‘The souls I have taken': Baby-faced gangster carried heart on his sleeve
'The souls I have taken will never haunt me, only the ones I haven't,' a tattoo on the left side of the 21-year-old's neck read.
The quote, which was also tattooed on the chest of murdered Sydney gangster Hamad 'the Executioner' Assaad, held a near prophetic meaning for Boursinos, who was gunned down in a laneway behind his family home in Melbourne's outer north on Thursday morning. He was leaving his home to appear in court over a series of weapons, theft and driving charges.
Etched on his body were also insignias of criminal organisations from around the world.
'Omerta', the word used to describe the code of silence of criminal groups like the mafia, was tattooed on his torso, wedged between a blade and a large cross running down his chest.
One photograph shows a teardrop outlined underneath one of Boursinos' eyes, a symbol commonly associated with American gang and prison culture that can represent time served behind bars, acts of violence, loss or the taking of a life.
The baby-faced gangster also carried his heart on his sleeve – the name of his fiancee, Sanaria Rofael, was tattooed in big red capital letters on his upper arm.
A grieving Rofael took to social media on Friday to pay tribute to Boursinos, 'the best soul' and 'angel', through a series of photographs and videos shared on her Instagram stories.

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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Illegal tobacco is a deadly $10 billion industry wiping out legitimate businesses
Australia's illegal tobacco problem has made the proverbial transition from tragedy to farce. Illicit, excise-evading cigarettes now comprise half of the cancer-inducing products sold to Australia's 2.7 million smokers. A study published by FTI Consulting put it at 39.4 per cent in 2024, up from 14 per cent six years ago, but an update for the month of June puts it at 50 per cent. And, according to studies of wastewater, nicotine consumption in Australia, including vaping, is at an all-time high. We can now conclude that the strategy of taxing and banning nicotine addiction out of existence is a complete failure. The result is that organised crime is making about $10 billion a year in revenue. Who needs narcotics? With them, you risk lengthy jail time; with smokes and vapes, it's a fine, but only if you're very unlucky. It means Australia's criminals are better paid than they have ever been, and the result of that is showing up in an explosion in both the amount of crime and its brazenness. And because the people engaged in this "industry" are gangsters, competition is not met by price wars and the ACCC, but by burning your competitor's business to the ground, or, as happened last week, by allegedly murdering your competitor's staff. Athan Boursinos, 21, an alleged employee of "tobacco kingpin" Kazem "Kaz" Hamad and his cousin, Ahmed Al Hamza, both of whom live overseas, was shot dead in a laneway behind his home in broad daylight on Thursday morning. In the past couple of years, there have been 125 fire-bombings of tobacco shops in Victoria, and another 50 or so in other states — the most recent last week in Corrimal, NSW. Victoria's coat of arms bears the phrase "Peace and Prosperity", but there's a lot more of the latter in that state these days than the former, and that's not saying much. Violent robberies in Victoria have grown by more than 150 per cent since February 2024 due to tobacco-related crime. This is much worse than an unintended consequence of the effort to reduce smoking; it is a complete stuff-up. A window into what's happened was provided last week by Viva Energy, which operates Australia's largest network of petrol stations with convenience stores attached. In its six-monthly results, the company reported that tobacco sales are down 27 per cent — in one year! — because of the growth in the illicit tobacco trade. The problem for Viva is more than money: its petrol stations and other convenience stores are now being regularly robbed by gangs of balaclava-wearing teenagers waving handguns and machetes, traumatising the staff. Serious, well-resourced gangs are only after cigarettes — the entire stock — because at $57.89 a pack, the stock can be worth $100,000. Do five or six of those in a night, and you're making very good money. The till is small beer. The Albanese government is having a similar financial problem to that of Viva. This year's federal budget contained an estimate of $7.4 billion from tobacco excise for the current financial year, down from $8.75 billion just six months ago in MYEFO. The CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, Theo Foukkares, says the tipping point happened in 2019 when the excise increased 55 per cent over three years to $1.10 per cigarette stick. As a direct result, illicit smoking took off and tobacco excise revenue to the government collapsed, from a peak of $16 billion in 2019 to this year's $7.4 billion. And it's not just the price that's driving people towards the much cheaper illegal alternatives, although that's the main thing, especially in a cost-of-living crisis. For a start, the packs look nicer without pictures of horrible mouth tumours. And on July 1 this year, menthol cigarettes were banned completely, along with those that contain a little burst of minty flavour in the filter. Also, cigarette companies are now required to print health warnings on the cigarette stick, not just put gruesome pictures on the packet — another increase in cost. Naturally, illegal tobacco importers are not concerned about complying with the menthol ban and are even bringing in berry-flavoured cigarettes as well as menthol ones, hoping to appeal to a younger demographic. The requirement that vaping products with more than 20mg of nicotine must have a prescription is not working either. Only 700 chemists around the country stock them, reluctantly, while the products are readily available without a prescription in the same stores that stock the illicit cigarettes. There are thought to be 1.5 million regular vapers, adding to the 2.7 million smokers. The real danger now is that the stores selling legitimate tobacco will give up and leave the industry to the crooks. Coles' Liquorland has already stopped selling cigarettes, and both Coles and Woolworths are reported to be considering dropping them from behind the service counters of their supermarkets. It's harder for petrol stations to do that, since tobacco represents 25-30 per cent of store revenues; if they didn't sell cigarettes, many petrol stations would close. But eventually, with more and more staff suffering PTSD, they'll have to do it if the problem is not resolved. At which point, Australia would have managed to hand over an entire industry to gangsters. The basic problem seems to be that the excise is collected by the federal government, but the enforcement is done by under-funded state police forces. The illegal products all arrive at Australia's ports, and the importers are engaged in tax avoidance, so in theory, it should be two federal agencies that deal with it — Border Force and the Tax Office. But only about 1 per cent of incoming containers are inspected by Border Force, and ATO officers don't have the resources, or the desire, to chase organised crime gangs for a few hundred thousand dollars of excise and risk a Molotov cocktail landing on their doorstep. Once the stuff is in the country, selling it is not a criminal offence, and while blowing up or torching your competitor is a very criminal undertaking, the arsonists are proving hard to catch, except when they set fire to themselves in the process, which happens quite often, perhaps unsurprisingly. In this year's budget, the federal government said it was committing $156.7 million to the "Illicit Tobacco Compliance and Enforcement Package", adding to the $188.5 million over four years that was "invested" in 2023. That's a new total of $86.3 million a year, of which $10 million will find its way to the states. Most of it goes into the welcoming arms of Border Force. But they're bringing millions to a game of billions; a knife to a gunfight. It may be that the criminals are now too rich, well-organised and violent to be shut down, but Australia's governments can hardly give up. Confronting crime and large-scale tax avoidance is not an optional activity for the government. The only state that is coming to grips with the problem is South Australia. The Malinauskas government has set up a special tobacco enforcement squad of 45 officers and given them warrant-free search and seizure powers. Members of the squad can enter a shop selling illicit tobacco or vaping products, confiscate the stock, and shut the store for three months. With an order from a magistrate, the closure can be extended to 12 months. Theo Foukkares reports that nearby legal tobacconists experience an instant uplift in sales when that happens. The Queensland government has now copied South Australia, but the other states are slow to do it. What's needed is a meeting of state and federal attorneys general and health ministers to agree on a uniform national approach that mirrors the SA laws. Everyone knows where the shops are that are selling the illicit cigarettes — this is not an industry shrouded in mystery; it operates in plain sight. The other thing the federal government could do is reduce the tobacco excise back to what it was before 2019, which would lead to a huge increase in revenue. Alan Kohler is a finance presenter and columnist on ABC News, and he also writes for Intelligent Investor.

The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Ghislaine Maxwell
The family of Virginia Giuffre – the American-Australian woman who was among Jeffrey Epstein's most well-known sex-trafficking accusers – said the transfer reflected 'the justice system failing victims right before our eyes'.

Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Luxury prison': Epstein accomplice Maxwell quietly moved to low-security camp
The assignment to the Bryan camp was a big lifestyle upgrade for Maxwell, he said. The family of Virginia Giuffre – the American-Australian woman who was among Epstein's most well-known sex-trafficking accusers – said in a statement that Maxwell's transfer reflected 'the justice system failing victims right before our eyes'. Giuffre died by suicide on April 25 this year at her farm in Neergabby, north of Perth, aged 41. 'It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received,' her family said in a statement – reported by The Washington Post – that was also signed by other women who said they were victims of Epstein and Maxwell. 'Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency. Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum-security luxury prison in Texas.' Loading The prison camp is about 150 kilometres north-west of Houston on about 15 hectares of land. It held about 650 women, AP reported in 2023. According to a 2016 FPC Bryan inmate handbook, those eligible to work could earn up to $US1.15 ($1.78) an hour in their job assignments, which include food service roles and factory employment operated by Federal Prison Industries. There, Maxwell will be surrounded by women serving shorter sentences and considered less likely to be violent or have gang affiliations. Camp inmates are assigned to dormitory-style housing and have considerable freedom to move around within the facility, according to Paperny, who said he had advised Shah. Giuffre, who had accused Britain's Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by Epstein, has been a central figure in conspiracy theories tied to the case. Andrew has always denied those claims; the two reached an out-of-court settlement in 2022, and he was stripped of royal duties. Loading Earlier this week, her family had expressed shock at hearing US President Donald Trump say that Epstein 'stole' Giuffre and other young women from the spa at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida – and urged that Maxwell remain in prison. 'It was shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister and say that he was aware that Virginia had been 'stolen' from Mar-a-Lago,' the family's earlier statement said. 'We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.' Prosecutors have said Epstein's sex crimes could not have been done without Maxwell, but her lawyers have maintained that she was wrongly prosecuted and denied a fair trial, and have floated the idea of a presidential pardon. They have also asked the US Supreme Court to take up her case. Trump said on Friday night Washington time (Saturday AEST) that no one had asked him about clemency for Maxwell. 'I'm allowed to do it but nobody's asked me to do it,' he told Newsmax in an interview. 'I know nothing about it. I don't know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it. I have the right to give pardons, I've given pardons to people before, but nobody's even asked me to do it.' Maxwell's case has been the subject of heightened public focus since an outcry over the Justice Department's statement last month saying that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex-trafficking investigation. Loading The decision infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump's base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up. Since then, administration officials have tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of grand jury transcripts. Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse over two days last week by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The House Oversight Committee had also said that it wanted to speak with her. Maxwell's lawyers have said they would be open to an interview, but only if the panel were to ensure immunity from prosecution. In a letter on Friday to Maxwell's lawyers, Representative James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was willing to delay the deposition until after the resolution of Maxwell's appeal to the Supreme Court. That appeal is expected to be resolved in late September. Loading Comer wrote that while Maxwell's testimony was 'vital' to the Republican-led investigation into Epstein, the committee would not provide immunity or any questions in advance. AP, Reuters, Bloomberg