Alameddine crime network

The Alameddine crime network is an Australian organized crime group which operates out of the Western Sydney suburb of Merrylands. The gang, which is allegedly led by Rafat Alameddine, is allegedly one of the biggest drug-trafficking organisations in Sydney, with New South Wales Police declaring the organisation to have reportedly earned around $1 million AUD in weekly profit at its peak. Since October of 2020, the Alameddines have grown to public notoriety in connection to an extended feud they became involved in with the Hamzy/Hamze Crime Family, the most dominant faction of the infamous Brothers for Life organisation.

Connection to Curtis Cheng Murder

In connection with the 2015 Parramatta shooting, Rafat Alameddine's brother Talal pleaded guilty to "recklessly possessing a thing connected with a terrorist act and supplying a pistol" in October of 2017. In May of 2018, Talal was sentenced by Judge Peter Johnson in the New South Wales Supreme Court to 17 years and 8 months, with a minimum term of 13½ years. His earliest projected release date is in 2029.

Alameddine/Hamzy War (2020-2022)

On October 14th, 2020, Members of the Hamze/Hamzy Crime Family began attempting to standover Alameddine associate Shaylin Zreika. A police affidavit declared that Ibrahem Hamze, Tareek Hamze and Haysem Hamze attacked Zreika with a metal pole in Sefton, New South Wales, and then stole his mobile phone.

On October 16th, 2020, an unnamed member of the Alameddines was robbed of drugs by members of the Hamze/Hamzy Crime Family. Around the same time period, 400kg of cocaine had also been stolen from Sydney-based members of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, who at the time were allied with the Alameddines. Mejid Hamzy was wrongly suspected of orchestrating the drug-rip.

On October 17th, 2020, the Auburn Rd home of Maha Hamze and other members of the Hamze/Hamzy Family was peppered with bullets in a drive-by shooting. Maha Hamze, the matriarch of the family, is not thought to be involved in the family business.

On October 19th, 2020, at 12:35am, Rafat Alameddine's house was shot up in Merrylands, New South Wales.

On October 19th, 2020, at 7:34am, almost exactly seven hours later, Mejid Hamzy was shot to death outside his home in Condell Park by Alameddine associates. This was the first murder of the Hamzy/Alameddine conflict.

On November 23rd, 2020, a 17-year-old associate of the Alameddine Family was shot in South Granville, New South Wales.

On December 8th, 2020, The New South Wales Police Force made an application to the Supreme Court of New South Wales to have Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs) enforced against the members of Hamzy and Alameddine Families.

On January 30th, 2021, Fire and Rescue New South Wales were called to extinguish a car-fire on Hume Road in Smithfield, New South Wales. As they tended to the blaze, 22 year old Alameddine associate Mejed Derbas was discovered shot-to-death inside the vehicle. Derbas was allegedly a "mid-level drug dealer" in the organisation, and was killed supposedly because of ongoing internal conflict.

On January 30th, 2021, Innocent father Mustafa Namaan was shot to death in Hurstville, New South Wales in a fatal case of mistaken identity. Police believe Namaan was murdered by associates of the Alameddine Family who mistook Namaan for Ibrahem Hamze.

On February 15th, 2021, Maha Hamze's unit block was shot up by Alameddine associates for the second time, with a stray bullet narrowly missing a nurse at nearby Auburn Hospital.

On March 12th, 2021, the home of Asaad Alahmad, Rafat Alameddine's brother-in-law, was shot up in Guildford, New South Wales.

On June 8th, 2021, Assad Alahmad was shot in the neck in Guildford, New South Wales. At the time, the New South Wales Police Force did not believe this shooting was part of the ongoing Hamzy/Alameddine feud. However, a report published on November 27th, 2023 by well-known The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) crime reporter Josh Hanrahan declared that Salim Hamze was responsible for the Alahmad shooting.

On June 17th, 2021, Prominent Hamze/Hamzy Crime Family member Bilal Hamze, who had previously attempted to be a peacekeeper between the crews, was shot to death on Bridge Street, Sydney in the Sydney central business district after leaving the Kid Kyoto restaurant, which is owned by Sam Prince (restaurateur).

On July 14th, 2021, Well-known Alameddine associates Ezzaddine and Mohammad Omar were arrested for the Mejid Hamzy murder.

On August 6th, 2021, alleged Alameddine associate Shady Kanj, 22, was shot to death in Guildford, New South Wales. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) reported that Kanj was murdered by Salim Hamze on November 27th, 2023.

On August 14, 2021, two armed and masked men in a stolen Mercedes were pulled over and arrested in North Sydney, New South Wales, and charged with conspiring to murder alleged Hamzy/Hamze Crime Family boss Ibrahem Hamze. As of the March 24th, 2022, three men were charged in connection to the foiled murder plot. These men were Samuel John Rokomaqisa, Joseph 'Jo Fresh' Vokai, and an unnamed 19 year old. Police sources stated that Vokai was viewed as the leader of the infamous Islander gang KVT, who have regularly been used as muscle by the Alameddines.

On October 20th, 2021, young Hamzy/Hamze Crime Family drug-runner Salim Hamze, 18, and his innocent father Toufik, 64, were shot to death while they sat in a car outside their Guildford, New South Wales home. Salim and Toufik were the 3rd and 4th members of the Hamzy Family to die within a year.

On November 29th, 2021, Alameddine associate Murat Gulasi was shot in the leg at a gym in Prospect, New South Wales. Fiti Ah-Cheung and Joseph 'Freddy14' Howard were charged over the shooting, along with crime boss Ibrahem Hamze. Ah-Cheung and Howard are believed to associates of the 'RFA' (Ready For Anything) gang, which is strongly linked to Onefour. The victim of the shooting, Murat Gulasi, later died of unrelated causes at a gym in Istanbul shortly after fleeing the country.

On January 6th, 2022, Ghassan Amoun, the brother of Mejid Hamzy and imprisoned Hamzy Family founder Bassam Hamzy, was shot to death after leaving a beauty salon in South Wentworthville, New South Wales. Amoun was the fifth and last member of the Hamzy/Hamze Clan to be murdered during the war.

FriendlyJordies Fire Bombing

In December 2023, Alameddine Family associate Tufi Junior Tauese-Auelua, then 37, was arrested by police and charged with two counts of destroying or damaging property by fire after allegedly firebombing the house of Jordan Shanks twice within a period of two weeks. Shanks, known by his Youtube handle 'friendlyjordies', had revealed links between the Coronation Property Group, former Deputy-Premier John Barilaro, and the Alameddine network in a lengthy exposé entitled 'Coronation', which was posted on Youtube on August 19th, 2022 before being removed from the platform on February 1st, 2024. Shanks' Bondi, New South Wales rental was firebombed sometime in November, 2022, with another attempt to firebomb the same house having occurred the previous week. The NSW police stated that there was a "strong possibility" that the attack against Shanks was done in retaliation for the video.

Post-War Period

In May 2022, New South Wales Police arrested 18 alleged members of the network, who were said to be behind a "large-scale drug supply operation". The men arrested were part of a subset within the Alameddine crime network known as "R4W", or Ready for War. Police allege that the leader of this collective was Asaad Alahmad, the brother-in-law of Rafat Alameddine. Asaad Alahmad had previously survived two attempts on his life, one in 2019, and one in 2021. Alahmad was sentenced to 26 months in jail for his role in R4W.

In January 2023, Masood Zakaria, the alleged "number two" in the organisation and the "most wanted man in NSW", was arrested in Bodrum, Turkey on charges of conspiring to murder, directing a criminal group and drug supply. He was extradited to Australia in December 2023.

On April 19th, 2023, Ezzaddine Omar, a stolen-car rebirther who was arrested in 2021 in connection to the Mejid Hamzy killing, had his murder charge dropped in Burwood Local Court due to a lack of evidence.

On June 21st, 2023, police were called to Pitt Street Mall after internal conflicts within the Alameddine Family led to a public-place brawl between senior members. Mohammad Zreika, Zane Zreika, Ahmad Alameddine, Ali Elmoubayed, Samimjan Azari, and Khaled Elmoubayed, were arrested and charged with affray.

On November 4th, 2023, Alameddine associate Jacob Najjar, a well-known tiktoker known for his promotional content regarding his acai-cafe chain 'Thirsty Monkey', was kidnapped from his unit in Auburn and kept captive for around 24 hours. During the ordeal, Najjar suffered superficial stab wounds. He was found dumped on Lower Washington Dr in Bonnet Bay the following day at around 11pm.

On January 19th, 2024, a man was kidnapped in Granville. Police believe the kidnapping was linked to the Alameddine Family.

On March 27th, 2024, 15 members and associates of the Alameddine Crime Family were arrested in connection with Strike Force Wessex. These arrests followed the alleged shutdown of 26 "drug-run phones" connected to over 50,000 alleged customers. Prior to the arrests, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson alleged that the network was "making up to $1 million per week profit". Notably, the raids saw the arrest of prominent Western Sydney drill-rapper Ali 'Ay Huncho' Younes, a cousin of Alameddine Family boss Rafat, who gained notoriety through his music. Whilst Younes was not charged with anything, Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor declared that Younes was awaiting questioning over the Granville kidnapping which occurred on January 19, 2024, and for allegedly participating in a criminal group.

On March 28th, 2024, it became public that Alameddine associate Trente Jeske and known gangster-widow Jade Heffer had gotten married. Heffer had previously been married to Lone Wolf bikie Yusuf Nazlioglu, who famously beat the wrap after being charged with the 2018 murder of Sydney underworld figure Mick Hawi. Nazlioglu was murdered on June 27th, 2022. Following Nazlioglu's death, Heffer then dated fellow Alameddine associate Ahmed Alameddine. She was charged with hindering an investigation by police after assisting Ahmed's escape right before a police raid on his home in Greenacre in August, 2023.

On April 30th, 2024, a home allegedly linked to the Alameddines was shot up on Myall Street in Merrylands.

On May 8th 2024, New South Wales Police announced that Alameddine Crime Family boss Rafat Alameddine, as well as key associates John Ray Bayssari and Zaid Abdelhafez, were wanted on two counts of murder. These charges stemmed from the October 2021 double-murder of young drug-runner Salim Hamze, 18, and his innocent father Toufik Hamze. In relation to the murders, Alameddine heavyweight Masood Zakaria was charged at Goulburn Supermax, where he was already awaiting trial for the foiled murder plot against Ibrahem Hamze in August of 2021, and associate Adam Achrafi was arrested from his home in Austral.

Known Members and Associates

Alameddine Family

• Rafat Alameddine
• Masood Zakaria
• John Ray 'JR' Bayssari
• Ali 'Ay Huncho' Younes
• Rafat Alameddine
• Bilal Alameddine
• Rachad Alameddine (sometimes spelled 'Richad')
• Hamdi Alameddine
• Jihad Alameddine
• Talal Alameddine
• Ahmad Alameddine
• Murat Gulasi (died of natural causes, 2022)
• Shady Kanj (murdered, 2021)
• Ali Elmoubayed
• Khaled Elmoubayed
• Mejed Derbas (murdered, 2021)
• Benjamin Barakat
• Dagher Ghamrawi
• Mohammad Zreika
• Zane Zreika
• Samimjan Azari
• Dawood Zakaria
• Ezzaddine Omar
• Mohammad Omar
• Zaid Abdelhafez
• Tufi Junior Tauese-Auelua

R4W Sub-Set

• Asaad Alahmad
• Trent Jeske
• Imad Mafhoud
• Bilal Mafhoud
• Abraham Zreika
• Khaled Zreika
• Amir Zreika
• Zackaria Zreika
• Ahmed Karim
• Jalal El Jajie
• Adam Alameddine
• Hilal Oueik
• Adam Achrafi
• Wessam El Jajieh
• Hussein Zraika
• Fadi Zraika
• Mouhammad Zraika
• Khoder Hamad

Known Allies

• Mohamad 'Almo' Alameddine
• Mustafa Hafizi (Hells Angels, Chinatown Chapter)
• Moshtaba Hafizi
• Joseph Vokai (KVT Gang)
• Andy Nahas (Coronation Property's former company secretary; Now owner of MN Buildings)
• Joe Nahas (Owner of Coronation Property)
• Stephen Bou-Abbse
• Simeona 'Hooligan Hefs' Silapa (Western Sydney Rapper, and key member of Doonside Gang '67')
• Nasa Nova (Western Sydney Rapper with links to the KVT Street Gang)