The Alameddine crime network or Alameddine family is an Australian organised crime group that operates out of the Western Sydney suburb of Merrylands. The gang, 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 in weekly profit at its peak.
Since October 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 Brothers for Life organisation, within the Sydney gangland war of the early 2020s.
Connection to the Curtis Cheng murder and links to Islamic extremism In October 2015, Talal Alameddine, who was accused of supplying the firearm used in the fatal shooting of NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng, was denied bail and scheduled to appear in court on 10 December of that year. His co-accused, Raban Alou, who was also charged in connection with the attack, remained in custody and faced the possibility of life imprisonment if convicted.
In connection with the 2015 shooting of Cheng, Rafat Alameddine's brother Talal pleaded guilty to "recklessly possessing a thing connected with a terrorist act and supplying a pistol" in October 2017. In May 2018, Talal was sentenced by Judge Peter Johnson in the Supreme Court of New South Wales to 17 years and 8 months, with a minimum term of 13½ years. His earliest projected release date is in 2029.
During legal proceedings, Talal Alameddine implied the network having a connection to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group, saying to officials: "my beard is for ISIS".
A 2015 police report declared that Bilal Alameddine, then between 16 and 17 years of age, had attempted to fly to the Middle East to make his way to Syria to join ISIS. Bilal denied allegations that the trip was connected to the Islamic State and said he was going to North Macedonia on holiday.
Alameddine member and associate Samimjan Azari is also reportedly related to Omarjan Azari, one of 19 men who were charged in 2014 with planning a mass beheading terrorist attack. Samimjan Azari was also on the list of many individuals that alleged Islamic State terrorist Ahmad Saiyer Naizman was banned from contacting.
On 11 December 2017, Mark Morri of The Daily Telegraph reported that terrorist Man Haron Monis had purchased the shotgun used in the Lindt Cafe siege from a "well-known Middle Eastern crime family" 48 hours before the attack. Morri confirmed that the Alameddines were "not alleged to have sold the gun to Monis," though it remains likely that one of the Alameddines' allies may have, such as, potentially, the Hauochar Clan. However, police declared that while they received extensive intelligence regarding the weapon transaction, they were unable to materialise charges about the event.
Alameddine's long-time allies, the Hauochars, have also been linked to alleged extremist activity. In 2015, Osman Hauochar travelled to the Syria-Turkey border, where he claimed to have been doing “humanitarian work.” He was questioned by officials upon his return to Australia.
After the arrests of the Alameddine family's R4W subset, the New South Wales Police Force alleged links between the gang and Islamic extremism. On 25 May 2022, The Daily Telegraph reported that court papers identified "members of the group downloading and watching promotional videos produced by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that encourage terrorist acts and violent extremism.”
Counter-terror police sting
From May to June 2017, an undercover police operation was commenced by the counter-terrorism unit targeting illicit weapons and drug supply. An undercover police officer, dubbed 'M' in court documents, met with Bilal Alameddine and Samimjan Azari on five occasions. Across these get-togethers, Azari and Alameddine supplied officer 'M' with "seven firearms, including a shotgun, bolt-action rifle, lever-action rifle, and 507 grams of cocaine".
On the first meeting between the men and the undercover officer, which occurred on 5 May 2017, Alameddine and Azari met 'M' on a street in Guildford. Alameddine then got into the backseat of 'M's vehicle and brandished a .50 AE Desert Eagle pistol from his pants, alongside two empty boxes of ammunition. 'M' reportedly paid the men $28,000 in cash in this transaction. On a later occasion, Azari supplied Officer 'M' with $32,000 worth of cocaine, which was allegedly packaged in “vacuum-sealed plastic packets.”
On 30 June 2017, the New South Wales Police Force swooped on the pair at a Bunnings carpark in Lidcombe and seized BlackBerry mobile phones, 283 grams of cocaine, and about $70,000 in cash. A further $51,840, suspected by police to be the proceeds of crime, were later seized from Azari's residence in Merrylands.
At the time of their alleged offense, Bilal Alameddine and Samimjan Azari were both only 18 years of age. As of an article published in The Daily Telegraph on 15 May 2020, Alameddine and Azari had both pleaded guilty to unlawfully supplying firearms and supplying about 500 grams of cocaine. Alameddine then also pleaded guilty to "supplying ammunition and two counts of supplying a pistol part" on 12 May 2020. Azari also pleaded guilty to "six form-one offences relating to the unauthorised supply of pistol parts, ammunition, and the MDMA and cash found in his home".
As of the 15 May 2020 article, Bilal Alameddine was represented by lawyer Peter Lange. While awaiting sentencing, Alameddine was in confinement at Long Bay Correctional Centre. Alameddine, whose date of birth was listed in court filings as 4 September 1998, was sentenced to "an aggregate sentence of 6 years from 30 June 2017 to 29 June 2023 with an aggregate non-parole period of 3 years expiring on 29 June 2020".
In 2020 and 2021, Bilal Alameddine was refused early release by the State Parole Authority.
On 11 August 2021, The Sydney Morning Herald published an article that identified solicitor Abdulrahim 'Abdul' Saddik as the head of Bilal's legal team, and Tomislav Bicanic as his barrister. Abdul Saddik also represents many other members of the Alameddine clan, including Trente Jeske, Ali 'Ay Huncho' Younes and Asaad Alahmad, as well as Talal, Hamdi, and family boss Rafat.
On 14 November 2022, The Daily Telegraph reported that Bilal Alameddine was set to be released from jail on parole within "a matter of weeks".
Azari's sentencing in this case is unclear based on online sources, though it is known that he was at least out of prison as early as June 2023, when he was involved in a public brawl at Pitt Street Mall with other senior Alameddine clan members.
Brothers for Life infighting In mid-to-late 2013, the Brothers for Life gang was in civil war, with the Lebanese Bankstown chapter and the Afghan Blacktown chapter engaging in tit-for-tat shootings. As reported by The Daily Telegraph in November 2016, Masood Zakaria, despite being Afghan himself, was a member of B4L's Bankstown crew at the time of the conflict. The faction of Brothers for Life which Masood was part of was led by Mohammad "Little Crazy" Hamzy, a member of the crime family he would soon be at war against.
During the conflict with the Blacktown chapter, on 4 November 2013, Zakaria's then 14-year-old sister was struck with 300 shotgun pellets to her spine, lungs, and chest and suffered life-altering injuries. According to The Daily Telegraph, Zakaria also used to be a lieutenant in the Comanchero Motorcycle Club under former sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed.
Sometime in October 2018, Talal Alameddine got into a brawl with fellow Goulburn Correctional Centre inmate Bassam Hamzy, founder of the Brothers for Life organisation.
On 15 June 2019, Rafat, Richad, and Hamdi Alameddine were involved in a brawl at Westfield Parramatta with another group known to them at around three o'clock in the afternoon. The trio turned themselves in at Parramatta Police Station on the morning of 22 July, a little more than a month after the melee. They were charged with affray.
Known business links In December 2016, Masood Zakaria registered property management company, Prestige Management Group with ASIC, who deregistered the business in 2020 on grounds the company was "either inactive or hadn't filed appropriate documents with corporate regulators on time". However, Zakaria had registered another, separate property management company, Zak Projects, in 2018.
The wife of Ali 'Ay Huncho' Younes, Ezzat Alameddine, had reported involvement in Zak Projects, with Zakaria, and was listed as a director of the since-delisted Prestige Management Group. Ezzat Alameddine was arrested on 15 December 2021 during a police search for Zakaria, and, as of 6 February 2022, was facing charges for alleged use of fraudulent documents in the purchase of her home.
In June 2017, Hamdi Alameddine registered a tree lopping company, operating from a Alameddine family home in Merrylands.
In July 2018, Jihad Alameddine registered a building management firm, Fastway Project Management. It was deregistered by ASIC in July 2021.
In 2018, Rafat Alameddine registered investment company, Australian Investment Managers. ASIC deregistered the company in September 2021. As of a The Daily Telegraph article published on 5 February 2022, Rafat had registered a new company, MSJ Group.
Alameddine family associate Mohammad 'Almo' Alameddine was served a ban from associating with a list of 24 specific underworld figures. The list included Elly Greenfield, a 30 year old (at the time of reporting in August 2022) businessperson who had attracted media coverage for her links to reputed underworld figure, Luke 'Fat Boy' Sparos. Greenfield was reported to have provided Sparos with a $100,000 surety on his bail application for charges related to the attempted murder of DLASTHR gangster, Samer Marcus, in November 2020.
The extent to which Greenfield was involved in underworld activities was uncertain. Listed as the sole director of car-hire company, Unique Wedding Cars and Limousines, she was alleged to have links to discount carpet seller and bookmaker, Leo Lewin - a fellow business owner, residing in the upmarket South-Sydney suburb of Yowie Bay, and former operator of the Fairfield-based tyre-shop franchise, Tyres for Less.
In 2017, the decision was taken by horse-racing association, Racing NSW, to revoke Lewin's bookmaking license following allegations he had "demonstrated association with known violent criminals/persons of extreme ill repute”. Racing NSW also claimed Lewin had provided known crime figures with employment, vehicles, properties and home-improvement services (namely, carpet), and had “offer[ed] accommodation at [his] family residence to a criminal on parole”.
The Alameddine family is known to have ties to several junior Rugby League clubs in Western Sydney, after reports extended-family members were coaching a number of teams in the local Parramatta competition. In 2022, Hamdi Alameddine was pictured at a junior football match attended by Penrith Panthers coach, Ivan Cleary, and his son, and Panthers' star halfback, Nathan.
On 24 January 2023, The Daily Telegraph reported New South Wales Police Force Strike Force Sugarcane - established to target Alameddine subsidiary, R4W - had centred their attention on businesses and properties in the immediate vicinity of a phone store, MobileTown, in Granville. Raids carried out at the store led to the arrest of MobileTown owner/manager, Nou Silena Loeung, who was charged with 27 separate offences. Police allege Loeung had facilitated the operations of R4W's drug distribution "business" through sales of thousands of fraudulent SIM cards to members of the organisation.
On 27 May 2022, Rafat Alameddine lodged paperwork to register a new business, Sydney Lavish Renovations.
Links to Rugby League