Police vow to end gang warfare in NSW

NSW Police plan to stamp out gangland warfare through a new strike force after several notorious crime figures were gunned down in bloody executions on Sydney's streets in recent months.

Investigations into eight shooting deaths over the past 17 months will be brought together under the overarching Strike Force Osprey, launched by NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione on Thursday.

"It's clearly a concern that we're at the point that we're at now. My main aim is to make sure we don't go any further," Mr Scipione said.

The move has come on the back of a spate of gang shootings, including the death of gangster Pasquale Barbaro in Earlwood earlier this week and hitman Hamad Assaad in Georges Hall last month.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins told media police are trying to find possible connections between the incidents.

"The reason we're drawing these strike forces together is to determine whether there are any links between any of these particular murders," he said.

"I don't know that there are going to be any links that are going to be found in any of these murders at this stage. This is purely a proactive position on our part."

Despite the apparent spike in gangland shooting deaths since June last year, police said the number of incidents had actually gone down by up to 30 per cent since 2013 and even further since 2000.