Australian YouTuber Fire Linked to Gang Activity

An associate of the Alameddine organised crime network has been charged over the firebombing of the home of Jordan Shanks-Markovina, who is better known as YouTube political commentator and comedian Friendlyjordies.

New South Wales (NSW) police arrested the 37-year-old man at Silverwater. He faced Waverley Local Court on Dec. 20, charged with two counts of “destroy or damage property by fire in company,” suggesting other people were involved on the night of 23 November 2022.

Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja said more arrests were expected as the investigation into the firebombing continues, noting that, “This alleged attack was coordinated and targeted.”

Fire and Rescue NSW managed to extinguish the blaze, but it caused significant damage to the house and a neighbouring property. It was the second fire at the same address, a small blaze having been reported six days earlier. That fire was quickly put out.

Mr. Shanks-Markovina has more than 1.2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

In August last year, he mentioned the Alameddine crime network in a video posted on YouTube.

Caught up in Sydney Gang War

The Alameddine family is known to be “at war” with the Hamzy network, centred around Brothers 4 Life gang boss and founder Bassam Hamzy.

There have been at least eight public shootings that police believe were reprisals between the two groups.

However, with more than 10 members of the Hamzy family either dead or in jail, the Alameddine faction now has little—other than NSW Police—standing in their way.

The group were said to be behind a violent brawl that erupted in a shopping centre in the Sydney CBD in June.

In May last year, NSW Police claimed they had “dismantled” what they called “one of Sydney’s most dangerous crime families” after a covert investigation lasting 10 months and resulting in the arrest of 18 alleged low- or mid-ranking members of the Alameddines.

As recently as September this year, a prominent member of the family was arrested after a lengthy foot chase, naked from the waist down, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Ahmad Alameddine, 33, had been on the run from police for just over a month. He was subsequently charged over several outstanding arrest warrants for serious firearm-related offences and a drug offence.

Disliked by Bikies, Journalists, Politicians

Friendlyjordoes has aggravated several prominent Australian figures, Including two politicians. In 2021, he was sued for defamation by former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro after Mr. Shanks made numerous YouTube videos criticising him.

In June of that year, Friendlyjordies Producer Kristo Langker was arrested by officers from the Fixated Persons Unit (FPU), a specialised counterterrorism police unit that often targets lone wolf terrorists. He was charged with two counts of stalking and intimidating Mr. Barilaro after Mr. Langker had approached the politician at a National Party event with Mr. Shanks, and on another occasion.

In October 2021 Mr. Barilaro resigned as deputy premier and MP, and a month later the defamation action was settled when Mr. Shanks apologised, paid $100,000 in legal costs, and agreed to edit some of the videos. On March 10, 2022, the NSW Police dropped all charges against Mr. Langker.

However, that was not the YouTuber’s first run-in with a politician. In 2019, Mr. Shanks published a video about businessman Clive Palmer, who was running in the 2019 Australian federal election.

There were existing allegations of financial irregularity in the liquidation of Mr. Palmer’s company Queensland Nickel and alleged failure to pay the company’s workers, which Mr. Shanks covered, alongside satirising Mr. Palmer’s behaviour and appearance. In response, Palmer threatened a defamation lawsuit, demanding $500,000 and that Mr. Shanks cease making public statements about him.

And in 2020, The Daily Telegraph journalist Joe Hildebrand made a complaint to NSW Police accusing Mr. Shanks of stalking and harassment. The police laid no charges.

And in 2021, ABC journalist Annabel Crabb and Labor MP Tanya Plibersek both publicly criticised Mr. Shanks for going too far in criticising retiring Liberal MP Nicolle Flint.