EXCLUSIVE
Some say Ryan Naumenko has the same death wish as his executed gangland source Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim. Others think he’s as mad as the lunatics he reports on.
As the streets of Melbourne run red in a seemingly endless underworld turf war, Naumenko is daring to do what no other crime reporter can – or would – do.
As the editor-in-chief of independent media outlet Outlaw Media, Naumenko has placed a target on his head like no other Australian reporter before him in decades.
Abdulrahim, the Melbourne underworld figure gunned down in a bloody execution outside Quest Apartments in Preston on Tuesday, had been upsetting some of the very same people as Naumenko.
On Tuesday, Naumneko was one of the first people to speak with police about the daylight execution of the man he referred to as ‘Suna’.
Hours later he was comforting the family of his former ‘contact’.
‘Suna was a marked man, I told him less than 24 hours ago that he should have stayed where he was, the rumours of his assassination were becoming far too likely to happen,’ Naumenko told Daily Mail Australia.
Ryan Naumenko has a target on his head after upsetting Melbourne’s underworld
Reality star Jessika Power had a brief relationship with Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim (pictured together)
‘Sam always said he would stay ten steps ahead of his enemies, until today.
‘For all Sam’s misgivings, his heart was always in the right place and would usually back-up anyone who helped him.’
A journalist has not been murdered on Australian soil since 1975 – but that could soon change if some criminal kingpins get their way with the reporter.
Over the past year Naumenko has enraged some of Australia’s most dangerous criminals with his outrageous news productions and brazen disregard for the legal concerns that hamper mainstream media.
Among the city’s lawless underbelly, there appears to be a price on his head. Police even mounted a round-the-clock guard when a gangland hit squad was sent to take him out.
But dicing with criminals is something Naumenko seems to have no qualms about, even in the wake of Abdulrahim’s murder.
Naumenko’s dealings with the now dead outlaw were anything but ordinary.
He makes no bones about his own sordid past, which has seen him spend time behind bars.
Crime buffs may recall Naumenko’s name from a run-in he had with gangland widow Roberta Williams a few years back.
Naumenko had been planning to make a reality series featuring Williams, who was once the wife of slain Melbourne underworld kingpin Carl Williams.
By the time his dealings were done, Naumenko had been tied to a chair, beaten, kicked and threatened with a gun by Williams and her crew of thugs.
Ryan Naumenko is turning his criminal past into a positive future. If he survives
It is this experience that has given him an unusual and unique insight into the criminal underworld on which he now reports.
Just last week, Naumenko’s enemies managed to hack his social media pages and wipe him from the internet.
In reality, they’d like to wipe him off the face of the earth altogether, like the last fearless Aussie reporter who crossed the underworld once too often.
Sydney journalist Juanita Nielsen vanished 50 years ago in a suspected gangland hit – and a $1million reward for information on her disappearance is still on offer.
Like Naumenko, Nielsen had continued to fearlessly frustrate powerful people – right up until the moment she went missing. Many now fear Naumenko could be next…
It began in June last year when Naumenko reported on a Mildura tobacco shop that had been firebombed.
Naumenko claimed it was under the orders of Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad – an international fugitive believed to be running his criminal empire in Australia from the Middle East.
He posted increasingly revealing videos and reports on social media that named names, unmasked alleged attackers and showed shocking footage.
‘After the videos gained traction and received a few thousand views on TikTok, the rest, as they say, is history,’ Naumenko told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I quickly became a source on the gangland feud in Australia known as the tobacco wars.’
It is a war that has seen Victoria Police’s Lunar taskforce investigate more than 100 arson attacks across the state over the past year.
Former bikie Toby Mitchell and Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad in happier times.
Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad as he appeared on Outlaw Media
Naumenko admitted he had been ‘locked up a handful of times’ and had spent his early years around dodgy characters.
‘I had unique access to a gangland war that was unheard of in Melbourne until now,’ he said. ‘The war from the perspective of someone on the inside.
‘As far as I’m aware, this is the first time someone associated with alleged criminals in the spotlight of mainstream media has decided to speak out about things the average reporter would never be able to access.’
Naumenko’s rogue style has put him in the direct crosshairs of Hamad, who contacted him directly to express his concerns.
The voice message later appeared on Outlaw Media with an outrageous AI generated video of Hamad delivering it.
Hamad was deported to his native Iraq in 2023 after doing a prison term for drug trafficking with a major Melbourne crime ring.
He has since shown he maintains considerable reach back here, where police suspect he has ordered associates to carry out dozens of arson attacks in conflict over control of the outlaw tobacco sector.
But Naumenko has managed to make enemies on all sides of the ongoing war.
When some some dodgy information from a dangerous criminal turned out to be wrong, it put Naumenko in the cross hairs of even more gangsters and soured his once-fruitful relationship with the criminal source.
Things got serious when Naumenko received a call from the Lunar Taskforce.
‘I was kicking back outside enjoying the spring sunshine when my phone rang – “GANGSQUAD”. I was not in the mood to speak to them, so I let it ring out,’ Naumenko said.
‘Five minutes later, the CCTV system alerted me of movement all over the place; the dogs were ready to take on Conor McGregor, and the door was about to get busted in.’
Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim had made many of the same enemies as Naumenko
Abdulrahim and his sister Ektimal, who took to social media on Tuesday to make more threats against those who killed him
Friends and family of The Punisher have made there way down to the crime scene on Tuesday
A bullet found at the scene where The Punisher met his demise
Naumenko said he was moments away from an uninvited meeting with a hit squad.
‘The threat was in my location, active, and they had the green light to take me out. Intelligence had been received, and by some stroke of pure luck I had literally just missed being shot, and possibly taken out of action permanently,’ he said.
‘Two individuals had only minutes before parked out the front of the house I was at, with balaclavas on, just about ready to stop the show. It was due to a neighbour interrupting their poorly thought-out plan that I’m still able to speak about this today.’
Naumenko said he had never been offered a cent for the work he has done through Outlaw Media.
‘I have never been thanked for the stories I released,’ he said.
‘Unlike the gangsters and wannabes I report on, I’m not making 100k-plus a week by extorting shop owners, making deals to sell addresses for a couple grand, selling illegally imported tobacco nor am I running an international drug syndicate to afford the lifestyle of someone who’s constantly “on the lam”.
‘My work brings in little money, I have never bothered to monetise the content for the simple reason of wanting the facts to be made available, easily and quickly.’
Naumenko is adamant he does not have a wish to die.
But the cost of staying alive has been extreme.
‘Over the past few months I’ve had to spend tens of thousands of dollars on security improvements, car changes, plus the constant moving around to ensure I stayed alive long enough to talk about the absolute insanity I have gone through; all for the sake of uncovering some truth about a gangland war,’ he said.
‘Death wish – I don’t really see it that way. The world has become soft, the next generation after us thinks that life is a game of Fortnite. Life is about survival. Speaking truth. Helping those who truly deserve and need it.’
Naumenko said he had been taking calculated risks with the content he has published.
‘I have immense support from all over the country and refuse to back down, even in situations like this,’ he said.
The truth in matters like these where lives are in immense danger is far more important than a few extra clicks on a video.
‘This isn’t about making a fortune, it’s about revealing the facts media can’t or won’t speak about.’
Naumenko’s fans will soon be able to access Outlaw Media via an app which will also allow them to get answers about the underworld on demand.
