NSW crown witness 'murdered' in jail plot

A crown witness in a drug importation trial was gunned down outside his Sydney home in a murder plot masterminded by the man he was to testify against, a court has heard.

Accused gunman Maximillian Mazzilli and co-accused Luke Sparos, Anthony Saliba and Christine Saliba have pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court in Sydney to involvement in the April 2011 fatal shooting of Gemahl Maika at Glen Alpine in Sydney's southwest.

Opening the crown case, prosecutor Craig Patrick SC told the jury Mr Maika, 38, was shot five times by Mazzilli at Sparos's instigation less than six weeks before Sparos was due to face trial on drug importation allegations.

The court heard Mr Maika had been involved in the drug importation operation and had turned crown witness against Sparos and others, avoiding charges as a result.

Mr Patrick said Sparos began planning retribution while he was an inmate at Long Bay Hospital Correctional Centre, and hired soon-to-be-released fellow inmate Mazzilli to carry out the murder.

Recorded telephone conversations allegedly show Sparos used his brother-in-law Anthony Saliba and another inmate as go-betweens to communicate with Mazzilli to avoid suspicion while Sparos masterminded the plot from behind bars.

Sparos's wife Christine Saliba is accused of helping in the plan, Mr Patrick said.

Sparos allegedly used code in recorded phone conversations with his alleged co-conspirators, referring to Mazzilli's payment as "clothes" and a firearm as "crystals".

"I've got something up my sleeve anyway so it doesn't matter," Sparos allegedly told an associate in a recorded conversation about his upcoming 2011 trial, Mr Patrick said.

"It's alleged 'something up my sleeve' is a reference to a plan to kill Mr Maika," Mr Patrick told the jury.

Mr Maika was fatally shot once in the head and four times in the upper body on April 6, 2011, after he was confronted by a gunman when he emerged from his car.

Mr Patrick said that three years later Mazzilli admitted to the shooting to an undercover police operative.

Mazzilli allegedly showed the officer a news article of Mr Maika's death, and suggested he was paid $200,000 for the killing, saying, "I know what I'm doing, I've got credentials".

Mazzilli allegedly said his last victim was "an example" and that he had "snitched on things he shouldn't have snitched on", and described how he laid in wait for three hours for Mr Maika to come home.

"As he jumped out of the car, pow pow pow," Mazzilli allegedly told the officer before laughing, Mr Patrick said.

Mazzilli, Sparos and Anthony Saliba have pleaded not guilty to murder.

Christine Saliba has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory before the fact.

The trial has been set down for eight weeks before Justice Michael Adams.