The flames, gangsters and tobacco that ruled Melbourne this year

Kazem Hamad – the crime powerhouse who was deported to Iraq two years ago – maintained his position at the top of the tree, alongside his friend Ahmed Al Hamza who is also operating from the Middle East.

Firebombings remained at an alarming level and impacted almost all parts of Melbourne.

THE POLICE WINS

Underworld inquiries are traditionally tough territory for police but the law did make significant ground on a number of fronts in 2025.

In April, came a major breakthrough by homicide squad detectives investigating the August, 2023, shooting ambush of tobacco kingpin Mohammed “Afghan Ali” Keshtiar in a South Yarra street.

They will allege 23-year-old Adris Kheyali and 25-year-old Abdullay Abdalla were responsible for the killing of Keshtiar on a Friday night in Almeida Crescent.

A $1 million reward had been posted to find who had carried out the killing but the inquiry is far from over with detectives doubtless trying to track down who commissioned and funded the crime.

Another major breakthrough came in July when a group of alleged “foot soldiers” accused of murdering underworld-linked Robert Issa in a brazen daylight execution, were arrested.

Issa, 27, was gunned down as he sat parked in his Mercedes-Benz next to mate Eric Catanese at Craigieburn Central shopping centre just a month after the slaying of Keshtiar.

Homicide detectives charged five people with murder, one of them tracked down to Greece as part of the investigation.

The accused men included 26-year-old Fawkner men Christian Behrndt and Fabio Perrone, who police say were the getaway drivers, 29-year-old Dion Perrone, 31-year-old Muhammed Sayan and 33-year-old Bechara Bayrouty.

As with the Keshtiar case, detectives also want to nail whoever ordered and paid for the crime.

It took six years but two Comanchero bikies were handed life sentences after one of the most important gangland murder trials of recent memory.

Mitat Rasimi, a former member of Tony Mokbel’s sprawling drug operation, was shot dead in his car at Dandenong in March, 2019.

A complex investigation centred on the Comancheros unfurled many of the gang’s secrets as witnesses with knowledge of its inner sanctum testified.

Laiseni Kakato and Richard Ene were eventually convicted by a jury and, in July, Supreme Court Justice Michael Tinney gave them life terms with 28-year minimums.

Justice Tinney said the pair had been rewarded for their work with a Comos patch at a party held a fortnight after they killed Rasimi.

Another case which required patience was the pursuit of Jim Soukoulis, a Hells Angels-linked fugitive and accused international drug shipment plotter who vanished in 2019.

In September, there was some surprise in the underworld when Soukoulis was flown back to Australia and promptly arrested by Australian Federal Police officers who had been looking for him for six years.

The 60-year-old had been arrested in Indonesia weeks earlier and deported.

Soukoulis had been a major AFP target since fleeing while on charges related to an alleged 2017 plot to fly 272kg of cocaine from California to Australia.

The Lunar task force, set up in 2023 to combat organised crime’s role in the illicit tobacco rackets, made some major seizures and arrests.

It was involved in a major operation which culminated in the November arrest in Perth of Maytham Hamad, the younger brother of exiled underworld boss Kazem Hamad.

That investigation looked into the alleged transfer of up to $8 million in profits from West Australia to Victoria.

MIDDLE-EASTERN ORGANISED CRIME

The heat was turned up on MEOC supremo Kazem Hamad when he was publicly named by both federal and Victorian police examining high-profile crimes.

The illicit tobacco, vape and drug kingpin was labelled a “national security threat” by AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett, who subsequently announced a new investigation into his activities.

Hamad was also named as a person of interest in a firebombing that claimed the life of an innocent woman at Truganina.

They also hinted that he was linked to a major alleged extortion plot but often refer to him as an “offshore” crime figure.

The exiled Hamad, who continues to operate from an unknown location in the Middle East, is understood to be unhappy with his name being linked to the Adass Israel Synagogue firebombing.

Victoria Police’s illicit tobacco task force has also redirected its attention into tackling Hamad and his associates both overseas and in this state.

He remains a formidable and almost untouchable crime figure who continues to cause significant harm across Melbourne.

His quiet achiever ally, Ahmed Al Hamza, is believed to have remained influential, despite maintaining his favoured low profile.

Little is publicly known of his activities but they must be lucrative, judging by a photo obtained by the Herald Sun of Al Hamza relaxing at a fight event in Bahrain early in the year.

The image showed him wearing a Richard Mille wrist watch valued at $1.6 million.

Al Hamza is one of many powerful criminals to have built their growing empires from across the Middle East – which is now a well-established haven for organised crime crews to do business.

Numerous other big players were ensconced in the region, from where they continue to wield massive influence back here.

At least some of them would have been happy not to have to factor in two of the MEOC sphere’s most hunted men after Hawre Sherwani and Sam Abdulrahim died in contract killing ambushes in January.

One player who continues to make waves is Notorious Crime Family founder George Marrogi.

There was much puzzlement in October when the Herald Sun revealed how Marrogi, one of Victoria’s most high-risk inmates, managed to smuggle a cache of phones, drugs and tech devices into his maximum security cell at Barwon Prison.

The discovery is the subject of a major police and corrections inquiry probe.

Marrogi, 36, is already serving a 32-year sentence over the shooting murder of drug dealer Kadir Ors in 2016.

The fact that he had previously run a major drug smuggling plot from inside and had access to tech gear made the latest find doubly surprising.

Sources with close knowledge of the probe underway into Marrogi’s most recent stash have described it as one of the most serious prison security breaches in years.

Those sources also say it is unlikely such an operation could have operated without the help of corrections staff.

FEELING THE BURN

Firebombings continue to be the favoured attack method for those waging war on a range of fronts in Melbourne.

While tobacco shops have been the most frequent target of recent years, bikie clubhouses, gyms, factories, auto workshops and cosmetics businesses were among other places to be torched.

The Herald Sun in July revealed the damage bill from the wave of arson attacks was estimated to run into the hundreds of millions.

On top of the financial cost, four lives have been lost since February, 2024.

Truganina woman Katie Tangey was killed after criminals allegedly set fire to the wrong house in a botched firebombing and an arsonist set himself alight as he tried to torch a Chapel St dessert joint with fatal results.

Two innocent men sleeping in a Sunshine factory were killed after an accused arsonist lit up a neighbouring building in late February of 2024.

The Rebels’ clubhouse at Montrose was in April razed by a suspicious fire while the Comanchero headquarters at Clyde North suffered the same fate in June.

The bikie-linked Nitro Gym was also set alight in an early morning attack in mid October.

The Mordialloc muscle factory has been linked to the Comanchero while the chain’s Hallam site had also been shot up and firebombed.

Flamboyant smash repair businessman David “Hollywood” Deicke also came under fire.

The most recent blaze at the Brighton-based Autosport Prestige garage in late September destroyed millions of dollars worth of luxury cars and almost completely destroyed the factory complex which also houses other businesses.

Deicke was the target of at least two other deliberately lit blazes at his businesses in Laverton and Mentone in the months before the Brighton arson.

They came at a challenging time for the 50-year-old, who is reportedly the subject of a $1m extortion plot.

Extracted in full from:  https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-victoria/the-tobacco-firebombings-and-offshore-gang-kingpins-that-shook-melbourne-in-2025/news-story/887f02c0625f1f2fd3aa5721fcae1238