Brothers 4 Life: The inside story of a vicious rivalry within the gang that would hold Sydney to ransom
EXCLUSIVE: Fresh out of prison, Farhad Qaumi (right) gathered members of his new Brothers For Life chapter to outline his vision to dominate the city’s underworld. But a rival was having none of it.
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FRESH out of prison, Farhad Qaumi gathered members of his newly formed Brothers For Life chapter to outline his vision to dominate the city’s underworld: “We’re going to give Sydney something they’ve never seen before.”
He had recently left Goulburn’s Supermax prison where he had met the B4L gang’s spiritual leader Bassam Hamzy, who had given Qaumi his blessing to open an aggressive new chapter of the gang in Blacktown.
It was winter 2013 and Qaumi — the newcomer with visions of grandeur — had been delegated criminal territory from Granville to Penrith by the dominant Bankstown chapter.
But Qaumi wanted more.
Enter Mohammed Hamzy, a shot-caller for the Bankstown crew, known to most as “Little Crazy”, or LC for short. He was having none of it.
Qaumi appeared to dislike Hamzy from the start. He was envious of his flashy wealth, his Mercedes-Benz C63, and the diamond in his earlobe. So when rumours emerged of a plot to have Qaumi killed, stories that were never fully confirmed, it was the excuse he needed to go to war.
For the past seven months, the story of two underworld kingpins vying for control of Sydney’s drug trade has unfolded before Justice Peter Hamill in a criminal trial that was suppressed in its entirety. The court heard that Qaumi was known for his temper and despotic rule.
Members of his Blacktown chapter were shot if they fell behind on their weekly $50 fees or if they missed clubhouse meetings. Anyone wanting to quit was told that no one goes out “without a bang”.
When a junior gangster didn’t answer his phone his head was split open with a gym weight. Cigarette ash was used to stem the bleeding so he wouldn’t need an ambulance.
In a murky underworld renowned for its strict adherence to a code of silence, former gang members lined up to give evidence against Qaumi, 34, and his two younger brothers, Mumtaz, 31, and Jamil, 24, who all pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, solicit to murder, shoot with intent to murder, commercial drug supply and directing a criminal group.
The jury was never told of how Farhad Qaumi had successfully escaped a double-murder conviction in 2009, using the same self-defence argument used in this trial.
Or how in 2012 he was charged with another murder that was tossed at committal. Instead they saw him looking markedly ordinary, in reading glasses and, along with his brothers, clean-shaven.
They weren’t told about the brawls that broke out in the dock between the brothers and their two co-accused, the motives for which remain unclear. In one instance a razor blade was used, in another a pen. A Perspex barrier was installed to keep the men apart.
Glimmers of their darker nature emerged when intercepted phone calls were played to the jury. In one, Qaumi threatened a senior Finks outlaw motorcycle gang member.
“You won’t see me coming, brother,” he warned. “Believe me.”
Candid evidence from rollover witnesses revealed how drug territory was carved up between the two rival B4L chapters and how this led to tensions.
“He (Little Crazy) laughed and said, ‘tell him he can have Parramatta’,” a Qaumi confidante said, their name suppressed along with the other witnesses. “Farhad didn’t want LC telling him what to do so he said we’d have Granville to Blacktown.”
Drugs such as ice, ecstasy and cannabis were bought from the Lone Wolf OMG and sold in “runs” managed by mid-ranking “soldiers”. Lower-ranking members acted as street-dealers in gay bars around Paddington.
A former B4L lieutenant said it did not threaten anyone’s turf: “City’s different. Everyone deals in the city.”
But when Qaumi learned he was a marked man, he decided to act.
“I was going to get LC anyway but this gives me an excuse,” he said, according to one witness. Qaumi’s barrister denied it was ever said.
Not denied, however, was that Qaumi sent a three-man team to Hamzy’s home at Revesby Heights for a pre-emptive strike. The gunmen found him in the garage watching YouTube videos with his cousins.
But Hamzy escaped. The bullets hit his cousin Mahmoud, who died shortly after. Another cousin, Omar Ajaj, was also hit but survived.
With war declared and reprisals expected, Qaumi made a list of further targets. He wrote down the names Michael Odisho and Masood Zakaria, both aligned to Bankstown B4L.
They escaped injury when their homes were shot up, but a relative of Zakaria’s, a 14-year-old girl, was hit by 300 shotgun pellets. The court heard she still requires regular lead testing and may not be able to have children.
Days later, a decision was made to kill a worker at Bankstown’s Chokolatta Cafe on the basis he knew people who might be able to reveal Qaumi’s secret Central Coast address. The man, Abdul Abu-Mahmoud, plus two friends, Khalil Khalil and Hassan Soueid, narrowly survived being shot as they sat in a car outside the restaurant.
A final shooting targeted the home of Hamzy’s mother in Greenacre before Qaumi was finally arrested on the Central Coast.
Guilty verdicts were handed down on Tuesday against the Qaumi brothers, but not their co-offenders, Mohammed Kalal and a man whose nane is suppressed. Kalal admitted involvement in the Zakaria and Chokolatta shootings, but said he acted out of duress, fearing the Qaumi brothers. The other man was charged over the murder of Mahmoud Hamzy, but denied being present. The jury was deadlocked on its verdicts.
TRAIL OF HITS AND COUNTER ATTACKS
July, 2013: Forge St, Blacktown
Brothers For Life Blacktown forms after Farhad Qaumi merges his criminal crew with the existing but smaller B4L Parramatta Chapter. Like most gangs, their clubhouse is based in an industrial complex.
October 29, 2013: Bardo Circuit, Revesby Heights
Farhad Qaumi orders the murder of Bankstown B4L leader Mohammed “Little Crazy” Hamzy. Hamzy survives a shooting attempt at his home but his cousin Mahmoud is killed.
November 3, 2013: Reilley St, Winston Hills
Fearing retaliation, Blacktown B4L members rampage against their Bankstown counterparts, starting with Michael Odisho, who survives a shooting at his mother’s home
November 4, 2013: Sunnyholt Rd, Blacktown
The rampage continues the following night with an attempt to kill Masood Zakaria, a Bankstown B4L member. He survives, but a 14-year-old girl at the home is riddled with shotgun pellets.
November 7, 2013: West Terrace, Bankstown
Rumours circulate that a man aligned to Bankstown B4L working at the Chokolatta Cafe may be obtaining Farhad’s secret address. This man is shot in his car along with two friends. All three survive.
November 29, 2013: Greenacre Rd, Greenacre
After Bankstown gets revenge with a drive-by shooting, Farhad orders Hamzy’s mother’s house to be shot up. Bullets are fired, but it’s a neighbour smoking a cigarette, Anthony Elkadi, who gets injured.
December 12, 2013: Location unknown
With arrests being made, a Blacktown B4L gang member decides to co-operate with police. He leads them to a bag filled with $170,000 worth of ecstasy tablets, and a shotgun and a revolver, both of which have been used in previous shootings.
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