He held the office of Kapıağası for Sultan Murad III part of a network of spies dedicated to manipulating Ottoman politics in favor of Venice.
While his mother and sisters were later freed, he and his brother were sold into slavery in Constantinople and taken to the Grand Seraglio school at Topkapi Palace.
In 1591, his sister Beatrice moved to Constantinople, where she converted to Islam, married a protégé of her brothers and became a Venetian spy.
Gazanfer did not openly engage in Venice's cause, but became a conduit and ally for their network of spies at court, consisting of Beatrice, Chirana, and Esther Handali.
Among the many who died with him were his brother Cafer, the husband of his sister Beatrice (who survived with her son, who later became a musahibe of Sultan Murad IV with name of Mehmed Bey) and the kızlarağası Osman Agha.