Israeli Crime Syndicates Reach America

One release Wikileaks U.S. diplomatic cable is titled ISRAEL, A PROMISED LAND FOR ORGANISED CRIME?

1248468157gangster 3mafia 4AGPS 19672

The title is an attempt at humor by an American diplomat, but is warranted considering what is written below. Israel, of course, is not alone to the being a home for the mob. Italy is still notorious, Russia is another illustration and America along with almost every country in the world hosts a mob of some sort. The only probable exceptions are Monaco, Andorra and Luxembourg.

But Israel's case is worth nothing because the mob has grown in skill, operations and reach and not includes the United States.

Take operations first. As the cable notes, "Organized criminal activity is not a new phenomenon in Israel, and major crime families are well known to the Israeli public (the Alperons even featured in a recent reality television program) [and] Traditional OC activities in Israel include illegal neighborhood casinos, prostitution rings, extortion, and loan sharking, with each family controlling a different geographic region.

The focus is largely on easy money guaranteed by the

limited use of violence. Criminal involvement in the recycling

business, for example, has been well covered in the press. OC

families collect bottles illegally from municipal recycling bins and restaurants, return them at the collection centers claiming twice the actual numbers, and pocket the change for millions in profits."

But the crimes have now moved from collecting recycling bottled, which is almost a childish scheme for an easy buck, to more dangerous and oppressive plots: "In recent years, however, the rules of the game have changed. New OC business also includes technology-related crimes, such as stock market and credit card fraud, and operates on a global scale.

As the reach of Israeli OC has grown, so have the stakes.

Crime families are working further from home and exporting violence

abroad. Older gambling schemes have grown to include sprawling

casino franchises in Eastern Europe.

Israeli OC now plays a significant role in the global drug

trade, providing both a local consumer market and an important

transit point to Europe and the United States.

The prostitution business has also grown beyond the

neighborhood brothel. In March 2009, the INP [Israeli National Police] arrested twelve suspects in what is believed to be the largest Israeli-led human trafficking network unearthed to date. Ring leader Rami Saban and his associates were charged with smuggling thousands of women from the former Soviet Union and forcing them to work as prostitutes in Israel, Cyprus, Belgium, and Great Britain. Some women were flown to Egypt and smuggled across the Sinai border by Bedouins."

But it is not just the character of operations and their scope to Europe, Russia and the United States that has changed, but also the skills of the mob:

"According to xxxxx, the old school of Israel

OC is giving way to a new, more violent, breed of crime. xxxxx told conoffs that the new style of crime features knowledge of hi-tech explosives acquired from service in the Israeli Defense Forces, and a willingness to use indiscriminate violence, at least against rival gang leaders."

In that sense the Israeli mob mimics much of the Mexican drug cartels who also recruit high-specialized personnel previously trained by the nation's army and special forced. Which creates for a more professional, organized and deadly force.

And Israel's diversity is a gain for organized crime:

"Israel's multi-ethnic population provides a deep well of

opportunity for Israeli OC to expand into new territory. Most

Israeli crime families trace their roots to North Africa or Eastern

Europe, and many of their Israeli operatives hold foreign passports

allowing them to move freely in European countries, most of which

participate in the visa waiver program with the United States.

Approximately one million Russians moved to Israel following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union, and Russian citizens no longer

require visas to enter Israel. Many Russian oligarchs of Jewish

origin and Jewish members of OC groups have received Israeli

citizenship, or at least maintain residences in the country. Little

is known about the full extent of Russian criminal activity in

Israel, but sources in the police estimate that Russian OC has

laundered as much as USD 10 billion through Israeli holdings. While

most Israeli OC families are native-born and the stereotype that

Russian immigrants tend to be mobsters is greatly overblown,

indigenous OC groups routinely employ "muscle" from the former

Soviet Union.

The profit motive serves as a great unifier among

Israel's diverse demographic groups. According to xxxxx, some

Amsterdam-based Hasidic groups allegedly are implicated in

international drug smuggling through links to Israeli OC."

Recent hits include:

"In November 2008, Israeli crime boss Yaakov Alperon was

assassinated in broad daylight in a gruesome attack on the streets

of Tel Aviv, only about a mile away from the Embassy. According to

several media accounts, a motor scooter pulled up alongside

Alperon's car and the rider attached a sophisticated explosive

device with a remote detonator to the car door. The bomb killed

Alperon and his driver, and injured two innocent pedestrians. The

hit was the latest in a series of violent attacks and reprisals, and indicated a widening crime war in Israel.

In July 2008, a 31-year-old Israeli woman was killed by a stray

bullet on the beach in Bat Yam in front of her husband and two

children during a failed assassination attempt on noted crime figure

Rami Amira. In a feud between the Abutbul and Shirazi clans, crime

boss Shalom "Charlie" Abutbul was shot by two gunmen in September

2008, an attack that also wounded three bystanders.

In December 2008, Charlie Abutbul's son-in-law, Nati Ohayon, was gunned down in his car in Netanya. Before the fatal bombing of his car, Alperon himself had survived at least three previous attempts on his life before his assassination, and was engaged in an ongoing feud with the rival Abergil clan (although there are numerous suspects in Alperon's murder)."

Interestingly, the crime bosses in Israel work together with Arabs even Arabs in hostile territory:

"Arab and Jewish Israeli criminals routinely cooperate and form alliances to expand control of lucrative drug, car theft and extortion rackets.

Even hostile and closed borders pose few obstacles to OC groups.

According to the INP, 43% of intercepted heroin in 2008 was smuggled from Lebanon, 37% from Jordan, and 12% from Egypt."

And this is becoming a growing problem for the United States:

"Given the volume of travel and trade between the United

States and Israel, it is not surprising that Israeli OC has also

gained a foothold in America. Over the last decade, media reports

have detailed a number of high-profile cases involving Israeli OC,

ranging from large-scale drug deals to murder. The ongoing Central

District of California grand jury investigation against the Abergil

family, where a RICO conspiracy case was initiated in December 2007, best demonstrates the full extent of such criminal activity.

Investigators have linked Yitzhak Abergil and his entire network to

crimes of "embezzlement, extortion, kidnapping, and money

laundering." Yitzhak Abergil is currently under arrest in Israel

and facing extradition for related charges linking him to the murder of Israeli drug dealer Samy Attias on U.S. soil.

In 2004, Zeev Rosenstein was arrested in Israel for possession of 700,000 ecstasy tablets in his New York apartment, destined for distribution in the U.S. market. He was ultimately extradited to the United States in 2006, where he is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence.

Two other crime figures, Meir Abergil and Israel Ozifa, are also facing U.S. extradition charges on charges that include smuggling 100,000 ecstasy tablets into the United States."

Will post if see reports about the mafia in other Mideast countries. Would be interested to read about the mob in Lebanon (which controls much of the electricity) or Tunisia. O' wait in the case of the latter it is the ruling family which constitutes the biggest and most powerful and most ruthless mob.