We look back at the origins of the Brothers 4 Life Gang, a group with little regard for the law
EXCLUSIVE: THE B4L Gang has dominated headlines for months. Yoni Bashan traces the origins of a group who care little for the law.
SUPERMAX inmate Bassam Hamzy was not happy.
His gang, Brothers 4 Life, which he founded and directed from the state's most secure prison, had lost its way.
Its members were flying off the handle on drugs and alcohol and straying from Hamzy's fundamentalist Muslim ideology.
So in July 2012, he turned to underworld identity Farhad Qaumi, giving him instructions to clean up the gang and take it back to its roots.
Known as "The Afghan", Qaumi and his cohorts had transformed themselves from the poor sons of immigrants living in Auburn to men who could hold their own with some of Sydney's most wealthy, powerful and colourful identities.
On New Year's Day, Qaumi was shot on board a luxury yacht as he rubbed shoulders with Kings Cross identity Adam Freeman, the son of organised crime figure George Freeman, and a number of other prominent figures, including some from the Italian underworld.
The party on board the Oscar II was believed to be a "send off" for Freeman, who is soon to be sentenced for his role in a $3 million commercial drug operation for which his co-accused was given a nine-year prison term.
The decision to recruit Qaumi to B4L would be the catalyst for a bloody and very public war for dominance within the group.
Instead of saving the gang, the decision would destroy it.
HIGH ROLLERS
THE Brothers 4 Life were an impenetrable force.
At the height of their presence in south-western Sydney from late 2011, gang members were openly snubbing their noses at authorities, flashing their wealth and committing brutal, public acts of violence.
Unlike more sophisticated gangs, they were not interested in discretion.
Their Sydney leader, Mohammed Hamzy - nicknamed "Little Crazy" - got around in a $160,000 Mustang and kept a Range Rover in his driveway despite living in public housing and being on a disability support pension.
Another gang member sported an $80,000 Breitling watch, while others were regulars in the high-rollers room at The Star casino.
A 19-year-old newcomer was the registered owner of a luxury Audi Q7 even though, according to police, he had never worked a day in his life.
One member even had "MEOC" - an acronym for the Middle Eastern Organised Crime squad - tattooed in thick lettering across his neck, while others taunted police with MEOC on their numberplates.
Authorities believed that, while the gang operated autonomously out of Bankstown, it was directed by Bassam Hamzy from Supermax.
Investigations would later uncover that plans and directions were being passed from Hamzy through a legal secretary, posing as a lawyer, who was authorised to visit him in jail. The privileged legal documents are exempt from being scrutinised by prison authorities, unlike ordinary letters and phone calls.
THE MONEY
POLICE would routinely stop and search Brothers 4 Life members, finding wads of cash in their pockets.
Intelligence would later reveal their cashflow was a combination of extorting businesses and lucrative drug runs.
Typically, "runners" would deliver the drugs in shifts, taking orders via a purpose-bought drug phone.
The runners answer to a manager and once their supplies ran out, they would restock from a safe house where more product was stored.
Hire cars with modified compartments would be routinely used to transport the goods or to store firearms.
In October 2012, police searching a Toyota Aurion found a gun inside a hidden compartment, wrapped in a ziplock bag, a tactic used to ensure no prints were left on the weapon.
By the end of that year, the gang and their brutality were the talk of Sydney's gangland.
THE VIOLENCE
IT could be caused by anything from a post on Facebook to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The gang's propensity for violence brought them on to the police radar.
One of the first cases happened in December 2011 when a carload of B4L members driving through Haymarket stopped their car, crossed three lanes of traffic - one member using his hand to navigate traffic - and bashed a man senseless outside a pub.
Similar bashings would occur outside Kings Cross nightclubs, in full view of patrons and CCTV cameras.
One young man, a 24-year-old, spent 10 days in hospital after he and several others were attacked outside the Tunnel nightclub.
But the B4L saved their worst brand of violence for their own. There were also petty disputes between gang members. One man was almost killed over a Louis Vuitton belt that was stolen.
But there were also casualties of the lifestyle, such as Yehye Amood, 27. Amood, a B4L member, was gunned down as he sat with fellow member Bassam Hijazi in a Mercedes on Greenacre Road in October 2012.
Hijazi survived and fled overseas, refusing to speak with police.
Days after Amood's murder his family would receive a call explaining he was not the intended target.
It is believed a payment of at least $300,000 in "blood money" was paid to his family as compensation.
A week before Amood's death, gang member Alex Ali was kneecapped at Yagoona.
VICTIM A
AS homicide investigators worked the Amood murder, the Middle Eastern Organised Crime squad was running a separate operation to profile the Brothers 4 Life.
Only vague details were known about them.
Questions remained: How vast is their membership? How do they communicate? Who is in charge? What cars do they drive?
What police needed was a source - a luxury they didn't have. This would change on February 9, 2013.
A 24-year-old drug runner working for the gang arrived at Bankstown Hospital after being shot twice in the legs.
He was a "good kid playing crook", police later said; he was not cut out for the lifestyle. Police convinced him to change his life and turn informant.
Today he is a Crown witness known as Victim A. He told police everything.
ENEMIES WITHIN
AS the Amood investigation continued, Bassam Hamzy was making plans from prison.
He had formed an alliance with Farhad Qaumi, who was on remand for a murder charge that was later dropped.
The officer who investigated Qaumi, Justin Harris, alleges he was recruited by Hamzy for a specific purpose.
"We became aware that he (Qaumi) and his family were developing links with Brothers 4 Life," Mr Harris, now out of the NSW Police Force, said.
"He was recruited because of their internal conflicts.
"He (Bassam Hamzy) wanted to clean the gang up because he'd thought they'd lost their true calling in relation to their religion."
When Qaumi, was acquitted, he re-entered western Sydney and set up the Blacktown B4L chapter, stacking it with fellow Afghans.
Police believe that among them were his two brothers, Mumtaz, 29, and Jamil, 21.
A power struggle emerged between the Blacktown and the Bankstown chapter, controlled by Hamzy's cousin, over a lucrative Blacktown drug territory.
One version of events is that a man controlling the drug turf, receiving protection from the Bankstown crew, was being stood over by Blacktown B4L members.
It prompted a series of shootings and retaliation, causing the gang to cannibalise itself. Instead of fighting other gangs, they were killing and maiming themselves.
On October 31, the game changed with the death of Mahmoud Hamzy outside his cousin Mohammed's home at Revesby Heights.
Near nightly reprisals followed. At one stage, a 13-year-old girl became collateral damage when a shotgun was fired into her home, targeting her brother.
Police, behind the scenes, began using the rift as leverage and were planning their own attack.
On November 7, homicide detectives and officers from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad (MEOCS) mounted co-ordinated arrests which knocked out the Bankstown chapter and a portion of the Blacktown membership, including Qaumi's younger brother Jamil.
After 12 months, Mohammed Hamzy was charged over the murder of Yehye Amood while members of his senior leadership were charged over the kneecapping of Ali.
The move meant the end of B4L's mother chapter at Bankstown - a major win for police.
The matter of Qaumi, however, still had to be resolved.
THE ROSE BAY WHARF SHOOTING
IT was a who's who of gangland characters.
There was Farhad Qaumi, his brother Mumtaz and another man, Fawad Bari, an alleged member of their Blacktown B4L chapter.
They were there on the Oscar II yacht with a bevy of girls and, to the surprise of many, a small group of Italians, all to "send off" Kings Cross identity Adam Freeman. Freeman, who last September pleaded guilty to drugs charges in court, is awaiting sentence and reliable sources have confirmed he was on the boat and the party was in his honour.
The night was going well until the vessel attempted to dock at Rose Bay.
A hidden gunman opened fire, hitting Qaumi in the shoulder as he sat with his back to a window.
It can now be revealed those behind the hit are suspected of being on board the yacht at the time and had been using social media to co-ordinate with the gunman on dry land.
It's understood the owners of the prestigious yacht are now considering changing its name due to the incident.
THE ARRESTS
ON Wednesday, police swooped on Blacktown chapter boss Qaumi and effectively brought an end to the Brothers 4 Life gang.
His arrest, along with his brother Mumtaz, was described by officers as "cutting off the head of the snake" of the gang.
Both were charged with directing the activities of a criminal group, along with drugs and firearm possession offences.
It was MEOCS officers from Strike Force Sitella who made the arrests - they had been investigating the Blacktown chapter and six shootings, plus an assault, since mid-last year.
Five guns have been seized and ballistics has already linked some to other crimes, MEOCS commander Deb Wallace said.
Questions remain as to whether recent unsolved hits will match the weapons, including the murder of Joe Antoun at Strathfield in December, the near-identical slaying of his business partner Vasko Boskovski in July, or the B4L-linked murder of Mahmoud Hamzy at Revesby Heights.
With the bosses of both Bankstown and Blacktown chapters behind bars, the future of the group appears over.
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