Young, dumb and deadly: The new face of Sydney's 'disorganised crime'

In Sydney, disorganized crime is being carried out by inexperienced and young individuals who are willing to kill for a minimal fee, according to police and criminologists. Two men, Marco Tapia, a 23-year-old university student, and Joshua Macdonald, a 40-year-old man, were killed in suspected mistaken identity murders over two days in Sydney's outer suburbs.

Police are investigating these incidents, including a potential connection to the ongoing feud between the Alameddine crime family and the self-described Coconut Cartel.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley describes this new form of crime as very difficult to police, as organized crime groups have outsourced their violent activities to amateurs through "violence brokers" who work on commission. These brokers find young people already on the fringes of crime groups and pay them to carry out the killings.

While the monetary loss to the crime families may be minimal, the impact on innocent victims is significant. Since 2021, eight people have been murdered in mistaken identity incidents, and over 800 people have been arrested for organized crime-related offenses in the past year.

Crime groups are outsourcing these violent acts because many of their members have been arrested or fled overseas, creating a power vacuum. NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon emphasizes that the vast majority of these offenses are organized from overseas. Police are committed to stopping this violence, warning that those who engage in such activities will face severe consequences, not only for themselves but also for their friends and families.