‘I just don’t like her’: Gang associate discussed taking out top cop

The former boss of the squad tasked to end the bloodshed on Sydney’s streets has revealed the inside story of a kill plot against her, and why it never eventuated.

Retired NSW Police Officer Deborah Wallace. Picture: Tim Hunter.

A woman associated with the notorious Brothers for Life gang discussed having a ­contract taken out on the ­female cop who was leading the state’s Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, Detective Superintendent ­Deborah Wallace, at the height of the group’s underworld war in Sydney.

Retired NSW cop Ms Wallace – who became known as the “Gangbuster” for her years of countering crime gangs on the city’s streets – reveals for the first time in The Daily Telegraph’s The Road War documentary that there were intelligence reports a person had been approached to “take her out’’.

At the time, the woman behind the plot was an ­associate of Farhad Qaumi – the Blacktown boss of ­Brothers for Life.

“There was a female that was keen on Qaumi,” Ms Wallace said.

“I don’t know what their relationship was, whether it was trying to influence them to get gang members to do her bidding or what … There was some suggestion that she didn’t like me and we could only put it down to the fact Qaumi thought he had some kind of link to me which made that person jealous.

“Through the interactions that police had with him, he (Qaumi) often asked about my welfare.”

In the early 2010s, at the height of the war involving Brothers for Life, Ms Wallace was returning from a ­holiday in Thailand when, unbeknown to her, she was on the same flight as Qaumi.

“He was certainly never intimidating or threatening during these discussions (with police), but he would ask “how’s Deb? I hope she’s well. We were in Thailand together’,” Ms Wallace recalled.

Retired NSW Police Officer Deborah Wallace. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Qaumi later told police he had intended to approach her on the plane and say he could end the bloodshed on Sydney’s streets, but she was moved to another seat before he had a chance.

Ms Wallace would not go into detail about the threat to have her killed, ­except to say she never felt seriously threatened, despite the fearsome reputation of the gang involved.

“The person (approached about the kill plot) thankfully said, ‘well, there’s no point, like, what’s the point? You have to have a reason to have this person taken out’,’’ Ms Wallace said.

The woman then allegedly told the potential hit man: “Well, I just don’t like her.”

A number of now-retired senior police believe the woman was a driving force behind the Brothers for Life Blacktown chapter and the violence that rocked Sydney.

Pictured is the woman behind the kill plot.

One NSW Homicide Squad detective said he believed she had sparked the bungled attempt on the life of ­Mohammed “Little Crazy’’ Hamzy – which resulted in the death of his ­cousin, Mahmoud.

“She was very closely linked to Bassam Hamzy, who was in Supermax at Goulburn at the time, still is, and then passed a lot of information on from Bassam Hamzy to other Brothers for Life members on the outside, predominantly Farhad Qaumi,’’ he said.

The woman, who drove the getaway car in the Mahmoud Hamzy killing, was given a reduced sentence after she gave evidence against other members in the gang. She has since been released from jail with her identity suppressed.

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Originally published as ‘I just don’t like her’: Gang associate discussed taking out top cop