Channel 7 reported AK-47 hit Lemalu's empty wake venue days after police said the Coconut Cartel was smashed.

A gunman in an unknown SUV opened fire with an AK-47 at the Punchbowl venue advertised as the wake site for slain Sydney gangster Lorenzo Lemalu on Saturday afternoon, six days after NSW Police said they'd all but dismantled the Coconut Cartel.

According to reports, the venue was empty when the rounds hit. The wake had been moved roughly 15 hours earlier.

NSW Police said the shooting happened at the Diamond Venues Group on the corner of Punchbowl and Canterbury Roads about 2.20pm. Officers said multiple shots had been fired into the venue from an unknown SUV before the vehicle drove from the scene. The vehicle is believed to have been found engulfed in flames a short time later. Police said no injuries were reported.

Video shared online by crime outlet SCN WorldStar showed more than two dozen rounds being fired at the second level of the venue. In the footage, a male voice in the vehicle is heard saying "Yeah, yeah this window right here cuz" before a gloved and hooded passenger in the rear opens fire.

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Video: 7News. Hooded gunman fires AK-47 from SUV at Punchbowl venue

The wake had been moved Friday night

The ABC reported that Lemalu's funeral had originally been scheduled to take place at the Punchbowl venue but the plans were changed. According to reports, the owner of Diamond Venues told Lemalu's family at about 11pm on Friday night that they were not welcome, citing concerns of a potential incident. The wake never went ahead at the venue. It's understood the service will now go ahead at a different venue on Sunday, where NSW Police are expected to have a visible presence.

Who Lorenzo Lemalu was

Lorenzo Lemalu, 24, was fatally shot outside the Cee'f seafood restaurant on Truong Dinh Street in Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, at about 10.10pm on Thursday 21 May. A second Australian, Sauni Sam, 27, was seriously wounded in the same incident.

According to mainstream Australian and New Zealand reporting, including 7News Australia and Stuff, Lemalu was a senior figure in the so called Coconut Cartel, a Sydney organised crime group the ABC reports takes its name from a historic slur against Pasifika people. Stuff and the NZ Herald report that Lemalu was a former associate of the Alameddine crime network and had previously been linked to the Merrylands street gang Proper 60, with the gang's name tattooed across his stomach.

The Coconut Cartel reportedly broke away from the Alameddine network and declared war on it earlier this year. Stuff reports gangland police are investigating whether Lemalu's death is linked to that feud.

The Vietnam assassination

Two Samoan nationals have confessed on Vietnamese state television to the killing. Joseph Vaa Vaa, 27, was identified by Vietnamese police as the gunman who fired the weapon. Steve Tafia, 23, was named as the accomplice.

Vietnamese police said the pair flew from Samoa via Fiji into Tan Son Nhat International Airport on 14 May, using fake Australian passports and false names. Investigators said the two spent seven days tracking Lemalu and Sauni Sam before the 21 May attack. Police described the suspects as "highly professional and extremely violent" and said they used military grade firearms.

The pair were caught by Cambodian police in Preah Sihanouk City less than 72 hours after the shooting. They were formally charged on 25 May and now face a potential death penalty in Vietnam.

In televised confessions broadcast on Vietnamese state channel VTV9, both men read statements admitting they had been hired by an unnamed "individual abroad". "Together with Steve, I came to Vietnam and I was the person who directly used the gun to shoot and kill someone on 21 May," Vaa said. Tafia confessed to being the accomplice and said the pair had been hired to find and kill the two victims.

Both men were employees of Unalei Car Rentals in Vailoa, Samoa. Samoa Police have since launched a domestic investigation, frozen the suspects' bank accounts and the accounts of four other people, and arrested a local businessman linked to Unalei Car Rentals as he attempted to board a flight from Faleolo International Airport to Auckland. Vietnamese authorities have also detained eight Vietnamese nationals, including a 24 year old transport driver named Nguyen Trong Nghia, on allegations of concealing crimes, assisting fugitives and organising illegal border crossings.

The Alameddine link

Australian and New Zealand mainstream reporting, including 7News Australia, Stuff and the NZ Herald, has placed Lemalu's death and Saturday's Punchbowl shooting inside an ongoing feud between the Coconut Cartel and the Alameddine crime network. Stuff reports Lemalu was a former associate of the Alameddine network and had previously been linked to the Merrylands street gang Proper 60.

Stuff reports gangland police are investigating whether Lemalu's killing in Vietnam is linked to that feud. NSW Police have not publicly named who they suspect commissioned the hit.

NSW Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook said last week that "organised crime figures who are offshore" were directing violence in NSW.

The wider war

The Alameddine and Coconut Cartel feud has produced multiple shootings and firebombings across NSW in recent months.

On 17 February, former NRL star Matt Utai, 44, was shot multiple times in a drive by attack outside his home in Greenacre, in Sydney's south west. The shooters fired from a white SUV that was later found burnt out at Wiley Park. NSW Police said at the time Utai had no criminal history and may not have been the intended target.

NSW Police homicide detectives are looking for Utai's son Iziah Utai, 24, also known as Ziggy. An active arrest warrant has been issued for him under Strike Force Arrino for alleged criminal group related offences. The investigation is connected to the May 2025 murder of senior Alameddine member Dawood Zakaria, 32, who was fatally shot multiple times in his vehicle while stopped at a set of traffic lights in Granville. Zakaria's lawyer was also shot in that incident but survived.

Per NZ Herald reporting, NSW Police now believe Iziah Utai is a member of the Coconut Cartel. He reportedly left Australia in the days after the Zakaria killing. He is alleged to have been involved in the Zakaria murder. He has not been convicted of that offence.

Per NZ Herald reporting, NSW gang taskforce officers allege Matt Utai was specifically targeted "in place of his son" amid the broader feud. Police are also reportedly investigating whether an Asian crime syndicate is helping to finance the Coconut Cartel.

The cartel police said was "all but dismantled"

Last week, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook said officers had "all but dismantled" the Coconut Cartel following a series of raids and arrests across Sydney.

"For a long time, we've been playing catch up," Cook said. "For the first time, we think we're on par."

Among those arrested was 27 year old Henry Kupa, identified by police as an alleged senior on shore leader of the cartel. Police say Kupa is believed to be directly linked to a warehouse operation at Emu Plains in western Sydney and is accused of coordinating activities on behalf of offshore figures. A prison officer accused of assisting the cartel by identifying targets has also been arrested and remains before the courts.

Cook said the operation pointed to offshore direction of NSW gang activity. "This investigation has reaffirmed the role that organised crime figures who are offshore play and in terms of directing the violence in NSW," he said.

Six days on, the wake venue was sprayed with rifle fire in broad daylight.

The operational picture

Several details of Saturday's attack don't fit the pattern of a warning shot.

The SUV pulled up at 2.20pm, matching the schedule advertised publicly for Lemalu's wake. The audio captured by SCN WorldStar has the shooters identifying a specific window of the venue before opening fire. More than two dozen rounds were poured into the second level. According to reports, the getaway SUV was allegedly stolen and was set alight a short distance away on Gillian Place.

The wake's last minute relocation was decided around 11pm the night before, according to reports, after the venue had already been publicly listed online as the wake site. The shooters arrived at the venue and the time the public listing had advertised. They opened fire on a specific window of the second level. By then the room had been empty for roughly 15 hours.

NSW Police haven't publicly commented on the apparent motive. The investigation was ongoing and no arrests had been made in connection with Saturday's shooting at the time of publication. Anyone with information has been asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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