The movers and shakers of Melbourne’s Middle Eastern crime scene
Players in the Middle-Eastern organised crime world have come and gone over the past decade. While some are now in prison, hiding from their enemies or dead, others have risen through the ranks. Here’s a who’s who of Melbourne’s top gangsters.
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It has been a volatile decade in Melbourne’s Middle-eastern organised crime world.
Players have come and gone, some rising from the lower ranks to amass immense power and wealth.
Others who started the decade on top have finished it in prison or live in hiding from their enemies.
A number who started 2015 as prime gangland players are now dead while a successful few are so under-the-radar that they do business with no media profile or prison time.
Here are a number of those who found the spotlight.
Kazem Hamad
Hamad is, arguably, the most influential gangster in Melbourne, despite living in Iraq.
Ten years ago he was a serious heroin trafficker but did not even hold a fraction of the power he now possesses.
He has a large number of soldiers back here who have caused chaos helping him build a fortune in the city’s tobacco wars.
Hamad has fallen out with various former allies over the years, among them George Marrogi.
Ahmed Al Hamza
He wears a $1m watch but, in 2016, Al Hamza was a teen on the lower reaches of the heroin ring run by Hamad and others.
His biggest claim to fame had been turning up on TV being loaded into an ambulance after being shot in the leg at Campbellfield.
Today, through a mix of ruthlessness and intelligence, the Kuwait-based Al Hamza is widely feared and controls a vast criminal empire.
Sam Abdulrahim
The boxer was murdered at Preston in January after years of pursuit by his enemies.
Took on Kazem Hamad for a chunk of Melbourne’s illicit tobacco, igniting a conflict he could probably never win.
Hamad loathed him, believing he set up his mate Kadir Ors to be murdered by George Marrogi in 2016.
George Marrogi
Was a feared gangland player a decade ago with a reputation for extreme violence.
Made a fortune from drug importations as head of the Notorious Crime Family gang, even after being jailed for murdering Kadir Ors in 2016.
Police were eventually able to crush NCF and Marrogi is regarded as having nowhere near the influence he once wielded.
Meshlin Marrogi
Was considered the brains of her brother George’s Notorious Crime Family empire.
Was suspected of helping invest and clean millions in proceeds from his drug business before her death, aged 30, from Covid.
Intruders tried to steal her remains from a cemetery crypt in 2023.
Associates of her brother’s bitter rival Kazem Hamad are suspected of involvement.
Mohammed ‘Afghan Ali’ Keshtiar
One of the most significant MEOC power-brokers of the decade, until August 4, 2023, when contract killers shot him dead in South Yarra.
Keshtiar, who was once a recruiter for the Mongols bikie gang, was feared and extremely well-connected in the underworld.
The 53-year-old’s involvement in Melbourne’s booming illicit tobacco black market is suspected of being a factor in his murder.
Six years earlier, Zabi Ezedyar was shot dead at Narre Warren in a hit where Keshtiar was suspected of being the intended victim.
Jesse Marrogi
The younger brother of George was once active on social media with his “F... the Law” torso tattoo.
Started the decade as a firm friend of Ahmed Al Hamza but they would fall out and Jesse later became a member of NCF.
Marrogi and his girlfriend Sabrine Maghnie have been keeping a low profile of late.
It was several years ago revealed in court that he was the subject of a $300,000 underworld murder contract.
Kadir Ors
Drug dealer and close mate of Kazem Hamad who became a much bigger name in death than in life.
Was murdered by Marrogi at Campbellfield Plaza in September, 2016, while in the company of Sam Abdulrahim and another man.
Hamad spent the time since trying to square with the Marrogi family.
Abdulrahim, who was pursued for years by Hamad and Ahmed Al Hamza, was murdered last month at Preston.
The Brothers
Have grown in power and wealth in recent years.
They were at one stage in conflict with NCF gang members and appear to have come out of that considerably stronger.
Were also involved in separate friction after attacks on their legitimate business interests.
Fadi Haddara
Has for more than a decade been regarded as a formidable underworld presence in Melbourne.
Grew increasingly strong after his family saw off the rival Chaouk clan in a bloody conflict.
Haddara has allegedly controlled a large slice of the illicit tobacco trade for years and recent events indicate talk he has stepped away was premature.
Koshan Radford
Top Finks bikie who is regarded as having considerable influence.
Was thrown out of Bali in 2017 because of his organised crime links.
The Finks have moved to expand under his stewardship and have been implicated in the illicit tobacco conflict of recent years.
Samir Chaarani
Accused money man for George Marrogi’s Notorious Crime Family gang.
Left more than two years ago for the Middle-east after being charged by the anti-organised crime Echo taskforce.
Those charges relate to money or property allegedly the proceeds of crime and three other similar charges.
Ali El Nasher
Jailed over the infamous Kensington fight night of 2019 in which young dad Ben Togiai was shot dead.
Has also done time for an attack on the close relative of a gangland rival, an incident believed to have caused some ongoing friction.
Previously described by police as a significant Middle-eastern organised crime figure, El Nasher was badly bashed at St Kilda marina in 2020.
Released from prison late last year.
Abdullah El Nasher
Doing a minimum 22 years for the murder of Ben Togiai at the Kensington fight night.
Had exchanged words with Omar Bchinnati and others before a gun was retrieved from a car and the fatal shots fired.
Before his rise to public prominence, had a history of violence, firearms and drug offending.
Is the former boyfriend of Brittany McGuuire, daughter of Tony Mokbel-ex Danielle McGuire.
Hawre Sherwani
Was known in the north as Harry the Commo because of his links to the Comanchero bikie gang.
Got a six-year prison term for a 2014 bashing carried out with Comanchero Vincent Meyer at a Collingwood smash repair shop.
Underworld sources say Sherwani was also suspected of being linked to a fatal drive-by shooting which killed an innocent man.
Had in recent years been at odds with a powerful crime family and was shot dead in a highly-planned hit in Caroline Springs in January.
Robert Issa
Ally of Hawre Sherwani shot dead in a hit in Craigieburn in October, 2023.
Issa’s family’s home had been shot up previously as, underworld sources say, conflict with a crime syndicate escalated.
The killing remains unsolved.
Hasan Topal
Comanchero bikie involved in crimes of violence and drug trafficking who remains overseas.
Is a suspect in two wrong-victim killings in suburban Melbourne and other non-fatal shootings.
Was jailed in 2017 over a brutal brawl with other Comancheros at a Canberra strip club.
In 2019, left for the Middle-east and was later implicated in the massive ANOM operation which ensnared big-name MEOC, bikie and Mafia criminals.
Samson Bazi
Former Comanchero bikie gang strongman.
At one stage held the position of sergeant-at-arms which, among other things, involves enforcing club rules.
Jailed in 2013 over a brutal brawl inside the Spearmint Rhino strip club on King St.
Doug Mikhaeel
Former member of George’s Marrogi’s Notorious Crime Family outfit.
Made some enemies over the years and had come under fire more than once.
Lucky to escape death when shot in the legs as he waited at a Deer Park level-crossing in a car also containing his partner and her children.
Some of the acrimony was sparked by a brutal fracas at the Love Machine nightclub in Prahran.
Nabil Maghnie
Erratic organised crime hardman who called himself “Mad Leb” and had a reputation for extreme violence.
Was suspected of involvement in multiple shootings and had strong links to the Comanchero bikie gang.
Believed to have carried out many of his crimes with close associate, the late Gavin Preston.
Maghnie was shot dead in an unsolved homicide at Epping in January, 2020.
Farshad Rasooli
Bikie gang-connected underworld figure who was shot in the leg in 2015.
It is alleged that Kamil Yucel was living in fear of Rasooli before he shot dead Rahat Khan at Dallas a year later.
Police believe Rasooli was the intended target when innocent 22-year-old Muhammed Yucel was shot dead at Keysborough in 2017.
Mr Yucel had just left a mate’s house after a night of playing video games.
Abbas Maghnie Junior
The son of notorious gangland figure Nabil Maghnie.
Known as AJ, he was wounded when a gunman opened fire at Epping, killing his father, in January, 2020.
More bad luck was to come in September, 2023.
AJ suffered gunshot injuries in a Keilor cafe ambush in which career criminal Gavin Preston was killed.
Sabrine Maghnie
Daughter of Nabil Maghnie and girlfriend of Jesse Marrogi.
An attack on her in a road rage incident precipitated the confrontation in which her father was shot dead.
Later had the words “Mad Lebo” tattooed on her leg as a tribute to her dad.
Omar Bchinnati
Was shot and wounded at the infamous 2019 Kensington fight night fracas which left Ben Togiai dead.
The well-connected kickboxer has come under police scrutiny for many years.
Was in 2015 involved in a wild punch-on with Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Tiba Family
A major target of law enforcement over many years.
Some members of the family have been implicated in drug trafficking, crimes of violence and abductions.
They have shot and been shot as a result of a broad range of disputes.
A Tiba family home was targeted with a hand grenade in 2018.
Tarek Zahed
Senior Comanchero who became something of a poster boy for those angered by Victoria’s relaxed anti-bikie laws when he shifted here in 2021 after New South Wales police slapped him with a serious crime prevention order.
Released from prison in Sydney before Christmas with the stated intention of coming back to Victoria.
Noted for holding up a big Australian Open tennis match in 2022 with an untimely return from the toilet.
Lost an eye in a Sydney shooting ambush later that year in which his brother Omar died.
Originally published as The movers and shakers of Melbourne’s Middle Eastern crime scene
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