Israeli Mafia

Israeli mafia

The Israeli mafia is the general term for organized crime groups operating in Israel and also internationally. Allegedly there are 16 crime families operating in Israel, five major groups active on the national-level, and 11 smaller organizations. Many heads and members of the crime groups have either been killed or are in prison.^[1]

Organized crime in Israel

The major crime groups are the Abergils, the Abutbuls, the Alperons, the Dumranis, the Shirazis, the Amir Mulner and Zeev Rosenstein syndicates.^[1] The illegal activities they are engaged in include:

·         Operating casinos and other forms of gambling inside and outside Israel

·         Prostitution and trafficking in women

·         Money Laundering

·         Protection and extortion rackets

·         Loan sharking

·         Drugs and arms dealing

·         Fencing stolen goods

·         Diamond smuggling

According to Israel’s former Police Commissioner David Cohen, Israeli crime organizations had penetrated the formal economic sector and local governments, and “equipped themselves with large quantities of combat means explosives and arms.” In a mob war starting in the early 2000s between the crime families, several crime bosses were killed. It also cost the life of innocent bystanders.^[2]

Ex-Soviet organized crime

Ex-Soviet organized crime in Israel began with the mass immigration of Russian Jews to Israel in 1989.^[3] The Russian mafia saw Israel as an ideal place to launder money, as Israel's banking system was designed to encourage aliyah, the immigration of Jews, and the accompanying capital. Following the trend of global financial deregulation, Israel had also implemented legislation aimed at easing the movement of capital. Combined with the lack of anti-money laundering legislation, "Russian" organised crime found it an easy place to transfer ill-gotten gains. In 2005, police estimated that Russian organised crime had laundered between $5 and 10 billion in the fifteen years since the end of the Soviet Union. Even non-Jewish criminals such as Sergei Mikhailov, sought to get an Israeli passport, using fake Jewish documentation.^[4]

The Israeli mafia in the United States

In the 1980s Israelis set up a crime syndicate headed by Johnny Attias in New York, dubbed the “Israeli mafia”. It pulled off the biggest gold heist in the history of Manhattan's jewellery district, getting away with over $4 million in gold jewellery. Attias was murdered in January 1990, and New York's Israeli mafia fell apart soon after. Several members among them Ron Gonen had turned informant and the authorities arrested the rest of the gang in September of that year.^[5]

Israeli crime organizations such as the Abergil crime family and Zeev Rosenstein are heavily involved in ecstasy trafficking in the United States.^[6] In a statement before Congress in 2000, officials with the U.S. Customs Service noted that "Israeli organized-crime elements appear to be in control" of the multibillion-dollar U.S. Ecstasy trade, "from production through the international smuggling phase".^[7] The main drug supplier of former Gambino crime family underboss Sammy Gravano in his Arizona drug ring allegedly was New York based Israeli mobster Ilan Zarger,^[8] who allegedly distributed more than 1 million Ecstasy pills from May 1999 to May 2000 with a wholesale value of $7 million.^[9][10] He pleaded guilty to charges of running a drug gang that flooded Arizona and New York with almost four million Ecstasy pills over three years.^[11] Another Israeli, Oded Tuito, said to head one of the largest Ecstasy-smuggling organization, which imported millions of Ecstasy pills from Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt into New York, Miami and Los Angeles, was arrested in May 2001.^[12]

In 2006 Zeev Rosenstein was extradited to the U.S., after being arrested in Israel. He pleaded guilty before a federal court in Florida to charges that he distributed ecstasy pills and was sentenced to 12 years in prison which he serves in Israel.^[2] In January 2011, Yitzik and Meir Abergil and three other suspects were extradited to the U.S. They are facing a 77-page, 32-count federal indictment that alleges murder, massive embezzlement, money laundering, racketeering and running a large Los Angeles-based Ecstasy ring. The trial is set for November 8, 2011 in the Los Angeles Federal District Court.^[13]

Notable Members

·         Abergil Crime Family - Top criminal organization in Israel, involved mostly in drug trafficking and illegal gambling.

·         Asi Abutbul - Head of the Abutbul Crime Family, got 13 years in prison for running a criminal organization, extortion, and money laundering.

·         Yaakov Alperon - Head of the Alperon Crime Family, until his car bombing assassination on November 17, 2008.

·         Ludwig Fainberg - He was a crime figure in America with connections to the Medellin Cartel and the Russian Mafia, until he got busted. He lives in Israel now.

·         Semion Mogilevich - A Russian crime figure operating worldwide, said to be the most powerful crime figure in the world, he allegedly runs human trafficking, prostitution and other criminal operations in Israel and other countries, and allegedly launders a lot of his money in Israel.

·         Zeev Rosenstein - He used to be the top crime figure in Tel-Aviv, until he was caught. He was heavily involved in drug trafficking, mostly ecstasy, and allegedly ran other criminal operations as well.

References

1.      ^ ^{a b} Jonathan Lis (March 15, 2009). "Police cite significant achievements against major crime families. The Israel Police spent the past year focusing on Israel's 16 crime families". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/police-cite-significant-achievements-against-major-crime-families-1.272117. 

2.      ^ ^{a b} Marc Perelman (October 16, 2008). "Israel Seeks U.S. Help To Fight Mob Crime Wave". The Jewish Daily Forward. http://www.forward.com/articles/14402/. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 

3.      ^ Misha Glenny (2008). McMafia : seriously organised crime. London: Vintage Books. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-0-09-948125-6. 

4.      ^ Glenny (2008) p. 130-131

5.      ^ Dave Copeland (2007). Blood and Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia. Fort Lee, N.J.: Barricade Books. ISBN 978-1-56980-327-1. 

6.      ^ "Israel struggles to keep a lid on crime". BBC News. June 7, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3723895.stm. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 

7.      ^ Christopher Ketcham (May 7, 2002). "The Israeli "art student" mystery". Salon.com. http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index.html. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 

8.      ^ Alan Feuer (December 15, 2000). "New Charges in Ecstasy Case Are Filed Against Gravano". The New York Times. 

9.      ^ "Ecstasy Dealer Sold To Gravano, Feds Say". New York Daily News. July 7, 2000. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2000/07/07/2000-07-07__ecstasy_dealer_sold_to_grav.html. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 

10.  ^ "Gravano and Son Are to Enter Guilty Pleas in Ecstasy Case". The New York Times. May 25, 2001. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01EEDB1E3DF936A15756C0A9679C8B63. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 

11.  ^ "Brooklyn Drug Dealer Pleads Guilty". The New York Times. January 9, 2001. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/09/nyregion/metro-briefing.html. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 

12.  ^ Alan Feuer (May 27, 2001). "In Drug Case, a Chip Off the Old Bull". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/27/nyregion/reporter-s-notebook-in-drug-case-a-chip-off-the-old-bull.html. Retrieved August 8, 2011. 

^ Rex Weiner (March 2, 2011). "Extradited to L.A., the Abergils Get Ready To Face the Music". The Jewish Daily Forward. http://forward.com/articles/135834