Brothers for Life, also Brothers 4 Life was a Middle Eastern crime gang, active in south-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. They came to public prominence largely from internal disputes between the Bankstown chapter and the Blacktown chapter that resulted in a number of shootings in October 2012 to February 2014 that killed two members. Several other gang members were seriously injured. At least one uninvolved person was injured during a shooting. In October 2020, and June 2021 two other people related to the BFL leader, Bassam Hamzy, were killed in shootings.
Operation Apollo and Operation Talon were the police operations to deal with the gang.
History
Legal authorities first heard of BFL in May 2007 from notes found in the Lithgow Gaol cell of Bassam Hamzy, the leader of the gang and a convicted murderer. The gang began in the Bankstown-Greenacre area as a loose association of several other gangs. Brothers 4 Life came to public prominence largely from internal disputes between the Lebanese Australian Bankstown chapter and the Afghan Australian Blacktown chapter. Hamzy is incarcerated at the Goulburn Correctional Centre in the Supermax section.
2012 shootings
The gang's activities came to a head on 1 October 2012 when two members Yehye Amood, 27; and Bassim Hijazi, 32; were shot. Amood died after being hit eight times. Hijazi fled to Lebanon while refusing to assist police investigations into the shooting.
On 8 October 2012 a BFL member, Khaled Khalil, was knee-capped at Yagoona by fellow gang members.
On 17 October 2012 a drive-by shooting targeted a home in Winston Hills that was allegedly linked to BFL members.
2013 shootings
On 9 February 2013 at Bass Hill another unnamed BFL member was knee-capped. In an important breakthrough this person became a police informant known as 'Witness A'.
On 19 February two BFL members were arrested. Michael Odisho, 28, and Faoud Ekermawi, 35, were arrested in connection with the shooting in Winston Hills in October 2012, and the Bass Hill kneecapping in February 2013. This was a result of information from Witness A.
On 9 March in Auburn, Maha Hamze, the aunt of BFL leader Bassam Hamzy, was shot eight times in the legs through the front door of her home. 28 cartridge cases were recovered by police. It is believed the shooting was a payback over a demand for a debt recovery fee of $5,000 that the woman's son, , made to another man's mother. That man asked Bassam Hamzy to collect a $20,000 debt, which was done by , who later approached the man's mother at her MMarrickville home demanding the fee. A 28-year-old man was charged on 16 May with "shooting Maha Hamze with intent to kill". On 28 October 2014 the man, unnamed for legal reasons, was found guilty in the District Court of New South Wales of the attempted murder of Hamze. He was due to be sentenced on 18 December. In June 2021, Bilal Hamze was shot dead.
On 25 July 2013 in Dunmore Street, Wentworthville, shots were fired at two people Ashkan Rajabi and Bilal Hamze in a car parked outside a swimming pool.
On 2 August shots were fired at a dwelling in Lignite Place, Eagle Vale.
Just after midnight on 29 October in Bardo Circuit, Revesby Heights, another BFL member, Mahmoud Hamzy, 27, was shot dead. Mahmoud Hamzy was a cousin of Bassam Hamzy. In the same shooting Omar Ajaj, 24, also a BFL member, was wounded. Mahmoud's cousin Mohammed Hamzy was also present but escaped through the back door. On 27−28 October 2014, five BFL members were arrested and charged with Hamzys' murder.
Less than a week later on 3 November at Winston Hills, previously arrested BFL member Michael Odisho was shot several times. Before BFL, Odisho was a member of the Assyrian Kings gang.
On 4 November in Sunnyholt Road, Blacktown, a 13-year-old girl was wounded by shotgun pellets. Her brother Masood Zakaria, a BFL member, is alleged to have been the target.
