Inside the business worlds of the Alameddine and Hamzy families

They have been painted as thuggish Western Sydney families at war, but an examination of records has revealed there are some astute business operators in the Hamzy and Alameddine clans.

Would you get a hair cut or a blade shave from a man who survived two murder attempts? Or would you worry that his hand might be a bit shaky?

How about investing money with one of the leading members of a crime family who doesn’t have a financial license?

These are just two of the businesses that are part of an intricate web of companies run by the members of the warring crime families the Hamzys and the Alameddines. An investigation of business records by The Saturday Telegraph has shown the key members of each family have a directorship or shareholding in at least 34 companies.

While police investigate whether a dispute between the families has resulted in several members of the Hamzy family being executed in less than two years, ASIC records show that members of both families are prolific in setting up companies.

Diverting from their often reported reputation as violent street thugs, the records showed that some family members are quite astute when it comes to earning a dollar.

Some appear to be legitimate businesses. Others presented as vehicles used to buy and sell properties — a lucrative option in Sydney’s hot property market.

But records for some of the other businesses raise more questions than they answer.

Like why did several members of both families appear to lack follow-through on running the businesses?

Nineteen of the businesses examined by The Saturday Telegraph had been shut down by ASIC because they had either failed to lodge documents or been left dormant.

Hamzy family leader and convicted murderer Bassam Hamzy — who is set to stand trial accused of running a drug supply operation in jail — has no companies registered in his name.

But his late father and convicted drug dealer, Khaled, had a string of mysterious businesses under his name before his death in 2020.

This included one called Australian Investment Managers and several others with variations of that name.

Originally published as Inside the business worlds of the Alameddine and Hamzy families