=Steve |title=Widow of former bikie boss Mick Hawi threatened developer hours after murder |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/widow-of-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-holds-back-tears-at-murder-trial/news-story/860b66b52f51d48087871ee30fd037db |access-date=13 August 2023 |publisher=New.comAu |date=11 August 2020}}
Yusuf Nazlioglu and Jamal Eljaidi were charged with first degree murder with the Crown alleging that Nazlioglu was the man who killed Hawi.{{cite news |last1=McKinnell |first1=Jamie |title=Former Comanchero boss Mick Hawi allegedly murdered by friend who 'embarrassed' him, court hears |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-11/mick-hawi-allegedly-murdered-by-former-friend-court-hears/12545568 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=10 August 2020}} The defense lawyers put forward the alternative theory that Haragli was the killer.{{cite news |last1=Zemek |first1=Steve |title=Widow of former bikie boss Mick Hawi threatened developer hours after murder |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/widow-of-former-bikie-boss-mick-hawi-holds-back-tears-at-murder-trial/news-story/860b66b52f51d48087871ee30fd037db |access-date=13 August 2023 |publisher=New.comAu |date=11 August 2020}} On 9 September 2020, both Nazlioglu and Ejaidi were acquitted on the first-degree murder charges.{{cite news |last1=McKinnell |first1=Jamie |title=Two men found not guilty of murdering former Comanchero boss Mick Hawi |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-10/two-men-found-not-guilty-of-mick-hawi-bikie-murder/12624340 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=ABC News |date=9 September 2020}} Gonzales's feud with Ophelia Haragli, the wife of Eddie Haragli, has attracted much media attention in Australia.{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Breden |title=Mick Hawi's widow Carolina Gonzales in confrontation with ex- friend Ophelia Haragli |url=https://thewest.com.au/news/nsw/mick-hawis-widow-carolina-gonzales-in-confrontation-with-ex--friend-ophelia-haragli-ng-368dc3d9ef9058b9b964d67c60fe01fe |access-date=13 August 2023 |publisher=The West Australian |date=16 October 2020}} Nazlioglu was murdered on 27 June 2022.{{cite news |last1=Roberts |first1=Millie |title=Man charged with murder over shooting of former bikie Yusuf Nazlioglu |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-19/man-charged-yusuf-nazlioglu-shooting/102240584 |access-date=13 August 2023 |publisher=ABC News |date=18 April 2023}}
Books
- {{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Duncan |title=Outlaw Bikers in Australia The Real Story |date=2013 |publisher=Macmillan Australia |location=Sydney |isbn=978-1742612942}}
- {{cite book |last1=Veno |first1=Arthur |title=The Brotherhoods: Inside the Outlaw Biker Clubs |date=2011 |publisher=Unwin & Allen |location=Sydney |isbn=9781459616110}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{OutlawMotorcycleGroups}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawi, Mick}}
Category:2018 murders in Australia
Category:21st-century Australian criminals
Category:Australian crime bosses
Category:Australian male criminals
Category:Australian people convicted of drug offences
Category:Australian people convicted of manslaughter
Category:Australian people of Lebanese descent
Category:Australian Sunni Muslims
Category:Comanchero Motorcycle Club
Category:Criminals from Sydney
Category:Deaths by firearm in New South Wales