A Middle Eastern boxer turned underworld debt collector has been shot dead while leaving a bar in Melbourne.
Hussein “Huss” Dehaini, aged in his 30s, was gunned down as he walked to his car on Mount Alexander Road in Ascot Vale just after midnight on Sunday.
The fatally wounded man then made his way to North Street where he collapsed outside a Woolworths loading dock. He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but could not be saved, Victoria Police said.
Dehaini fought as a professional super-middleweight boxer until 2019, but recently began working as a standover man doing unofficial debt collection, Outlaw Media reported.
Local residents said they heard gunshots at about 12.10am, and the killers are believed to have been picked up in a sedan, which made its getaway down North Street, the Herald Sun reported.
Crime scenes were set up on Sunday morning outside a food truck park and along Mount Alexander Rd between Warwick and Mascoma streets, and on Mascoma Street outside a black Ford ute believed to have belonged to Dehaini, and near a white Alfa Romeo smeared with blood.
Dehaini, from the multicultural suburb of Broadmeadows, had a record of 10 wins and one draw in his boxing career and was nicknamed “Skinny”.
Victoria Police announced last week the state’s crime rate had fallen by 1.9% over the 12 months to March, but was still up 26% over the past three years.
Conflict between Middle Eastern crime syndicates over Melbourne’s illegal tobacco trade has resulted in hundreds of firebombings, murders, shootings, home invasions, kidnappings and assaults.
The city’s nightlife has also been targeted this year by an Iraqi-led gang known as The Cartel due to their moral opposition to the industry, with members of African youth gangs among those recruited to carry out attacks on bars, nightclubs, restaurants, strip clubs and brothels.
Header image: Left, Hussein Dehaini (BoxRec). Right, police at the scene (9News).
