Yusif El-Sayed

Yusif El-Sayed was born to a poor Maronite Catholic family in rural Lebanon in 1942. After surviving a targeted massacre against his village as a child, Yusif was left to make a life of his own. Little of Yusif's childhood is known apart from the fact that much of his early trauma had contributed to his quiet, stern, and reserved nature as an adult. It can be assumed that Yusif was drawn to a life of crime as a survival tactic, that he may make a living to support himself.

Before Yusif earned his reputation as a hitman, he was considered a celebrity in the underground wrestling scene of the Arab world. After a freak wrestling accident in which he killed an opponent, Yusif fled the wrestling scene and became a hitman, presumably to cope with the accident. Yusif rose up as an acclaimed mercenary in the Arab world between the 1960s and 1980s. In 1975, Yusif met fellow prominent mercenary Hasan Al-Asad (1958), and the two made a mutual agreement to join forces. Five years later, Yusif and Hasan met the rising mercenary Ezra Simcah (1958), and recruited the younger man, officially establishing their team. Favored for their skill and precision, the fashionable trio was famously sought after by kingpins of the Middle East and North Africa during the 1980s. 

The three men shared a dysfunctional relationship and a constant battle over each other's strengths and weaknesses. Despite their conflicting personalities, no job was left unsuccessful, and no commissioner was left disappointed.

Yusif was regarded as the strength of the group. Standing just over 6'1 and weighing 190 lbs, Yusif typically handled the heavy machinery. Furthermore, Yusif never lost a fistfight brawl and was always the man for the job consisting of a physical fight. "He amazed me. He was almost bullet-proof. Literally. I remember watching him walk directly into oncoming fire and not getting hit. Not scratch on him," said Ezra in detainment. 

Simultaneously, Yusif was the quiet, contemplative stoic of the group. He was typically seen looming in the background while his partners controlled the front. Even during the three killers' downtime, Yusif kept to himself, oftentimes enjoying a cigarette. He appeared as if he always had something heavy on his mind, but when pressed, would give little to no response. Over time, Hasan and Ezra learned to understand Yusif's somber nature and to let him be. "The dynamic between the three was truly that of colleagues. They didn't even act like brothers or friends even. Like you would expect a small group of men to do after spending so much time together and enduring so much together," said a witness at the scene in Marrakech.

Hasan, Ezra, and Yusif were last seen in 1987 in Marrakech, Morocco, where they mysteriously disappeared after being called to the city on commission by an anonymous identity.