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Joseph Antoun death by gunfire reveals ugly world of debt collecting and criminals
MARK MORRI THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 21, 2013 12:00AM
Joseph Antoun, who was killed at his Sydney home. Picture:
Man shot dead in Sydney's inner westJoseph Antoun, who was killed at his Syd...
WHEN debt collector Joseph Antoun opened the door of his Sydney home early this week and was shot five times, no one was surprised - except him.
He lived in the dangerous world of debt collecting but thought his reputation and connections made him untouchable. He was obviously wrong and, just like his business associate Vasko Boskovski, he was executed by a professional hitman.
Antoun's murder last Monday and Boskovski's in July has opened up a list of suspects that would fill the Entertainment Centre, as Sydney businessman Jim Byrnes quipped this week when told his protagonist Antoun was dead.
Sydney criminal Joseph Antoun, who was shot and killed five times. Picture: Supplied
It has also exposed a murky world where debt collecting is big business - and a shady one - especially when you deal in millions.
Murdered Sydney businessman Michael McGurk was known as a violent standover man, albeit in a suit, who lived on the north shore and would buy debts confident he could recover them using his own brand of tactics.
The most common practice was for commissions to be paid to those offering to collect the debt on behalf of the client.
Respectable businesses have been known to use collection agencies who then employ less desirable types to get the money.
Antoun dabbled in debt collection - and just generally ripping people off. He was a well-known thug with a criminal record but had recently taken to using the Brothers for Life gang to do his dirty work. Police confirmed their investigation into Antoun's murder includes Brothers for Life.
"But there are a lot of other people who may have wanted him dead," they added.
According to police, Antoun and Boskovki had links beyond the normal Sydney criminal milieu.
"If you look deeper you will find connections to figures in the Melbourne underworld as well, especially with Antoun.''
Vasko Boskovski, who has been linked to Joseph Antoun. Picture: Facebook
The lesser known Boskovski has been linked to a convicted Sydney Muslim terrorist.
There is some speculation their murders are a result of their switch from employing Brothers for Life as muscle to another group linked to Muslim crime groups.
Both gangs are well known to the Middle Eastern Crime Squad.
The other theory doing the rounds of the Sydney underworld is Antoun and another of his associates had been hauled in to the NSW Crime Commission for questioning more than once over the past few months.
Other crims get nervous when people like Antoun are under the glare of the all-powerful Crime Commission, who have the power to jail people simply for not answering questions. Many fellow criminals fear they are likely to cut a deal and give them up. That makes them a target to be silenced.
The pair were known to be loving family men who lived fairly unpretentious lives in simple suburban Sydney homes.
Sydney businessman Jim Byrnes has already told police he had been involved in a soured business deal with Antoun and named him as being behind a drive-by shooting of his home, vandalism of his offices and cars and assaults on his staff
maybe all these gangs of thugs and gangsters will be migrating to safe haven Qld.. shortly...
we can live in hope.
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