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Report: Ex-Aussie gangster happy with life in Malaysia

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Vince Focarelli hopes to start restaurant in Kuala Lumpur as he also preaches to Muslim youths here about his journey to Islam, which began in a jail in Adelaide.

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Vince-Focarelli

PETALING JAYA:
A former convicted gangster from Adelaide, South Australia, has settled down in Malaysia, giving talks about his journey to Islam while being incarcerated Down Under, The Advertiser reported.

Vince Focarelli, who now goes by the name Imran Salaam, was a leader of one of Australia’s most notorious motorcycle gangs before being caught and jailed for firearms and drug offences in 2012.

It was previously reported that he had started reading the Quran while in jail and eventually became a Muslim. He continued to actively practise the faith after being released on parole in 2013.

Focarelli, 42, is said to have turned his life around and opened a halal Italian restaurant called La’Fig Cucina in Adelaide.

His life in Malaysia, after moving here earlier this year, is far different from the days when he was Adelaide’s best-known criminal, when he was the leader of a bike gang called Comanchero. However, he still misses home.

“Adelaide was my home and my heart is still there. I miss it. I am missing two people, my wife and stepdaughter. When they are here, I will be complete,” Focarelli was quoted as saying by the Australian daily.

He now hopes to open his restaurant here in Kuala Lumpur, with his wife having closed the operation in Adelaide.

Focarelli was forced to leave Australia in March this year, after he was informed he would likely be deported to Italy where he was born.

According to The Advertiser, he then got a new passport before moving to Malaysia.

In May this year, Federal Territory mufti Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri posted a photo of himself with Focarelli on the former’s Facebook page.

The daily said Focarelli is also taking on the role of a preacher, speaking to young Malaysian Muslim men and women, encouraging them to embrace the beauty of life, as seen in a video posted online.

While his wife and stepdaughter have not joined him here, his mother, who is suffering from stage 4 cancer, has come to spend the remaining days of her life with him.

“I never thought that I would see her again, but Allah gave me this blessing. It is my turn to take care of her.”

Focarelli also shared about his life in Malaysia, and how he enjoys the freedom he has as well as the welcoming experience he has received.

“I have never experienced any culture as beautiful as this. I feel free and I sleep well at night.

“My mother wakes me up a couple of times a night but I feel free because she is here,” he told The Advertiser, which reported that Focarelli’s father died just days before he was released on parole in 2013.

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