Crime figure Mahmoud "Brownie" Ahmad was so embedded in Sydney's underworld he was only ever going to end up in a body bag or back in jail, police say.
Ahmad, 39, was released from prison six months ago after serving five years for the manslaughter of gangland rival Safwan Charbaji in 2016.
Known as a big player in Sydney crime, Ahmad had amassed a long list of enemies in the city and walked out of jail with a bounty on his head.
After a tip-off saved him from an "imminent daylight hit" in October, he left Australia to spend time in his native Lebanon.
It was the second time he had left the country in fear of his life, but there wouldn't be a third.
Ahmad couldn't stay away from Sydney, and was soon back among his regular associates despite the $1 million being offered to his prospective killers.
Now, he's the second Ahmad brother to have been gunned down in the gangland battleground of south-west Sydney.
"His life was always in danger," NSW homicide squad boss Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said.
"He was going to end up in a slab in the morgue or he was going to end up back in jail in a cell. Unfortunately for him he's in a morgue as we speak."
In a sign of how closely police were watching him, it was members of the anti--gang Raptor Squad who were first on the scene to render CPR to Ahmad.
At the time of his death Ahmad was on parole for the manslaughter of Charbaji outside a Condell Park smash repairs business on April 9, 2016.
Two formerly friendly criminal groups had met to sort out a dispute over money but a shootout erupted, with Charbaji killed and another person shot in the face.
Ahmad fled to Lebanon after the shooting but on his return in 2017 admitted to police he had fired a "warning shot" in the confrontation.
He said he picked up a gun from the ground and fired out of self-defence as a man had pointed a weapon at him from inside a car holding Charbaji. Ahmad's shot flew over the vehicle.
A judge remarked on Ahmad's sentencing that he "bitterly regretted" his role in the incident and that at the time it had appeared his life was "proceeding well ... perhaps for the first time".
The court heard it was Ahmad's older brother Walid "Wally" Ahmad who fired the fatal shots outside his auto shop.
The incident is believed to have sparked a series of tit-for-tat murders, including crime kingpin Wally Ahmad's.
Three weeks after the shootout, the 40-year-old was murdered while sitting at a table outside Bankstown Central shopping centre.
A man who some thought was linked to that hit, Hamad Assaad, was executed outside his Georges Hall home in October 2016.
Police later revealed they didn't suspect Assaad in Wally Ahmad's death and no-one was ever charged.
Then Kemel "Blackie" Barakat, a man with links to the Ahmads, died when masked hitmen stormed his Mortlake unit in March 2017.
Later that month Brownie Ahmad was arrested at Sydney Airport having wilfully returned home for questioning over Charbaji's death.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was safe inside a prison cell for years — but his enemies were waiting.
Police say there were many people who wanted to harm Ahmad, making the initial investigation into his murder that much more difficult.
In recent times, it was revealed Ahmad was locked in a feud with the Alameddine crime network — one side of a bloody gang war with rivals the Hamzys.
It's believed the Alameddines had planned to ambush Ahmad at Rushcutters Bay Park in October but he was told to reconsider his visit.
As soon as last week Ahmad received more warnings from police that his life was in danger, advice he chose not to heed.
