He was so influential that he was mingling with powerful local politicians such as premier Morris Iemma and senior officers of the police force. But in reality, Chief Osuamadi was the brain behind a West African crime syndicate that the police has described as the black Mafia of Sydney. As the godfather and boss of the crime syndicate, he shuttled between China and Nigeria. In 2010, the Strike Force Bellevue was set up and 11 people were arrested after undercover operatives infiltrated the syndicate. Detective Superintendent Nicholas Bingham, Drug Squad Commanderat said:
“It was a secret criminal society in this city and beyond which contributed significantly to the illegal drug supply in the Sydney metropolitan area. They had no criminal records and really were an unknown criminal element.”
On Friday, Mazi Osuamadi was sentenced to six years in prison in the Parramatta District Court for supplying a commercial quantity of methamphetamine during an undercover operation in Auburn Botanical Gardens and in a series of conversations that were secretly recorded. But when he was arrested at his Granville home he remained indignant. He said he was of royal blood that with connections to the leading NSW (New South Wales) politicians, local police and even the commissioner. He boasted:
“Everybody in Granville knows me, the police there and the local politicians. I am an identity. I am Chief of the Igbo (Nigerian) community and people call me Chief Maximus. I don’t know if you know about the African tradition of royalty. We trace our royalty back to the Queen Sheeba of Israel.’’
To cover up for his criminal activities, Chief Osuamadi ran a string of businesses such as an African grocery store, hair salon, internet cafe, Western Union money transfer franchise and a limousine company but he said many of these businesses have collapsed. The police maintained that all these businesses were a front for his drug business which he used to maintain his flamboyant lifestyle.
He was born 49 years ago in Nigeria but was raised in the Vatican where he initially planned to become a priest before he later dropped out. In 1988, he arrived Australia and became a citizen in 1990.
Police said in the court documents: “It is known to investigators that members of the syndicate and the accused are involved in the supply of methamphetamine and have access to false identification and passports.”
The trial was a lengthy one and the officer who led the covert operation which finally led to the arrest of Chief Maximus and 11 others has been named Policeman of the Year for his work on the gang. He is Drug Squad Detective Senior Constable Vasilios Ferfiris, a veteran of many undercover operations and because of his present and past cases, the police only allowed half of his face to be shown on the cover of Police Monthly when he was given the award in 2013. (Naijarchives).
