Drill Rapper and alleged member of the Alameddine crime network Ay Huncho has appeared in a TV interview in which he claimed the organisation ‘does not exist’.
The 25-year-old, whose real name is Ali Younes, agreed to a rare sit down interview with Four Corners reporter Grace Tobin, airing on Monday night, about the so-called postcode wars rocking western Sydney.
Showing up with Huncho to the interview unannounced was a shadowy figure who refused to be filmed and who the program alleges is a high-ranking member of the Alameddine group – which police say violently controls much of Sydney’s drug trade.
Throughout the interview he interjects off camera, instructing Huncho what to say.
‘Make it very clear that the Alameddine organised crime network does not exist. It’s a police-made thing,’ the figure says.
‘Yep,’ Huncho responds.
He then turns to the camera: ‘There’s no criminal network. That’s something that the police and the media have made up. There’s no such thing.’
Drill rap artist Ay Huncho has appeared on a TV interview (pictured) claiming the Alameddine clan police allege runs a large portion of Sydney’s drug trade ‘doesn’t exist’
The Sydney rapper (pictured) has been identified by police as an artist whose lyrics could be encouraging gang violence
But police say the Alameddine network, supplied by the Comanchero bikie gang, is responsible for running a large portion of Sydney’s lucrative drug trade and uses bashings, kidnappings and shootings to protect their business.
As part of the program, reporter Mahmood Fazal was taken to one of the group’s ‘trap houses’ where bricks of cocaine smuggled into the country are cut up into smaller portions to be sold on the street.
After two car rides blindfolded he is led to a shipping container where two men in balaclavas show him the multiple handguns they are carrying before they set to work on the cocaine.
‘I’m a little shaken to see people so young doing that,’ he says back in safety, explaining the crime syndicates are recruiting teenagers from street gangs in western Sydney.
Police have linked the Alameddine clan to more than half a dozen assassinations in the last 12 months.
Pictured from left to right are alleged Alameddine associates Ali Younes and Masood Zakaria, who has fled the country, along with Rafat Alameddine and Hamdi Alameddine.
In May this year, up to 450 police officers executed 29 search warrants cops allege are all linked to the Alameddine network.
In the sweeping raids, 18 men aged between 19 and 39 allegedly operating at the low to medium tier of the Alameddine drug distribution network were arrested.
Phones were seized, one with 700 contacts, that police allege were integral to the business feeding Sydneysiders’ desires for cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and prescription drugs, which could bring in more than $250,000 a week.
‘These phones have been the subject of competition… they are directly connected to a number of murders,’ NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said at the time.
Huncho was not caught up in those raids, but, showing the Four Corners crew his old house in Merrylands in Sydney’s southwest, he admits he’s ‘lost count’ of how many times he’s been raided by cops.
Younes claims he has left the ‘thug life’ behind and has amassed millions of streams for his music (pictured)
‘My first raid was here, they showed me a firearm order telling me I’m not allowed to carry guns,’ Huncho explains.
‘I got served that when I was 18, they raided my house looking for guns.’
Ms Tobin interjects: ‘Did they find any?’
‘No, I don’t use guns.’
‘How many times have police raided your house?’ Ms Tobin asks.
‘Here it was six or seven times, the house after probably the same and the house after that the same, and again the same. I’ve moved a lot and I get raided,’ the rapper said.
‘The last one was two months ago.’
Huncho is not allowed to associate with any alleged members of the Alameddine network, of which police allege he is a member, as a condition of bail including his cousins.
He’s currently facing charges of affray, recklessly causing grievous bodily harm in company and assault with intent to participate in the activity of a criminal group following an alleged altercation at a boxing match in November.
In June he was arrested at his home in Parramatta after detectives found a photo from May 20 on his Instagram that they allege show him standing with an organised crime figure.
The photo was taken while Huncho was filming a music video for one of his tracks in Mt Druitt – a deliberate attempt to taunt members of opposing ‘postcode’ gangs.
Younes was arrested earlier this year after detectives found a photo (above) on his Instagram from May 20 that allegedly shows him with another crime associate
Huncho makes ‘drill rap’, a subgenre which is filled with references to using weapons like knives, hammers and guns on members of rival gangs from opposing postcode suburbs.
Cops claim the traditional code of silence around criminal gangs is being upturned by a new generation of youths seeking social media fame.
‘It’s (drill rap) is used to gain notoriety, the basis is unless you’ve actually done the crime you can’t sing or rap about it,’ Strike Force Raptor commander Jason Weinstein told the program.
Raptor is tasked with disrupting Sydney’s organised crime with Weinstein dismissing Huncho’s claim he’s being harassed.
‘I make no apology targeting those who associate with organised crime and we do that in a lawful way.’
‘If he is not associating with those types of people I expect he would get no attention from the police force.’
Sydney’s drill rap gangs:
OneFour – name of a drill rap group, and a separate gang from Mount Druitt in Sydney’s outer west. Support from greater western Sydney.
OneFour gang sign – Two hands: four fingers up on the left hand, with the ‘up yours’ middle finger on the right.
Ay Huncho – allegedly linked to the Alameddine clan and has criticised OneFour as being ‘inauthentic’
21 District – drill rappers, also known as the ‘Inner West’ gang. Support is from the inner west to Manly.
A terrifying new breed of street gangs on Sydney and Melbourne streets are using rap music to lure in new members and grow their online profiles
Smaller suburban gangs are pledging loyalty to either 21 District or OneFour
Cabramatta – 66 gang
Doonside – 67 gang
Riverwood – The Wood
Blacktown – Blacktown Boys
Seven Hills – Seven Hills Boys
Gladesville/Cabramatta – Inner Western Brotherhood
Claymore – Claymore 2560
Sources: GQ, Business Insider, NSW Police, Daily Telegraph
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