Police allege Ibrahim is a "major organised-crime figure"[1] and was labelled as the "lifeblood of the drugs industry of Kings Cross" during the 1995 Wood royal commission.
Ibrahim sold the club in 2001 and its name changed to EP1; with police unsuccessfully taking legal action to have the venue closed, alleging it was part of organised drug activities in Kings Cross.
[2][5] In 1992, Ibrahim left home, aged 22 years, and rented a Dover Heights cliff-side property of 528 square metres (5,680 sq ft).
He has provided a $112,000 guarantee to his sister, Maha Sayour, in 1997 for her South Wentworthville home and acquiring a Merrylands property worth $253,000 in 2004 for allegedly no-cost.
[5] Following an incident in April 2011 involving NRL Roosters players Todd Carney and Anthony Watts, the NSW Government ordered an inquiry into whether the Trademark hotel, located in Kings Cross and owned by Ibrahim, breached laws on the responsible service of alcohol.
[2] During a 2004 trial, Ibrahim was identified as "the subject of 546 police intelligence reports in relation to his involvement in drugs, organised crime and association with outlaw motorcycle gangs".
It was reported that police investigations were allegedly compromised by officers from the New South Wales Crime Commission when Ibrahim was informed that his Dover Heights home was bugged.
[14] In 2006, the NSW Crime Commission seized assets, including his Dover Heights home, on the balance of probabilities that Ibrahim had allegedly engaged in criminal activity.
[16] Ibrahim was portrayed by Middle Eastern Australian actor Firass Dirani in the 2010 television miniseries Underbelly: The Golden Mile, a fictional dramatic representation of Kings Cross organised crime.
Ibrahim told an AFR journalist Christopher Joye: "Who really shoots other people’s houses in the middle of the night...In my time that was unheard of...These guys are gutless cowards.
[citation needed] However, due to a falling out with the Nomads' leadership group, the chapter splintered in 2007 to form a new outlaw motorcycle club, the Notorious gang.
[22] It has been reported in the media that the Notorious gang is currently being used as street muscle to support the distribution of illegal drugs in Kings Cross and around Sydney.
[24] In July 2009, "Tongan Sam" Ngata, was arrested following a raid on his home by a special gang violence taskforce that netted bulk quantities of a methamphetamine precursor.
[27] Two of Ibrahim's brothers, Michael[28] and Fadi,[29] were in May 2011, together with Rodney Phillip "Goldy" Atkinson, ordered to stand trial on a charge of conspiracy to murder John Macris between July and September 2009.
Michael and Fadi Ibrahim, and others, were arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and John Ibrahim's girlfriend, Sarah Budge, and his son, Daniel were arrested after action by police in Australia and the Netherlands as part of Operation Veyda in relation to two alleged major international drug syndicates operating in Australia.