Crime figure tells Michael Ibrahim of fears fetish will be exposed
One of Sydney’s crime figures had a dangerous secret exposed. But when he made a phone call to Michael Ibrahim for advice, he also had a problem. Word about his forbidden sexual proclivities was spreading and he was at risk of being outed. LISTEN TO THE CALL BETWEEN THE PAIR. WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
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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.
One of Sydney’s crime figures has a dangerous secret: he has a fetish for sex with men who dress as women.
But when he made a phone call to Michael Ibrahim for advice on May 3, 2017, he also had a problem. Word about his forbidden sexual proclivities was spreading and he was at risk of being outed.
Until now he had managed to contain the rumours on the underworld gossip mill and contain the secret. Even from his girlfriends.
But now one of the men he’d had a dalliance with two weeks ago was sending him photos via social media. He feared it was part of a blackmail attempt and that his double life was going to be exposed to a dangerous audience.
His reputation would be ruined if his closet fantasies were revealed to the notoriously homophobic members of the Sydney underworld. He would be branded as a lesser man, a queer, and possibly marked for murder.
LISTEN TO MICHAEL’S CALL WITH THE CRIME FIGURE
READ THE TRANSCRIPT: WARNING GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
In an attempt to explain his sexual tastes to Michael, the crime figure, who is a card-carrying Muslim, said religious repression fuelled his desires.
“I’m a bored c**t,” he told Michael.
“And it turns me on that you’re not allowed to do it. That forbidden stuff, bro, I tell you, I’m sick in the head, bro.”
Michael replied: “Bro, I don’t even know why you f**king pray, bro. Seriously...Mate, you’re going to hell. 100 per cent, bro.”
The man is not the first crime figure to attempt to live the double life as an underworld tough guy while trying to keep his sexual preferences a secret from his peers.
It’s a dangerous game. History has not been kind to people in similar situations.
In 1992, New Jersey mobster John D’Amato was murdered after it emerged he was secretly gay. His body has never been found. He was rumoured to be the inspiration for gay mobster Vito Spatafore in the iconic TV show, The Sopranos, who was killed by fellow Mafia members after being outed.
For this reason, The Sunday Telegraph has chosen not to identify the crime figure.
The calls also give rare insight into the emotionally exhausting responsibilities Michael is forced to carry thanks to his apex position in the criminal world.
Not only does he have to worry about making money to support his own family, he is also called upon by his criminal peers to share his wisdom and muscle to solve problems, no matter how unusual.
The criminal figure was in the shower and on a speaker phone when he made the call to Michael just after 8.30am. In the call, later tendered to court, he said he had been sent photos on the social media Snapchat by the man he’d had the sexual encounter with two weeks earlier.
He was now worried this was part of a blackmail plot but also said “...they’re going to regret the day they ever f**ked with me”.
Michael Ibrahim offered him straight forward advice: “Well mate, can’t you just stop it with this trannie shit, bro?”
The underworld figure replied that he couldn’t.
“I’m (a) f**king bored c**t, bro,” he said.
Michael warned that it was against their Muslim faith to practice anything other than heterosexuality.
“All right, but this is forbidden, brother,” Michael said. “You know in the Koran you’re going to have hot coals come out of your a**ehole.”
When Michael told him to “F**k normal girls...and stop the trannies…”, the man replied “They’re boring, bro”.
But Michael explained his careless behaviour could have consequences.
“Everyone’s going to be talking about this shit,” Michael said.
“You can’t do it. You can’t embarrass yourself like this.”
Michael urged the man to “Settle down...Find yourself a f**king girl, man, have a couple of kids”.
“I think I ought to go away for a bit, bro,” the criminal replied. “I’m f**king over it.”
Michael pressed the issue and explained the man was risking his reputation in the underworld.
“Mate, you can’t do this to yourself,” he said.
“You’re humiliating yourself...Like...in the beginning it’s a joke. Yeah, yeah, he only f**ks around. But mate, it’s starting to get out too much, mate.
“F**k, you know what I mean,” Michael said.
“F**kin’ hell, and there’s only so much you can say as a joke, man, It’s getting f**king ridiculous.”
Michael then disputed his friend’s version of his fetish.
“Mate, you’re f**king boys,” Michael said. “You’re getting h**d j*bs off boys.”
Later in the conversation, Michael again touched on the issue: “...It’s not a trannie, brother, it’s a f**king bloke, all right?”
The underworld figure disagreed.
“It’s a f**kin’ trannie, Mick,” he said.
“I’ll send you photos. I don’t know what photos you’ve seen, I’ll f**kin’ send you photos of the photos that he sent me.”
“I’m going to send you the photos now,” he said.
“Soon as I’ve had a shower ... I’ll send you the photos.”
Later in the conversation, Michael returned to the disputed definition.
“Let me tell you something. Just ‘cause they wear lipstick and a little bit of makeup, doesn’t make them trannies,” he said. “If he’s still got a c**k and no tits, it’s a f**king boy.”
At one point, Michael encouraged the underworld figure to embrace his lifestyle.
“That’s enough, it’s an embarrassment, f**kin’ it’s enough,” Michael said.
“Oh, but listen c**t, either come out and be gay and proud or f**king stop — or stop it.”
The underworld figure said: “What the f**k are you talking about?”
Michael replied: “Mate, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
In an attempt to put a stop to the gossip, Michael said he issued a warning to one of the people suspected of circulating the photo.
“I’ve already threatened the bloke. I’ve already threatened him,” Michael said.
“I said ‘Listen, you f**king c**k, you say one word about this I’m going to f**king bury you’.”
He continued: “I said ‘If anyone — if I find this one more time, this comes out to me...from anyone, I’m going to f**king bury you’.”
Michael then warned his friend: “All right, but we can’t keep f**king hiding your f**king...indiscretions.”
Later, Michael said: “Mate, it’s your own f**king fault. What’s wrong with you?”
In a moment of introspection, the criminal figure replied: “Don’t know man. I’m (a) f**king lost c**t, bro.”
Originally published as Crime figure tells Michael Ibrahim of fears fetish will be exposed
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