Suspected members of the notorious Brothers 4 Life are behind bars throughout Sydney on a landmark day for police, who believe the deadly gang will crumble.
Ten alleged gang members were charged over western Sydney shootings that have killed or injured other gang members.
Mohammed Hamzy, believed to be the de facto gang leader, was the police's biggest catch.
He was charged with murdering fellow gang member Yehyah Amood on October 14, 2012, at Greenacre.
The 28-year-old, who is the cousin of jailed gang founder Bassam Hamzy, faced Bankstown Local Court on Thursday.
He was also charged with shooting with intent to murder Bassam Hijazi.
As well, he is charged with discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm at Yagoona on October 8, 2012.
NSW Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas says police believe a split in the gang is responsible for the flare-up of violence.
"It's difficult to classify it as one type of conflict," he told reporters.
"Whether it's a power struggle or people simply being offended about something that's been said, and acting in a quite irrational way by shooting someone instead of arguing."
Two other gang members, one on crutches with "MEOC" tattooed on his neck and another revealed to be a Google software whiz with an injured nose, were refused bail in the same court.
In court it was revealed that Adam Dowidar, 25, who had a bandage on his nose, was no ordinary gangster, despite being accused of letting his car be used in the murder of Mr Amood and hindering the police investigation.
The court heard he had worked for years as a software engineer for Google Maps and earned $160,000 a year before his contract ended in May.
In refusing his bail application, Magistrate Elaine Truscott said Dowidar was not the person he was representing himself to be, and his fierce loyalty to the gang made it seem like he was living "a double life".
Fellow gang member Omar Ajaj, 24, from Auburn, briefly faced the same court charged over the October 8 attack.
He was in the dock with crutches by his side as the court heard he had been shot recently.
"MEOC" - an acronym for the specialist police Middle Eastern Organised Crime squad - was tattooed on his neck in large letters.
Gang members had been mocking police with MEOC number plates on their hotted-up cars - one of them was seized on Thursday.
Another strange court appearance was at Fairfield on Thursday, involving alleged Brothers 4 Life members charged with a shooting that left three men injured at Bankstown.
Three of the four men charged - Wahed Karimi, Sarkhel Rokhzayi and Jamil Qaumi - wore head-to-toe, sheer white forensic suits as they sat in the dock amid a heavy police presence.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says indications that police have broken the back of Brothers 4 Life will be met with "a wave of relief" throughout Sydney.
In a shooting this week, an innocent 13-year-old girl was hit in the back when she was caught in the crossfire.
Police say they became aware of the gang about a year ago, that it has a loose structure and is believed to comprise friends and relatives who swore loyalty to founder Bassam Hamzy.
He was jailed in 1998 for the murder of Kris Toumazis outside the Mr Goodbar nightclub in inner-city Darlinghurst.
Despite serving a 21-year sentence, Hamzy is believed to have run protection rackets and drugs from jail, and police are not sure of the influence he exerts on members from inside jail.
