How Zaky Mallah became a whisperer to Sydney’s ganglands

Mallah became the first Australian to be charged under the terrorism act in 2003 and was later acquitted by a jury of planning an act of terrorism.

He was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for threatening authorities after selling videos to an undercover ASIO agent posing as a journalist.

In 2015, almost a decade after his acquittal, Mallah appeared on ABC. Q&A On his show he confronted then Coalition MP Steven Ciobo about his case.

Ciobo said he would be “delighted” to see Mallah outside Australia, and Mallah gave the MP the same answer.

Coalition politicians up to then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott and their supporters in the right-wing media accused the ABC and Mallah of providing a platform for extremism, dragging the country into scandal.

Responding to the controversy, Mallah tweeted: “They don’t call me ‘Mr pot stirrer’ for nothing.”

five years later Q&A Discussions were ongoing and Mallah, still in Australia, started SCN to break the boredom of the 2020 lockdowns.

The channel’s popularity soared in 2021 as the feuding Hamze and Alameddine families carried out tit-for-tat attacks across the city.

As SCN shared security cameras, screenshots and details about the gangsters and the attacks, police and journalists began to communicate.

“Police (as well as newspapers) get in touch from time to time because they seem concerned about the shootings in Sydney,” Mallah said.

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“I have a strict policy; I never disclose my information or sources to them or anyone else.”

Mallah boasts that SCN’s followers include cyclists from “all clubs,” followers on the Raptor team, people targeted in drive-by attacks and home invasions, and the people who target them.

“I don’t care one bit about my page, hahaha,” Mallah said.

Mallah said some of the videos shared on SCN came directly from underground sources in Australia or overseas.

He summed up the recent violence in Sydney and the videos he was sent as “brazen”.

“What started as a standard drive-by shooting has risen to the standard of Netflix Hollywood movie-style executions, including kidnappings, burning victims alive in cars, stalking victims with Apples. [Air]Use of AK weapons to send tags and warnings,” Mallah said.

“The shooters were shooting with AK from inside the car and they were recording it… No FKS was given hahaha.”

As SCN’s star rose, so did concerns about the use of smartphones and social media in criminal activities.

Both the NSW and Victorian governments have introduced “post and brag” laws designed to make it harder to get bail and the punishment more severe for young people who film and share their crimes.

“The availability of crime videos has really changed the way crimes are reported,” said Jackie Fitzgerald, director general of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Herald

“We definitely see crimes being reported on the news because there are videos of those crimes,” he said.

“This can also lead to a distorted picture of the level of crime that people experience in society.”

The bureau on Thursday released research showing that despite headlines and videos circulating online, murder, assault, burglary and robbery rates in NSW remain the lowest or among the lowest in the country.

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According to Mallah, there’s a balance between “not caring” and staying plugged in.

“Some of the content I receive is too graphic to be posted on social media due to strict rules,” he said.

“Such content can only be shared with my inner circle and magazines with the SCN Worldstar watermark, then delivered to thousands of people within five minutes.”

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