Bassam’s Billion Dollar “Boss City” in Belize?

In May, News 5 asked Tourism Minister Anthony Mahler about reported plans by convicted Australian crime boss Bassam Hamzy to develop a multibillion-dollar resort in Belize known as Boss City. He said, ““Absolutely not…“I know nothing about it so I can’t speak to it. Usually, if they are going to have that level of investment, we would know.”

Hamzy, one of Australia’s most notorious prisoners, once boasted from behind bars about the billion-dollar resort in Belize that he claimed would earn “tens of millions of dollars”, according to ABC Australia.

“We’re gunna [sic] probably make tens of millions of dollars,” Hamzy said in a secretly recorded phone call from his Goulburn Supermax cell.

Hamzy, founder of the Brothers 4 Life gang, described an ambitious project called “Boss City”, a luxury resort he hoped to build in the jungles of Belize.

Minister Mahler scoffed at the idea, telling News 5 in May, ““So, from you hear that, you know that da fool.”

Jacob Leslie, registrar of hotels at the Belize Tourism Board, confirmed no record of Hamzy’s resort could be found. “There is no development registered with the Belize Tourism Board under that name or by the person associated with that name.”

He added, “No licence has been issued to that individual or company. We have made further checks with Beltraide, which is the investment arm in Belize, and have confirmed that they are not aware of any such investment in the country.”

Hamzy’s ties to Belize stretch back decades. After he shot and killed a teenager in Sydney in 1999, Hamzy fled to Belize and reportedly stayed with a relative on a farm before being extradited back to Australia. Who that relative is remains a mystery, though his murder trial at the time was told they were wealthy, and Hamzy spent time on a farm while on the run there, according to ABC Australia.