Brothers 4 Life founder Bassam Hamzy: One of Australia’s most notorious gang bosses is ‘shivved’ in supermax

Australia
By William

By David Southwell for Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

One of Australia's most feared underworld figures has been attacked with a makeshift knife known as a shiv in a maximum security prison.

Bassam Hamzy, the founder of Sydney crime gang Brothers 4 Life, was attacked by convicted murderer Ricky McNamara at Goulburn Supermax prison on Thursday.

A handcuffed Hamzy was led to a small, caged training area where McNamara waited for him.

Almost as soon as Hamzy walked in, McNamara started punching and throwing punches at him wildly Daily telegram reported.

Prison guards were forced to intervene using chemical sprays to subdue McNamara.

Bassam Hamzy, one of Australia's most notorious prisoners, has been attacked by another inmate wielding an improvised knife known as a shiv.

Despite the insane violence of the attack, Hamzy escaped with only minor injuries, according to prison authorities.

A spokesperson for Corrective Services NSW said Hamzy and McNamara had undergone a rigorous check before being placed in the garden together.

“At approximately 8am on Thursday 21 December 2023, two prisoners were doing approved exercises together in the courtyard of the High Risk Management Correctional Center in Goulburn,” the statement said.

'One prisoner attacked the other prisoner, who suffered minor injuries.

'Chemical munitions were deployed and both prisoners were safely secured. NSW Police were notified and attended the scene.”

N.S.W Police are investigating the incident and say no charges have been filed at this time.

Goulburn Supermax, located near the south-east town of the same name, is the safest prison in NSW and houses the state's most notorious prisoners.

Hamzy has been in prison since he was convicted of murdering a teenager in 1999.

Goulburn Supermax is the safest prison in NSW and houses the state's most notorious prisoners.

Goulburn Supermax is the safest prison in NSW and houses the state's most notorious prisoners.

McNamara has a history of attacking other inmates and in April 2022, he attempted to behead an inmate with razors made from razor blades after allegedly hearing the man brag about his child sex crimes.

The attack was carried out on Aaron McCurley at the Long Bay Correctional Complex in Sydney's eastern suburb of Matraville.

McNamara later pleaded guilty to wounding/grievous bodily harm to a person with intent to murder and was given an additional 12 years in prison with a non-parole period of five years.

This was in addition to the 30-year prison sentence without parole that McNamara is serving for murder.

Who is Bassam Hamzy?

Bassam Hamzy, 43, is the son of Lebanese immigrants Khaled and Lola Hamzy, who moved their family to Australia during the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s.

In 1999, Bassam shot dead a teenager during a night out in Sydney and was jailed for 21 years.

Hamzy was only 18.

But while life behind bars is meant to be a deterrent to recidivism, it was where Hamzy thrived.

He founded the Brothers 4 Life gang, and with a slew of mobile phones hidden in his cell, allegedly a sophisticated drugs and crime ring.

He is considered an engaging conversationalist, with an interest in legal matters, who is also a devout Muslim and has ties with other prisoners about Islam.

Court documents during the trial on the 2017 murder of Brayden Dillon, 15, Hamzy declared typically vulnerable “young Aboriginal men with substance addictions.”

But his network is reportedly much wider, notably including active gang members in Sydney as well as some unlikely figures.

In December 2020, Wagga Wagga grandmother Bronwyn Anne Brown was jailed for up to three years and four months for supplying prohibited drugs to Hamzy.

Hamzy is said to have communicated with his former lawyer Martin Churchill through client privilege rules.

He is due to appear in court in May on charges of supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

At one point during the case, Hamzy represented himself.

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