News of the murder of notorious Melbourne crime patriarch Machhour Chaouk ricocheted through his native village in Lebanon almost as quickly as the gunshot that killed him.

Perched high among the rocky peaks of Mount Lebanon, the Chaouk clan of Bqarsouna were shaken by rumours that Machhour's killer was a member of the rival Haddara family.

Not just another Lebanese family who had established themselves in Australia, the Haddara family's roots go back to Zouk Haddara, a village across the mountain ridge that adjoins Bqarsouna.

"Everyone had the same fear," says Ahmad Chaouk, a former mayor of Bqarsouna and the unofficial head of the family, "that the war would break out between the families here."

Within hours of Machhour being gunned down in his backyard in Melbourne, his two brothers, Mohammed and Khodor, made arrangements for a memorial service in the house Machhour still owned in the village for that same evening.

There, at the urging of Ahmad and others, a decision was made to bring together all six branches of the Chaouk clan for an urgent family meeting the next day.

"This is a country where people can turn to guns very quickly," Ahmad told The Age this week on the stone porch of his home that overlooks the Mediterranean coastline.

"We knew that we had to settle this quickly."

At the meeting, Ahmad says, it was Mohammed Chaouk who insisted that everyone agree on a pact not to allow a blood feud to develop in Lebanon.

"A decision was taken that no matter who was responsible for the killing of Machhour, even if it was proved that it was a member of the Haddara family, then no one was to seek revenge here," says Ahmad.

For the past 18 months, the Melbourne branches of the Chaouk and Haddara families have been in bitter conflict.

After one member of the Haddara family was shot dead last year - over which Chaouk family relative Ahmed Hablas, 22, has been charged with murder - there have been several tit-for-tat shootings.

"Everyone has been tested by the events in Australia, so it was important to settle all the family business over here," Ahmad Chaouk added. "Thanks to God, the Haddara family also had a meeting and they came to the same agreement not to get involved."

Deadly violence has been a long-running thread in the family of Machhour Chaouk.

In 2005, his 31-year-old son Mohammed was shot dead by police during a dawn raid on the family's Brooklyn home.

Back in Lebanon in 1979, Machhour's father, Ali, was killed when an intra-family argument over property boundaries erupted into a gun battle.

"The gunfight was right here in the orchards of Bqarsouna," recalled Ahmad. "People were shooting from so many different directions that no one knows who shot the bullet that killed Machhour's father."

Two other male members of the Chaouk family and a woman were also killed.

"After that, Machhour returned to Bqarsouna to end the property dispute. He stayed here for about five months, and made sure that everything was OK, and then he went back to Australia. It was the last time we saw him here."

According to Ahmad, Machhour was a tough but honest man who grew up poor and moved to Australia in 1969 in search of opportunity.

"Before he left for Australia, he became engaged to his cousin Fatima, and it wasn't until 1972 that he came back and they got married and he took her back to Australia."

Ahmad says that, making a living first in Sydney and later in Melbourne, Machhour was the key in the door that opened to Australia. "He was the first to go to Australia, and then he quickly started to convince others to follow." Ahmad estimates that there are now up to 300 members of the Chaouk family living in Melbourne and Sydney.

And despite the fact that Machhour had not visited Bqarsouna in more than 30 years, Ahmad maintains that he kept strong links. "His son Walid came here several years ago to choose a wife," says Ahmad. "Every three to five years we see one of the Australians come back to Bqarsouna to look for a wife or a husband."

Whatever Machhour's notoriety in Melbourne - and long criminal record that included multiple convictions for assault, burglary, and heroin trafficking - Ahmad believes his reputation in Lebanon remained intact.

"We always saw a man who worked hard to earn a living, and who did good things for his relatives here in Lebanon."

News that Machhour had done several stints in prison appeared to come as a surprise to Ahmad: "He was a good man, this is the Machhour we know."

As to the future, Ahmad remembers that the Chaouk and Haddara families were once close, and he hopes they resolve their differences permanently.

"The latest talk from Australia here is that it was not the Haddara family that killed Machhour, but someone else. We have even heard things such as that the police were involved. But whatever happens, everyone here is determined to maintain peaceful relations between the families."

More than two months after Machhour Chaouk was killed, Victoria Police are yet to lay charges over his murder.