Melbourne’s alleged new crime boss unmasked
The rise of a ruthless new kingpin has embroiled Melbourne’s underworld in a gangland war in which police suspect he orchestrated a string of the “tobacco war” firebombings, a murder and a plot to desecrate the body of the sister of a long-time enemy.
The city’s underworld has been plagued by escalating violence since the release from prison earlier this year of Kazem “Kaz” Hamad, a 39-year-old career criminal who police believe has been running a major Middle Eastern organised crime gang from Dubai and other sanctuaries overseas after being deported from Australia in the middle of the year.
For the first time in more than eight years, Nine newspapers can publicly identify Hamad and his criminal activities after a suppression order over his identity and actions ended yesterday.
A series of suppression orders created by the Victorian courts since 2015 to “protect his safety” have been used by the Iraqi national as a cloak of invisibility to conceal his crimes and rise to power.
Hamad was deported to his native Iraq after serving an eight-year sentence for his involvement in a heroin trafficking ring.
The expulsion did not stop the infamously violent criminal from attempting to take control of significant turf in Melbourne’s drug and illicit tobacco markets and waging a campaign of revenge against his personal and business enemies.
Hamad has been identified – but not named – by Victoria Police sources as a key player behind the “tobacco wars” that have broken out across Victoria and interstate, which have involved more than 30 firebombing attacks between Hamad’s new gang and a long-established Melbourne crime family.
He is also the prime suspect in connection with orchestrating the attempted theft and desecration of the body of gangland boss George Marrogi’s sister in July, and the shooting death of Mohammed Akbar Keshtiar, aka “Afghan Ali”, in August. However, no charges have been laid, and the crimes are still being investigated.
The information used to document Hamad’s history and criminal activities has come from more than seven police sources and more than half-a-dozen underworld and legal sources, in addition to court documents and other records.
“He is, we believe, leading a significant criminal enterprise which is impacting not just Victoria but other states,” said Detective Inspector Graham Banks of Victoria Police’s Lunar taskforce at a press conference last week about the attempted body theft.
At the time, Victoria Police was restricted from publicly identifying Hamad because of the suppression order.
The taskforce was launched in early October to tackle the explosion in violent crime – firebombings, shootings and bashings – that has erupted this year between rival Middle Eastern organised crime syndicates.
“I’m concerned about the recklessness of this group in particular. It’s a thing that’s emerging across Australia where we have high-level organised criminals living overseas, directing harm into the community. Reckless abandon is how they go about it because they’re often in countries without extradition,” Banks said.
“He is directing, we would say, the majority of the crime that’s been the subject of why this taskforce has been stood up.
“He’s directing it from the top of the pyramid.”
Hamad, whose current whereabouts are unknown, could not be reached for comment.
Hamad is the gangland power Melbourne has never heard of, a figure like Keyser Soze from the film The Usual Suspects. The 39-year-old is notorious and feared across the underworld, but has remained virtually invisible to the public.
He arrived in Australia with his family in 1998, when he was 14, as a refugee from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. - Nine