In 1983 the Australian Federal Police tapped over 7,000 of Hakims conversations: 26 corruption investigations involving police ensued. Bayeh, who now lives in the Sydney CBD with his 35-year-old fiance Leyla Yavuz, wants it known that he has no grudge against the two men mainly responsible for his very public demise and eventual jailing, Royal Commissioner James Wood and Council Assisting the Royal Commission John Agius. New King's Cross beat constable, Wendy Jones, quickly crosses paths with John Ibrahim and the attraction is mutual. Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Bayeh, 56, who was portrayed in Underbelly: The Golden Mile, spent 15 years in prison for cocaine and heroin trafficking. Police have attended the home of a 10-month-old baby who appeared in shocking footage sucking on and inhaling the fumes of a vape. But I still go home once a week to have a cup of tea with my mum, he says. The Police Royal Commission and the substantial reforms that followed it stopped most corruption, making police more effective against organised criminals than in the past. Political staffer Sally Rugg has ramped up her legal fight against teal independent Monique Ryan after an attempt at mediation failed. Kanaan received life sentences for three murders. All times AEDT (GMT +11). Bill Bayeh pleaded guilty to assaulting intensive care nurse Leanne Nesbitt The Kings Cross identity got into a heated argument with her early last year Bayeh allegedly made a threat. Mr Ibrahim's lawyers claim in court documents that Mr Domican, a former ALP figure, accompanied Louis Bayeh to a meeting at the Cosmopolitan Cafe in Kings Cross, where the latter allegedly told Mr Ibrahim, "Who do you think you are, trying to take over the Cross?". Dressed in beige jeans and a blue and white checked shirt, John is the quintessential young eastern suburbs entrepreneur. The claims are intended to support an argument for the defence of "contextual truth" in the event the book is found to have defamed Mr Domican, which Mr Ibrahim denies. Infrastructure work is very complicated. I didnt want to be there at one stage.. Bayeh initially claimed ignorance over the recordings and tried to explain his considerable assets by claiming they were the proceeds of gambling wins. 'The corrections staff had no idea at all, not a clue, and the frustrations of many a long-serving inmate were relieved.'. He must also undergo regular drug and alcohol testing and psychological assessment. Every job I got was eventually going to lead me to where I am now. The city can now start the design work on the already-completed traffic studies, get that work done by the first quarter of 2024, with construction to follow. I want to be left alone. Then you go home, have a shower and sleep very well.. Ms Nesbitt said nothing as Bayeh, now 57, greeted her from his outdoor table at the Five Boroughs coffee shop on Darlinghurst Road. John was 19 when he became part-owner of the Tunnel but he had already armed himself with a formidable collection of contacts and friends. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Their building also backs onto the street. Mr Ibrahim alleges Mr Domican has a reputation among "members of the Australian general public over the age of 35", NSW Police and the legal community, the building industry, and the pubs and clubs industry as a violent criminal, a standover man, and an associate of underworld figures. "It is to be inferred that [Mr Domican] had been retained by Louis Bayeh to intimidate [Ibrahim] in order to protect Mr Bayeh's share of the protection market in Kings Cross," documents filed by lawyers for Mr Ibrahim claim. All you need to do is get your foot in the door, John says. I thought "I'm going to save the world - this is great - I can be a superhero here".'. Wanting more from life than a nine to five job he joined the NSW Police Force in 1978 when he was 19. Running a club is perfect for that sort of thing, but its not for me. Bill Bayeh was jailed for 15 years for drug trafficking in the 1990s.Credit:Nick Moir. We used to do taekwondo together. One night he found a naked woman on the meal room table performing a sex act on herself with a police baton while his fellow officers drank cans of beer. After leaving school John began working in Kings Cross at the Tunnel Cabaret nightclub. S03:E06 - Women in Uniform. The 55-year-old emerged with a tuft of white hair at the front of an otherwise black head of hair and was wearing a black hooded top and jeans as he walked through the gates at 9.14am (AEST) today. I want to be left alone. Thats what I think. Former policeman and private detective Charlie Staunton, jailed by the Royal Commission for refusing to answer questions about his relationship with Bill Bayeh, is another close friend with whom he has travelled. Bayeh was likewise associated with the strongman Tom Domican. You need to be in jail, Ms Nesbitt said, according to a NSW Police statement of facts. Ive never sold drugs. He paid police to protect at least 24 gaming clubs and often entertained police officers. By then Staunton had bought his first Porsche and with a private investigator's licence work from major criminals and prominent law firms kept rolling in. 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''He is going to work for a fruit man,'' he added. His defence claims that, in about 1997, following Bill Bayeh's arrest on drug charges, for which he was ultimately jailed for 15 years, Louis Bayeh continued to take payments for "protecting" strip clubs and other businesses in the area. Board Bill 120 funds the design and implementation of traffic calming and road improvements for completed traffic studies in the city, funds traffic calming and ADA improvements for the Grand, Union, Goodfellow, Jefferson and Kingshighway corridors, and addresses safety improvements at the top 10 city crash locations. Its not money thats been laundered. Although wealthy, good looking and self-assured, John is, in many ways, an ineligible bachelor. Today the War on Drugs continues to affect many lives in ways ranging from the trivial to the profound. John is still smarting from the cuff across the ears doled out by the Commission when he was hauled into the St James Centre in October to answer questions about his Kings Cross connections. SYDNEY nightclub owner John Ibrahim was very young when he gave this first revealing interview. During the hearing, counsel for the Commissioner, Christopher Lonergan, referred to a pre-release report by Bayeh's probation and parole officer. Please try again later. 'I'm not running from anything I've done. His period of dominance in Kings Cross was the inspiration for the third series of the TV drama Underbelly. KINGS Cross identity Bill Bayeh has pleaded not guilty to assaulting the former wife of colourful businessman Geoffrey Edelsten. The argument erupted after intensive care nurse Leanne Nesbitt passed Bayeh on her way to work at St Vincents Hospital about 6.40pm on a Sunday in February 2015. If you're a friend of mine you're there forever.'. The Reverend Fred Nile described him in parliament as Mr Fixit, an acknowledgement of the power he had acquired through his vast range of contacts in the Lebanese community, the police force, and elsewhere. In 1987 Hakim was gaoled for six and a half years for his involvement in bribing Corrective Services Minister Rex Jackson to release prisoners early. Until last year he was involved with a girl whom he had been dating for 10 years. John is dismissive about the context in which his relationships with colourful Kings Cross identities are viewed. They are proof of a violent youth but John says simply: Theyre my scars. When gang violence breaks out in King's Cross, John Ibrahim is placed under pressure to clean up the streets. I cant sing, I cant dance. Having obtained the HSC via correspondence, she enrolls in a detective's course at Goulburn Police Academy. Bill Bayeh and John Ibrahim would go on to play major roles in his life. I just had to waste time and plod along until I got there. New South Wales Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham opposed Bayeh's parole, saying he was just presenting a facade as a naive man. The victim was transported to the . If the police came knocking, the cashiers would pretend they were simply running an innocent entertainment business. Former Sydney drug kingpin Bill Bayeh has been granted parole after more than a decade in jail. Violence increased partly because of the nature of the drug trade, and partly because the degree of stability once provided in the underworld by the involvement of corrupt police largely disappeared. John is out on the balcony bantering with his female assistant, a longtime friend. "How is branch stacking relevant to gang wars? They were described by a police officer at the time as the biggest drug dealers in Kings Cross. This will not be work that we can complete overnight. With another club in Surfers Paradise, also called The Tunnel, he wanted to free up his commitments in Sydney. 2023, Charter Communications, all rights reserved. On Wednesday, Mayor Tishaura Jones signed the St. Louis Safer Street bill (BB120), utilizing $40 . "The fatal flaw in this legislation is that it disenfranchises voters in St. Louis," Hudson said. Another hobby is jetskiing. Smalltime bouncer Benny Kassab has an audacious plan to become King of the Cross and Tevor Haken's alcoholism takes a toll on his marriage and his ability to manage police corruption. Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023. Hakim was used by the Gaming Squad to sign warrants for almost every raid it conducted from 1971 to 1979. Speaking outside the hearing, one of Bayeh's other brothers said he was pleased at the result. One of those cases of stolen whisky was subsequently planted in Staunton's own car and he left the force rather than implicate anyone else. He (the owner) was getting robbed right left and centre. I came in there and cut it all out. Hakim got him a job as debt collector with Lennie McPherson, and Bayeh went on to open a gaming club at West Ryde with Hakims approval and then became a major standover man and Kings Cross drug dealer for many years. Kim Hollingsworth organises a strip show for a police charity. Friends are very overrated, he says, taking a long gulp of his coffee. Thats the business were in. /news/article/bill-bayeh-arrested-after-nurse-assault/l48mi2g48 Staunton was adept at solving legal problems for his associates and became well-known on the Sydney nightclub and music scene. While construction of those projects wont start until sometime in 2024, city officials confirmed that theyre separately looking at bringing back red light traffic camera enforcement in the nearer term and are in the early stages of exploring a non-police unit to address traffic enforcement. The relationship with Bill Bayeh was severed on the day John appeared before the Commission and heard a conversation between supergrass Trevor Haken and Bayeh, taped at Birkenhead Point Tavern in December 1994. Along the way he was called upon to keep Paul McCartney and his wife company for an evening and once shared a prison van with backpacker killer Ivan Milat. Long-time observers of the Cross say it was typical of the shameless bravado Bayeh then projected as he cruised the famous red-light district. A friend embarks on a monologue about the imprudence of talking to the press and John quiets him with a simple Thatll do. Impressed by Ibrahim, Freeman offers him a job as a bouncer. Kim Hollingsworth continues to risk her life to expose Eddie Gould's corruption. When Bill's business suffers as a result, tensions rise between Bill and his brother, Louis Bayeh. For more information please click here. Perhaps the best known gang of the late 1990s was the extremely vicious Dannys Boys, led by Danny Karam, who engaged in knee-cappings and drive-by shootings, including one of Lakemba Police Station in 1998. This was surprising because Hakim had had advance knowledge of the raid from his police sources; he later complained the drugs had been planted by Lauer. Drawn to the Cross from Sydney's western suburbs in the late 1980s, Bayeh developed a serious gambling problem that left him drowning in debt. In the course of them doing their job theyve got to stickybeak everywhere, he says. ', Long-time friend and former Kings Cross nightclub boss John Ibrahim sums up Staunton on the book's cover: 'When Charlie's good he's great. Within a year the new leader, Michael Kanaan, and some 50 others associated with the gang had been arrested. Convicted cocaine dealer Bill Bayeh and his brother Louie are old friends of the family. Tanned, fit and small in stature, John has full lips, sleepy eyes and a subtly engaging persona. In a statement of claim filed last year, the Irish-born former political and building industry figure claims Mr Ibrahim's book implies he "was willing to be hired to kill people other than the Ibrahims"; "is a violent criminal who took part in gang wars"; conducted illegal gambling; and was involved in the supply of heroin. He received compensation for his injuries but will not say how much, just that it wasnt a lot. 'But the morals that I have, I will not sell or give up on. We flew from Amsterdam straight to Lebanon. Benny Kassab, a nightclub bouncer, quells a street brawl and earns the attention of Bill Bayeh. That way you can train whoevers in your room to do it, she responds with a smile. The expansion of the Bayeh drug empire led to a push to remove small drug dealers off the streets. Staunton still works in security, hospitality and logistics and as a bodyguard to A-list celebrities. Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts. I put everything we made back into the club. It's being paid for with the American Rescue Plan Fund. There has been a surprising development in the trial of a disgraced former NSW Minister facing more than two dozen child sex abuse allegations. Ive done my time many times over for my charges. We didnt fit in. In 1999, he was sentenced to a 15-year minimum term - backdated to 1996 - which expires on July 17. Among Staunton's close friends was John Ibrahim, with whom he travelled to England, Austria and Lebanon on one trip. The lounge room, covered in thick white carpet, is clean but untidy, giving the impression of an archetypal boys house. Under the bond for the Ms Nesbitt incident, Bayeh must continue psychological treatment for a year, Magistrate Graeme Curran told Downing Centre Local Court, noting both matters were at the lower end of seriousness. After almost a decade working in Kings Cross, the startling revelations of graft, corruption, drug dealing and prostitution are like office gossip to John. On his first night at Long Bay jail Staunton, who was considered at risk due to his years as a policeman, was moved from his original cell. Aware that he is being investigated by the Wood Royal Commission, Dennis Kelly dobs in Jim Egan to investigators. Crime is an essential part of the city's history. Download it here. All rights reserved. Chief Inspector Dennis Kelly applies to enter the National Crime Authority in order to improve his resume in the race for police commissioner. He was shot three times but survived. Mr Ibrahim also alleges Mr Domican opened his coat to display his gun while telling associates he would "take care" of a rival drug dealer on a Saturday night in 1993. We have already seen with Robert Trimbole an example of how the Italian mafia came to Australia. Everybody knows everybody. The sun is shining and John is sparkling with good humour. Why not, I grew up here, he said when asked why he had returned to Kings Cross. I knew I wanted to be in the nightclub and restaurant industry.. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. I deserve a second chance it is the Australian way.. Smart and casual, he exudes a faint air of wealth. In 2001 he was back in gaol for supplying heroin and cocaine and taking $180,000 which he split with police from brothel owners for protection. Bayeh, 56, was allegedly involved in an argument with Mr Edelsten's ex-wife Leanne Nesbitt, who is a nurse at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney. In 2001, he was sentenced to another three years after pleading guilty to demanding money with menaces from two brothel keepers and for supplying cocaine and heroin. It was difficult to believe that the greying, gaunt-faced man staring out from the audio-visual room at Silverwater Prison yesterday was the same one who once treated the streets of Kings Cross as his personal domain. He extended his criminal activities and eventually became known as the Lebanese godfather. Convicted cocaine dealer Bill Bayeh and his brother Louie are old friends of the family. They go home, theyve got social lives, they go out. Bayeh was in court for sentencing on another matter, for allegedly hindering police in a separate incident three days before the February 2015 assault. Theyre only people. How is branch stacking relevant to heroin supply?" He bought a delicatessen in Cleveland Street Redfern, close to the headquarters of the Gaming Squad and became a Justice of the Peace. Hakims relationship with Lennie McPherson was essential to his success, and as Bob Bottom revealed in 1991, he once told Sydneys Mr Big: You are a flag and should be obeyed and should be respected. Staunton writes of helping solve problems for drug dealers Bill Bayeh, who distributed cocaine and heroin in Kings Cross, and international trafficker Bruce 'Snapper' Cornwell. He is at pains, however, to portray himself as a normal working businessman who is at a loose end during the renovation of his club. Walks free from Silverwater prison after minimum 15-year term for drug trafficking expires in July 2011. Bill Bayeh and John Ibrahim would go on to play major roles in his life. Followed categories will be added to My News. He and a colleague had recovered a BMW stolen from television host Kerri-Anne Kennerley and then used to steal six dozen bottles of Scotch which were hidden in the boot. I just want to get on with my life, he said. And sorry for the victims Ive caused trouble to.. 9NEWS reports the 56-year-old reportedly became involved in a heated argument with Leanne Nesbitt, now an intensive care nurse, outside St Vincent's Hospital last night at about 6.30pm. His rise from such depths was dramatic. Bayeh's method was simple. Life after prison looms for King of the Cross. The clouds have finally lifted over Kings Cross after days of rain. Various prohibitions have caused many citizens to engage in criminal behaviour over the subsequent years, most commonly illegal gambling and drinking. Russell Townsend, described in Royal Commission evidence as an alleged drug dealer, is a friend and gym partner. It is a thirteen-part series loosely based on real events that stemmed from the mile-long nightclub/ red light district in the Sydney suburb of Kings Cross, also known as the "Golden Mile", between 1988 and 1999. He is vehement when he says he does not deal drugs. FORMER king of the Kings Cross strip, convicted drug dealer Bill Bayeh, has returned to what he knows best strip clubs. The inmate who took his place was severely bashed by three other prisoners because Staunton's name card had been left on the outer door. I am just trying to get my life back., Kings Cross underworld identity previously known as the King of the Cross. In effect he was saying the detectives had engaged in noble corruption the use of illegal means by otherwise honest police to convict known criminals. However, he appeared quite street-savvy and capable of verbal manipulation at all levels.''. A major player in last year's Underbelly TV series, Bill Bayeh was jailed for dealing heroin and cocaine from the once-notorious Cosmopolitan Cafe in Kings Cross. Bill Bayeh has bought a share in iconic strip joint Love Machine, with the refurbished venue set to open again later this month. THE former king of the Kings Cross strip has returned to what he knows best: The strip club business. Between those opposite ends of the law Staunton found himself somewhere in the middle as a private investigator and problem-solver for Sydney's underworld. The document also alleges Mr Domican threatened an illegal poker machine supplier with violence in 1990 if he wasn't given money and access to the machines; and was sentenced to two months' hard labour in 1988 for possessing an unlicensed pistol. Commission investigator Gerry Lloyd hires Shaka, a former lieutenant to Benny Kassab, to wear a wire to expose the corrupt police working with Bill Bayeh. See more at www.tennews.com.au Bayeh is also keen to point out there will be a zero tolerance to drugs at the venue. A few blocks north on Natural Bridge, a corridor that was the scene of multiple high-speed fatalities in recent years has seen speeds reduced by 9 miles an hour, Jones said citing Missouri Department of Transportation data and noting that more data was needed to see established trends. I did what I did and I accept what I did. Kim Hollingsworth organises a strip show for a police charity. How can we protect people no matter how they choose to get around?. One of his bouncer colleagues there was Felix Lyle, who would later become a Bandidos and Hells Angels boss. I have worked with some pretty funny people. The view from Johns Dover Heights home is breathtaking. His first job after school was in the clearing department with the Commonwealth Bank where he fantasised about stealing pallets of cash. The parole authority believed Bayeh had served a lengthy prison sentence compared to other sentences for crimes of a similar nature. He asked them to force out smaller operators, including Sam Ibrahim and Russell Townsend, although it is unclear exactly how much of a role the police played in this.
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