September 3, 2026 — 5:00amThe murder of engineering student Marco Tapia in his Sydney home is the latest loss of innocent life in a gangland war being waged by inept and often young criminals willing to kill for just a few thousand dollars.Now the infamous Raptor squad of the NSW Police is targeting those who enlist Sydney’s teenage criminals, beginning with a probe into the botched assassination attempt on an NRL star.Raptor Squad commander Brad Abdy.Matt Davidson/Jeremy PiperEarly on February 17, former Bulldogs player Matt Utai was walking down his driveway in Greenacre when gunfire rattled down the street. The former rugby league winger was shot in the leg and shoulder and was bleeding out on the nature strip as a black SUV roared away. Utai was rushed into surgery and survived, and has since left the country.Police allege the getaway driver was just 15, while a second boy the same age sheltered the fugitives. A 16-year-old helped hide the gun. The crew wasn’t really a gang; they were mercenaries.Raptor Squad commander Brad Abdy says encrypted messages from overseas recruiters can be passed between suburbs to three different people ordering a shooting in Sydney, all without one person knowing each other.Two men have been charged over the murder of Sydney plumber John Versace.NSW Police“These aren’t television hitmen who can shoot an apple off someone’s head from 100 metres away,” the detective acting superintendent said in an interview with this masthead.Increasingly, they are amateurs: young, impressionable and foolish.Organised criminals in Sydney have woken up to the tactics long used by European gangs – teenage boys who take great risks for a fraction of the cost of an adult hitman.“You’re 16, your heart’s probably pumping out of your chest,” said Abdy. “You’re about to be involved in a crime – and take someone’s life potentially.”The Raptor Squad’s investigation into Utai’s shooting has now entered its sixth month as the number of dead on Sydney’s streets continues to rise.On Wednesday afternoon, another man was shot dead at a home in Sydney’s west. Police believe the second shooting in as many days was linked to organised crime. This time the man was gunned down just a couple of hundred metres from a school in what police believe may also be another case of mistaken identity.In August, Strike Force Halesowen executed search warrants on a storage yard in Katoomba and found six suspected stolen vehicles, cloned number plates, jerry cans, bleach and gloves. Detectives will allege the vehicles were being prepared as “kill cars” for criminal groups – vehicles used by gangs to carry out crimes without recognition.They claim the gang had recruited children to source them.Teenagers who are caught do far less time in prison, if any. Youth justice is primarily focused on rehabilitation.The only downside is the inexperience, but few in the criminal underworld seem to care.“There’s definitely a drop in the quality of the crime – certainly not the seriousness – and that creates the prospect for mistakes to be made,” Abdy said.Raptor Squad commander Detective Acting Superintendent Brad Abdy.Jeremy PiperIn April 2025, two 15-year-old boys opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle into homes in Merrylands, and Guildford West in March. The bullets went within a few centimetres of a sleeping child and a woman’s head.They shot up the wrong house.A month later, tradie John Versace was shot dead in his Condell Park driveway, allegedly by a 19-year-old. Once again, it was the wrong home.John Versace (left) was killed in a hail of bullets at his family home, a major catalyst for a new police strike force. Then, at 3.40am on Tuesday, a group of home invaders stormed a two-storey Glen Alpine property in Sydney’s south-west. They shot Tapia dead in his bed. Tragically, it was another case of mistaken identity.The third-year biomedical engineering student had no links to organised crime and was described by family as a “genius”. Police are chasing his killers. They have not confirmed whether they believe they are seasoned criminals or teenagers.Utai’s son Iziah taunted the killers online, suggesting he was the target.“Popped the wrong person, didn’t even get the right house,” he wrote on Instagram.Iziah Utai was not at home when his father was shot; he was in hiding overseas following a failed assassination attempt on a senior Alameddine figure in Parramatta.Iziah Utai has posted photos of himself on Instagram claiming to be in Albania.Instagram / @iziah_utaiA 19-year-old alleged gunman had sprayed bullets into a ute, killing the Alameddines’ bodyguard, Dawood Zakaria, and injuring their lawyer, Sylvan Singh.Abdy said the families of the shooters are often targeted. Both Matt and Iziah Utai are now abroad.Police hope Matt Utai will lead them to Iziah. This week the latter posted another video on Instagram of him dancing with a pistol twirling on his finger in joy.“CHEE HOO,” Iziah captioned the video, along with a coconut emoji.Iziah Utai, alleged Coconut Cartel leader, posted this message on Tuesday morning.InstagramAbdy said, often, the gangsters at the top refuse to pay their teenage soldiers. Clout is all they get.“These kids will do [shootings] for less, and then they get a bit of social media gratification: ‘That was me, that was me, that was me’,” Abdy said.Abdy has seen teen soldiers become adult criminals.“We’ve certainly seen a progression where these people start off stealing cars, then they go to the next level, to the next level, to the next level,” he said.“You run the risk that by 20 or 25 years old they’re totally desensitised to violent crime.”In 2023, Ahmad Al Azzam was shot and later died of his injuries while a couple sitting in another car down the road, were hit and badly injured by stray bullets believed to have been fired by 22-year-old Anthony Pele.Pele, who fled the country and is now NSW’s most wanted man, had graduated from a teenage thug to an international criminal, ordering murders on Sydneysiders from overseas.NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the recruitment of teenagers into organised crime had shattered families.“What is particularly disturbing is the exploitation of our young people as foot soldiers for these criminals,” she said.Two months ago, NSW Police launched POLEN (Pacific Officers Law Enforcement Network), Australia’s first program targeting Polynesian youth at risk of recruitment by organised crime gangs in Sydney.Catley said the program was tasked with “breaking the cycles and showing young people there is another path”.Abdy said there is no retirement plan for the gangster life.“You’re not going to be drinking a beer up the north coast,” he said. “I’ve seen where it leads. You’re going to end up in the morgue or in the cells.”Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.More:CrimeCrimePoliceYasmin CatleySydney's ganglandsFor subscribersFrom our partners