John Ibrahim warned by Jim Taousanis to watch out for foes

Former Kings Cross enforcer Jim Taousanis who survived four execution attempts on his life has warned John Ibrahim to watch his back as power and greed can turn friend to foe. WATCH THE VIDEO

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A former Kings Cross identity has warned one-time associate John Ibrahim to beware the greed for money and power by others that could turn friend to foe and set them up.

Jim Taousanis, once described as the toughest gangster on the city’s ‘Golden Mile’, has written a detailed no-holds-barred manuscript outlining the colourful characters, good and bad, of Sydney during the 1980s and ‘90s.

He said he knew John Ibrahim and his brother Sam well from when they worked as bouncers across the road from each other at their respective Darlinghurst Road Kings Cross strip club operations during the 1980s and early 1990s and enjoyed their friendship and “had no conflicts with each other”.

Former criminal enforcer Jim Taousanis has written a book about his time in the Sydney Underbelly scene. Picture: Brad Fleet

But he said at the height of his own infamy and profile, many others turned on him for what he knew from his Kings Cross days particularly police corruption and underbelly rivalries and warned anybody associated with that era and area were at risk as the roles of some “became bigger, the stakes got higher, the money became an obsession, and the infamy a curse”.

That infamy led to at least four attempts on his life and at least two close associates, still linked to the Cross, turn informer and look to set him up for a murder and run their own agendas now with Lebanese dominated Outlaw Motorcycle gangs.

“In 1995 some speed-bikers were seen placing a live snake into my parent’s letterbox in Ramsgate, Sydney,” he wrote in his tell all manuscript.

“On another occasion, one of the two (former associates) was seen following female members of my family at a shopping centre and yet again on another occasion still before my release from prison, the same punk followed another of my female family members in a Sydney city location.

The coward then proceeded to express his sinister intentions to someone nearby.”

Tom Domican leaves court after successfully suing John Ibrahim for defamation. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Ibrahim with partner Sarah Budge. Picture: Instagram

He noted in his manuscript that colourful identity Tom Domican last year sued John Ibrahim for how he described him in his “Last King of the Cross” book but he said he did not fear others would seek the same from his writings.

“I’m looking for someone who has the courage to put it up and say it, some things there many people won’t be comfortable with, it’s popularity at the moment everything is popularity and popularity is not necessarily truth nor reality’ he said.

“My book is all about reality and I’m looking for the right publisher at the moment and we’ll be right to go, it’s all there completed.”

As well as the crime manuscript he has written two others on fitness and injury rehabilitation.

The 58-year-old said he had not been associated with his former life, which began as an enforcer for mobster Lennie McPherson, and for 28 years he has run legitimate fitness and martial arts businesses but felt compelled to write about his time and crimes some of which remained unsolved.

Taousanis, who has changed his name, doesn’t fear for his life but suspects there is a hit man or two still after him. Picture: Brad Fleet

He said he had “a lot of regrets” and apologised to his victims and their families for his past actions which he said he had long reformed from.

“I think it is very, very important to reveal Australia’s underbelly and it’s not just the entertainment … beyond that is the corruption is worth exposing, the corruption is also worth pursuing because it continues to progress in an upward projection. Those who control for power, for profit and privilege and even their own addictions to clean up society that needs to come out.”

He said it was not just criminal but others in power in society, government and institutions.

Taousanis is the eldest son of Greek migrant parents who first set up first in Bonegilla migrant camp in north east Victoria before settling in Sydney’s inner west and now Brisbane.

Originally published as John Ibrahim warned by Jim Taousanis to watch out for foes