Mohammed Haddara was fatally shot at the front of his parents' home in Altona North. Photo: Ten News

Ali Chaouk has been charged with the shooting murder of Mohammed Haddara, the death that escalated a bloody feud between the two crime families.

Homicide squad detectives charged the 36-year-old from Brooklyn with murder on Thursday morning, a police spokeswoman confirmed.

Haddara was fatally shot in Altona North on June 20, 2009.

Mr Chaouk will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court later on Thursday.

Police allege that Mr Haddara and another man kidnapped and bashed Mr Chaouk's cousin, Ahmed Hablas, on the day of the murder.

Mr Chaouk was told to meet Mr Haddara outside his parents' house in Altona North to discuss the return of Mr Hablas, police allege.

Mr Haddara waited in the street while the other man drove Mr Hablas to a nearby location, awaiting news of when to release him. But Mr Hablas overpowered the man and fled.

Almost simultaneously, Mr Chaouk arrived to meet Mr Haddara. Instead of discussing the release of Mr Hablas, he shot Mr Haddara up to five times in the back, police allege.

The Haddara family found Mr Haddara dead outside, and Mr Hablas and Mr Chaouk fled.

Last week, police arrested a lawyer who had represented the Chaouk family.

He was suspected of perverting the course of justice in relation to the investigation into Mr Haddara's murder, but was released without charge.

Ali Chaouk is a son of Macchour Chaouk, who was gunned down in the backyard of the family's Brooklyn home in 2010.

Members of the Haddara family were questioned by police in relation to that murder, but no charges were ever laid.

There were a series of tit-for-tat drive-by shootings linked to the families that continued for several years, but there have been few clear recent examples of violence between the warring clans.

More to come.