Police say Comanchero boss Tarek Zahed got the "reception that was deserved" on his return to Sydney over the weekend, where he has now been charged with murder.
Tactical police were allegedly forced to shoot out the windows of a luxury car carrying a "non-compliant" Mr Zahed through the city's eastern suburbs yesterday.
Officers fired bean-bag rounds into the vehicle and dragged out the high-ranking bikie figure as they feared he and an associate inside might be armed, police say.
Sporting a bandage around his head, Mr Zahed was pulled from the black BMW on busy New South Head Road in Edgecliff about 4:50pm.
Mr Zahed was last night charged with murder and kidnapping over the 2014 death of Youssef Assoum, 29, who was found shot and stabbed in Bankstown.
The 42-year-old, who narrowly survived an attempt on his life when he was shot 10 times in May, faces allegations he "actively participated" in Mr Assoum's death.
"We're alleging that he committed this murder and we're confident that other people involved in this murder will also be charged," Superintendent Danny Doherty said.
Mr Zahed didn't appear when the case was mentioned briefly in Downing Centre Local Court.
But his lawyer told Magistrate Robert Williams a bail application will be made next Monday when the matter has moved to Bankstown Local Court.
It will then return to court in October.
Superintendent Doherty said Mr Zahed, the Comanchero national sergeant-at-arms, had returned from Melbourne to Sydney to attend a function in Bondi.
Mr Zahed moved to Melbourne last year to escape police attention in his home state, where is bound by a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO).
Superintendent Doherty said Mr Zahed had notified police he was back in town, as he is required to do under the SCPO, "so we knew where he was".
"He's living the life in Melbourne. We had some information that he was up in Sydney," he said.
"And he was given the reception in Sydney that was deserved.
"OK he was battered and bruised and put on the footpath, but that was because he was non-compliant."
The homicide squad boss said the arrest came after new information was allegedly obtained by Taskforce Erebus, the team investigating recent shootings in Sydney, including Mr Zahed's own near-death experience.
He said intel from the NSW Crime Commission and Victoria Police's Echo Taskforce "culminated in sufficient information and evidence to conduct a high-risk arrest yesterday at Edgecliff".
"[I'm] happy to say we are making progress in relation to those murders," Superintendent Doherty said.
"So yesterday's arrest was important to us in regards to the calibre of the person that was arrested."
Superintendent Doherty defended the display of force used in arresting Mr Zahed as "appropriate and proportionate" to the alleged risk he posed to the public.
"The person involved has allegedly committed a murder. Has previously had very serious and violent crimes that he's committed," he said.
"He's previously been shot at himself ... so he's at high alert of his own safety. So we were concerned that he may be armed.
"We couldn't discount that the other person in the car may be armed."
The associate was released after questioning and no weapons were found in the vehicle.
Superintendent Doherty said it's not believed the attempt on Mr Zahed's life in May was linked to the death of Mr Assoum eight years before.
It will be alleged in court Mr Assoum's death was "an organised-crime related murder".
Mr Zahed was shot at Auburn's bodyfit gym alongside his brother Omar Zahed, 39, who died at the scene.
He was pictured dining in Melbourne with other alleged underworld figures last weekend, with a photo posed to Instagram showing him wearing designer clothes.
"Obviously they live the gangster life, the lavish lifestyle," Superintendent Doherty said.
"Yesterday I don't think he was as comfortable being dragged out of a car after being hit with bean-bag rounds and handcuffed."
