A high-ranking police officer says the community has had a "gutful" of gangland murders, after an underworld figure was assassinated in a "hail of bullets" on a Sydney street last night.
Mahmoud "Brownie" Ahmad — who had a $1 million bounty on his head — was shot and killed after leaving an associate's home about 9.30pm at Greenacre on Wednesday.
Police said more than one person was waiting for Ahmad to leave the Narelle Crescent house, before a "hail of bullets" was fired from a car.
He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Ahmad was warned his life was in "imminent danger", but he continued to spend time with an organised crime group.
"He's been warned in the past he was a marked man and as a result he didn't heed those words ... he was going about his normal business without a care in the world," he said.
Detective Superintendent Doherty said his focus was keeping the community safe and appealed for dashcam footage or information from the public.
"The last thing we want is someone to be shot down on the street in a hail of bullets," he said.
"Everyone has had a gutful of it and it is a point where we need information from the public and community to help us do our job so we can put these people away."
He said the murder was particularly "brazen and callous".
"Obviously, the intention was to kill him and they were going to do that by firing as many bullets at him as they could," Detective Superintendent Doherty said.
"It's a meticulous assassination of a person they were going to kill. They weren't going to muck around with this one that's for sure.
The ABC understands Ahmad had been in an ongoing feud with rival underworld family, the Alameddines.
Best known as "Brownie", in October Ahmad abandoned plans to visit to Rushcutters Bay Park in Sydney's east after he was warned he could be the subject of an "imminent daylight hit".
Police sources said he then decided to leave Australia, only to return recently from Lebanon despite being informed of the bounty on his head.
Ahmad was the brother of slain underworld figure Walid "Wally" Ahmad, who was killed outside a Bankstown shopping centre in 2016.
Two black cars — a Porsche sedan and a BMW — were set alight in nearby Strathfield and Belmore after the shooting.
Police are investigating whether the vehicles were used in the hit.
Residents in the street reported hearing at least four loud bangs at the time of the shooting last night.
Robert Collis said he heard a car drive off seconds after the shots were fired.
Another resident, Tony Kassis, said the incident was "unusual".
"We run there to see what's happened and we find there's something unusual happened in our street," he said.
"I've been here more than 35 years, in this street. I never see something like that."
