The jailed founder of the Brothers for Life gang, Bassam Hamzy, was passing messages to gang members on the outside through coded love letters to his girlfriend at the time, a murder trial has heard.
A female witness, who cannot be identified, told the NSW Supreme Court on Friday that her then-boyfriend would send her letters and she would pass on messages to other gang members, including Hamzy's hand-picked successor, Farhad Qaumi.
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Mr Qaumi is on trial with his brother Mumtaz Qaumi, accused of organising the shooting execution of construction industry figure and standover man Joe Antoun in Strathfield on December 16, 2013.
On Friday, the female witness, called Witness M, told the court she later became romantically involved with underworld executioner Hamad Assaad, who was killed last month.
She said she was "not really" in a sexual relationship with Mr Qaumi but "something happened" between them.
She was asked whether she kept letters from all three men in an electronic safe in her northern Sydney unit, to which she replied: "I don't know."
Witness M said she performed tasks for Mr Qaumi, including staking out a property in Strathfield in the days before the Antoun killing.
She said she was present when Mr Qaumi mentioned that he had been offered $200,000 to kill Mr Antoun by Mr Antoun's former business partner, Elias "Les" Elias.
![CCTV footage shows Brothers For Life leader Farhad Qaumi, left, and Pasquale Barbaro at The Star casino in January 2014.](/web/20161204214112im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/q/0/a/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gss8za.png/1480835545431.jpg)
Under questioning from Mr Qaumi's barrister, John Stratton, SC, she admitted that she had lied under oath before to the authorities.
However, she reiterated her earlier evidence about the conversation with Mr Qaumi and his brother Mumtaz about Mr Elias' offer.
![Brothers for Life gang founder Bassam Hamzy.](/web/20161204214112im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/1/f/l/5/a/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gss8za.png/1479462534970.jpg)
"Les was going to give them $150,000 for [Mumtaz Qaumi's] kebab shop even though it wasn't worth that, just to cover the money so it's clean," she said in earlier evidence.
"Mumtaz could keep it and Les would just get someone to run it."
![Former Brothers for Life Blacktown chapter leader Farhad Qaumi.](/web/20161204214112im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/e/7/k/3/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gss8za.png/1479850623203.jpg)
Witness M denied she had sexual relations with one of Mr Qaumi's associates, Pasquale Barbaro, who was gunned down on Monday night, just hours before phone intercepts between him and Mr Qaumi were due to be played in the trial.
Barbaro was shot outside the Earlwood home of construction industry heavyweight George Alex. Police are pursuing several lines of inquiry relating to numerous underworld conflicts he had.
The trial earlier heard that Barbaro had told associates he had twice tried to kill Mr Antoun, possibly over a $750,000 debt he was chasing, yet he didn't go through with it because Mr Antoun had been carrying a child.
He also organised a luxury New Year's Day yacht party for Mr Qaumi and promised that Miranda Kerr would be there.
The supermodel was not there and Mr Qaumi was shot in the shoulder when the boat docked at Rose Bay.
The trial continues.