Inside the homes of John Ibrahim and brothers Michael and Fadi
For years it was rumoured a secret tunnel ran under John Ibrahim’s backyard. These are the exclusive pictures and video of the tunnel police discovered plus a look inside the family’s mansions. GO INSIDE THE TUNNEL AND HOMES
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For three decades, Sydney has regarded the House of Ibrahim with fear and fascination.
Now, for the first time, we take you inside the private world of this complicated family thanks to an enormous cache of surveillance material tendered to a NSW court.
There are more than 880 phone calls and texts that were covertly recorded by police over more than a year, revealing the truth about feuds, grudges and family lore, including the secret tunnel under patriarch John Ibrahim’s Eastern Suburbs mansion.
There are hundreds of police photos taken inside Ibrahim homes during police raids, and an even larger collection of surveillance photos taken by police tailing family members and associates through the city’s streets.
The material sheds new light on the family’s networks, reaching beyond brothers John, Fadi, Michael and Sam to the far reaches of entertainment, night-life, property and crime.
On their private calls, the brothers and their associates detail their rivalries and power struggles, as well as moments of “us against the world” camaraderie and black humour.
When police raid a property they have to be on high alert so they spot hidden evidence, and next to John Ibrahim’s luxury pool was one thing that piqued their interest.
It was a ring-pull.
The single handle, which featured a ring big enough for one finger to yank it up, was attached to an oversized cut-to-fit tile. It sat inconspicuously on Ibrahim’s sprawling pool deck of his Eastern Suburbs mansion, near the corner of his pool and next to a large pot plant.
But what was underneath?
The weight of the heavy slate meant it took three police to lift the tile.
When the officers hoisted it aside, they revealed a ladder to an underground tunnel that led down a set of wooden stairs to a toilet next to a door.
The door opened onto thick bushland and a makeshift path that linked to the public boardwalk on Dover Heights reserve.
Police remarked that it looked like a secret underground escape tunnel from Ibrahim’s house onto the council reserve, should he ever need to make a quick exit.
From the boardwalk, the doorway is barely visible. It is covered in thick vines and is almost invisible except for two hinges, a faint outline and a keyhole.
All up the tunnel runs for several metres and is lined with the sandstone on which the clifftop house is built on one side and corrugated iron on the other.
Police walking through the tunnel remarked that it’s primary function appeared to be as a pump room for Ibrahim’s pool.
Telling a colleague about the tile, one officer said: “It’s pretty heavy; takes three people (to lift).”
The officer then said one of the hinges on the tile and that “one appears to have malfunctioned”.
There was no mention of the tunnel in any of the development applications Ibrahim has lodged with Waverley Council since buying the house in 1997 for $1.165 million.
It was just one of the unusual discoveries police found when they raided his house in August 2017 following an undercover investigation that saw his younger brothers Michael and Fadi arrested and charged.
John has not been charged and there is no suggestion he has engaged in criminal behaviour. Fadi has pleaded not guilty.
Now worth an estimated $6 million, the Eastern Suburbs palace is the ultimate boys house. Inside, it features video game systems, big TVs, a state of the art CCTV security system, drums of protein powder, Kelloggs Variety Packs, a gym, and uninterrupted views of the Tasman Sea.
One of the first discoveries police made in the house was Mim Salvato. Salvato is John’s long time friend and one time owner of Kings Cross nightclub, The Piano Room, who was living in Ibrahim’s house when it was raided.
Salvato explained to police that the Audi parked in the driveway was his. He gave the officers permission to search the car but they found a skateboard and little else.
Salvato is one of the many people who have lived at Ibrahim’s house over the years.
The walls at the foyer of Ibrahim’s house are adorned with framed photos of himself with family and noteworthy people like boxing great Muhammad Ali.
One featured a picture of Bob Hawke, which the late ex prime minister appeared to have signed: “To John, best wishes and thanks for your help with my family.”
There were also plenty of pictures, paintings and caricatures of Ibrahim himself around the house.
The contents of a person’s bookcase is generally a window into their soul, and John Ibrahim’s is true to form.
It was stacked with true crime books, including his own and The Snitch (written by a Kings Cross insider and not to be confused with the column in this newspaper). Also on the shelf were biographies of noteworthy people, like Adolf Hitler, and what appeared to be a manuscript for the classic Al Pacino movie, Scarface.
The autobiography of Ibrahim’s mate, Kyle Sandilands, Scandalands, was also in the collection.
Above a book about the Mafia on the shelf was what appeared to be a violin case.
Given the number of temporary and longer staying visitors Ibrahim has hosted, it was at times impossible for police to say who owned certain items found in the search.
Like the small bag of white powder they discovered under a pile of magazines. Or the other bag of white powder found over the fence on the neighbour’s grass. No charges were ever laid in relation to either.
Then there was the testosterone found in the bathroom, which had a prescription stuck to the front of the box that was made out to Mark Judge.
A number of other prescription medications made out to people other than Ibrahim were also found.
Police also found three safes, including one in a bedroom that contained more than $20,000 cash and an iPhone.
Two other better hidden safes were found in a room off the gym, including one built into sandstone.
Ibrahim’s infamous cupboard of sex toys, which he references in his autobiography, did not emerge.
However, police did find some sexual paraphernalia including lubricant and a book titled, “Lesbian sex secrets for men”.
A stethoscope was found in one bedroom. However it is not known if this was used for legitimate medical purposes.
FADI IBRAHIM HOUSE
For a man plagued by financial problems, Fadi Ibrahim projected the image of success.
This was literally the case when police searched his Dover Heights mansion, which enjoys expansive water views from the cliff tops, in August 2017.
The first thing they were faced with was Fadi’s Range Rover in his driveway. The vanity licence plates on the car featured only two characters: “6S”.
Read out loud, it sounds like “success”.
The Range Rover was parked next to Fadi’s very large and very well known bull statue.
The giant bovine spent years in the front yard of his Castle Cove home on Sydney’s North Shore.
But when Fadi and Shayda relocated to Dover Heights, the bull came too.
It was now positioned loud and proud out the front of their $4 million mansion looking over the street and neighbours on the tiny strip of grass between their driveway and the public park adjacent to their home.
Inside the stunning cliffside mansion, police sources said the look appeared to be “African voodoo chic”.
The “African” owing to the giant elephant tusks either side of the television and the cheetah statue on the floor in front of it.
The “voodoo” for the collection of colourful snake pictures above one of the staircases.
Next to the television, police also found a giant horse lamp.
Elsewhere in the home, police photographed a second cheetah statue and a whoopee cushion next to a couch.
Officers searching the house took images of Fadi’s impressive CCTV security camera set up.
They also found evidence given by a person who can’t legally be name, at the NSW Crime Commission in the garage near an impressive alcohol collection, which featured a crate full of Belvedere vodka bottles.
From colour coded wardrobes, to at least eight pairs of the same white Nike runners, and an impressive collection of high heels, police turned over everything in the house.
The walk in cupboard also had a stool that could be used for those hard to reach shelves.
Police also seized a money counting machine.
MICHAEL IBRAHIM
One giant thing inside Michel Ibrahim’s home shows him to be the committed family man that he is.
It is an enormous family photo that took pride of place on the wall of his Eastern Suburbs rental property that police saw when they searched the house.
The image that has been blown up and printed on canvas appears to be at a wedding and features Michael, his brothers John and Fadi, wife Caitlyn Hall and others.
Police also discovered Michael’s taste for expensive watches and photographed a green Rolex a Hublot and a valuation for a Rolex that priced it at $16,950.
They also found the same book, the Snitch, that was on his brother John’s bookcase.
Officers also discovered documents outlining loan agreements where Michael lent his brother John $500,000 and company, Cars From Mars, $200,000.
Also among the paperwork was a letter from Victoria Police letting Michael know that he had been banned from entering Melbourne’s Crown Casino after NSW Police had let them know he had already been banned from The Star.
WAHIBA IBRAHIM
A 9mm pistol is the last thing you would expect an elderly woman to be packing in her outdoor furniture.
But things are different when it comes to the Ibrahim family.
As part of their August 2017 raids, police searched the Merrylands home of Ibrahim family matriarch, Wahiba Ibrahim.
The mother of John, Sam, Fadi and Michael Ibrahim had a loaded pistol underneath a cushion of her outdoor furniture in the backyard of her Merrylands home, which police seized. No one has been charged over the find.
The officers also took photos of a 9mm bullet, which they appeared to have found on the living room floor.
The pistol was a Heckler and Koch USP Expert model that retails in the US for about $1000.
The house is where all four Ibrahim siblings grew up and police searched it because Michael had lived there in the period leading up to 2017.
RYAN WATSFORD
Ryan Watsford had big plans before police came knocking to arrest him for a drug and tobacco importing syndicate.
One of those was to find a solution to his impending baldness.
When police raided his mother’s Rose Bay home, they discovered a quote for a hair transplant to be performed by Double Bay’s Dr Russell Knudsen.
The quote for $17,050 and Watsford was booked in to have the procedure on August 17, 2017.
His plan fell through when he was arrested on August 8. He has since pleaded guilty and is now likely to spend a significant period behind bars.
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