The underworld had largely counted Fadi Haddara as done with the most dangerous days of his old life.

The once flash and fearsome crime boss had slipped into semi-retirement, albeit with some solid encouragement from tobacco rival Kazem Hamad.

The 48-year-old was carrying himself as someone with nothing to fear, living in a home well known to be his and socialising and running his family businesses out of the same small pocket of Altona.

Haddara appeared to be no threat to anyone any more – keeping a low profile, focusing on his family, and even recently opening a paint supply business.

On Sunday night he was ambushed and shot at least three times in his own driveway just before 8pm. Whether it is the start of a whole new conflict or the settling of an old score, Haddara is now fighting for his life.

“You’d think he’d live somewhere better than Altona. It’s where he grew up. [He stayed] probably because that’s what he knows,” an underworld source said.

The ambush was no warning but a concerted attempt to murder him. It had all the hallmarks of a professional, well planned and cleanly executed hit.

Haddara was discovered by a family member next to his black BMW, lying in a pool of blood and with gunshot wounds to his face, stomach and chest.

His four children were inside the home during the ambush. Neighbours heard yelling as detectives arrived at the scene.

Police were yet to identify the getaway vehicle, weapon or any suspects, Detective Inspector Adam Tilley of the armed crime squad said on Monday.

The list of suspects in the shooting includes Haddara’s most recent enemy, The Commission, the organised crime cartel created by Kazem Hamad out of the defeat of the Haddaras (and of many other people) more than two years ago.

But the motive remains a deep mystery. Underworld and police sources say Haddara was not known to be actively feuding with anyone recently, and there have been no incidents that might suggest a reason for such a determined attack.

A number of businesses and homes linked to the wider Haddara clan had been firebombed or subject to drive-by shootings following Hamad’s arrest in Iraq in January as a warning to old rivals testing the water for a return to the illicit tobacco market.

But the attempted execution came as a shock to the underworld.

Tilley confirmed that the police Operation Eclipse, tasked with investigating The Commission, is providing intelligence to investigators.

“Nothing has jumped out to us at the moment [to suggest] that there was a current threat [against Haddara],” Tilley said.

He said police were not sure whether Haddara was shot inside his car or how many people carried out the shooting.

“We’re still to go through CCTV footage to try and identify a person of interest.”

While attacks on Haddara-linked businesses had stopped, what has become clear to the underworld is that there has been no power vacuum in the wake of Hamad’s incarceration in Iraq, where he has been sentenced to life in prison.

His mantle in Iraq was allegedly assumed by his 23-year-old associate Ali al-Huseini, and the new era has been marked by increasingly violent tactics and expansions, including spates of kidnappings and home invasions targeting Melbourne’s nightlife scene.

A growing number of gangland figures have also been put on notice that operating in this new world means acknowledging and paying off The Commission to survive.

But it remains unclear what is actually left to take from Haddara. In early 2023, the crime patriarch was at the height of his power and allegedly on the cusp of forming a cartel – along with at least a half-dozen other underworld players – to control the multibillion-dollar tobacco blackmarket.

Haddara had allegedly dominated the illicit tobacco trade for more than a decade and was suspected of being behind some of the largest importations of illegal cigarettes in Victoria, according to intelligence held by law enforcement.

However, he and his associates had made a deadly enemy of Hamad by refusing him a seat at the table. Hamad’s response was to unleash a wave of violence targeting the family’s tobacco outlets and hospitality businesses, including the jewel in the family’s crown, the Karizma restaurant in Docklands.

In February 2024, Haddara discovered multiple GPS trackers on the underside of his car.

The message was almost as clear as a bullet – Hamad was coming for him, deploying a crew of assassins and a $1 million murder contract to put an end to the then king of illicit tobacco.

In October 2023, a gunman opened fire on someone mistaken for Haddara outside a home in Altona North.

Police became so worried about Haddara’s safety that they tried to short circuit the violence by arresting him on weapons charges that were eventually dropped.

Backed into a corner and losing support among a network of friends and allies whose own businesses had come under fire, by February 2024 Haddara did the only sensible thing – he surrendered.

In exchange for his renouncing all involvement in the tobacco trade, and paying $1 million in compensation, it’s alleged Hamad allowed him to live and keep his non-tobacco-related businesses.

At the time, Haddara’s lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson told The Age that Haddara had “no interest and has never had any interest in any tobacco store”.

“The assertions are not true and are ludicrous,” she said on behalf of her client.

The saying goes that gangsters never really retire.

But it remains to be seen who held a deep enough grudge to gun down the man in front of his family home with his children nearby.