Friend’s vow to slain bikie boss
A CHILDHOOD friend of slain bikie boss Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi has revealed she made a promise to watch over his widow and their sons if anything happened to him.
Kylie Hogan reaffirmed her commitment to the vow she made to Hawi, in a series of online messages.
"I have loved watching you two love birds since day 1 ... i made a promise to Mick i would never leave your side when you and the boys need me and i will always be there for u all. i love you babygirl ... RIP Mick ... i will truely miss seeing u ... love u xxxx (sic)," Ms Hogan wrote under a photograph of Hawi and his wife Carolina Gonzalez.
In another tribute posted on the eve of the bikie's funeral, Ms Hogan described Hawi as a "wonderful husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend".
"I have so many wonderful memories with you growing up as a kid and watching you and Carol become parents to those beautiful boys," she wrote on February 21.
"I promise to help look after them and always be there for them all. R. I. P Mick its not goodbye, its see you Later (sic)."
The 37-year-old was shot multiple times as he sat in his luxury car outside the Fitness First gym in Rockdale on February 16.
Security cameras captured two masked men running from the scene but they have so far managed to elude NSW detectives investigating the case.
Hawi rose to prominence as the national president of the Comanchero and was involved in a brutal clash between his gang and Hells Angels members after disembarking a flight at Sydney Airport in 2009.
Bystanders watched in horror as the rival gang members punched and stabbed each other with scissors in the domestic passenger terminal.
Hells Angel associate Anthony Zervas ended up being bludgeoned to death with a bollard.
Hawi was originally charged with murder and sentenced to 28 years in jail but in 2014 the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal overturned his conviction and he was released on bail.
Hawi was then able to plead guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter for which he received a six-year term and was promptly released after time served.
After Hawi's murder last week, Mr Zervas' mother Fredericka Bromwich told a television station she was glad he was dead.
"Mick Hawi got what he deserved and good on those boys that did it," she said in an interview with Seven News.
Though his reputation was one of violence and he was feared by many, those who knew him insist Hawi made an effort to go straight after his release from prison, living a quiet life in the suburbs of south Sydney, dividing his time between family and the gym.
His wife described him as a "beautiful soul" with a "beautiful heart" and successfully applied to have his sperm extracted from his dead body so that she could bear him another child.
Hundreds of people attended Hawi's funeral at the Fatima Al Zahra Masjid at Arncliffe on Thursday amid a heavy police presence.
Most mourners were dressed entirely in black tracksuits with some sporting Hawi's image emblazoned on the back of hoodies and T-shirts.
While they paid their respects and prayed over Hawi's body inside the mosque, police booked dozens of illegally parked luxury cars in surrounding streets.
Meanwhile, the investigation into Hawi's murder continues.
Know more? marnie.oneill@news.com.au
Twitter: @marnieoneill7
