A motorcycle gang leader has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for murdering a brother of a rival gang member during a brawl at Sydney Airport.

Comanchero national president Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi was found guilty by a New South Wales state Supreme Court jury in November last year of the March 2009 murder of Anthony Zervas, the brother of Hells Angels member Peter Zervas.

Justice Robert Allan Hulme set a nonparole period of 21 years for the 31-year-old and a maximum of 28 years for the murder.

Anthony Zervas suffered stab wounds and massive head injuries when he was attacked with bollards and kicked, punched and stomped on as he lay on the floor of the domestic terminal

Hawi was also found guilty of affray for which he received a fixed term of three years, six months to be partly accumulated with the murder term.

The sentence is backdated to when he went into custody in May 2009.

The judge said Hawi and his Comanchero colleagues had displayed 'a flagrant disregard' not only for the law, but also for the many witnesses 'in whose memories the incident will live long'.

Friends and family of Anthony Zervas carry his casket out of his funeral

 

Mr Zervas suffered stab wounds and massive head injuries when he was attacked with bollards and kicked, punched and stomped on as he lay on the floor of the domestic terminal.

A rolling brawl between rival gangs erupted in Australia's busiest airport after a chance encounter between Hawi and Hells Angels boss Derek Wainohu on a flight from Melbourne.

Five other Commanchero members were also tried for murder. They were found not guilty, found guilty of manslaughter or are facing retrials after the jury was hung.

Hells Angels member Peter Zervas is led by police in to Central Local Court on July 9, 2009 in Sydney

A further six members or associates of the Commancheros were subsequently convicted of a range of offences including riot, affray and assault.

'This was a shocking and violent crime,' Justice Hulme said.

'The deceased was killed in an act of retribution because he dared to attack the president of the Commenchero. No one, in his mind, was going to get away with that.'

 

Gang leader Derek Wainohu, pictured with model Tara Moss, was at the centre of the fight at Sydney airport that led to the killing of Anthony Zervas

Justice Hulme described how many of those who saw the brawl were left in a state of shock, including a young mother who, after protecting her child, was 'frozen in fear'.

'The fighting, though short-lived, was shocking and vicious,' he said.

'There was a large crowd of innocent bystanders. They were shocked and frightened that such violence could occur in such a public place.'

A rolling brawl between rival gangs erupted in Australia's busiest airport after a chance encounter between Hawi and Hells Angels boss Derek Wainohu

Mr Zervas's mother, Frederika Bromwich, broke down in court after the sentence was read and nearly fainted outside court as - flanked by her daughters - she addressed the media.

'No punishment is enough for the loss of my son,' Ms Bromwich said.

'I just pray that he gets the punishment he deserves. My son didn't deserve to die in that way.'