Israeli mafia
Encyclopedia
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.
syndicates. The illegal activities they are engaged in include:
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.
to Israel
in 1989. 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.
Israeli crime organizations such as the Abergil crime family and Zeev Rosenstein
are heavily involved in ecstasy trafficking in the United States. 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". 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, who allegedly distributed more than 1 million Ecstasy pills from May 1999 to May 2000 with a wholesale value of $7 million. 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. 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.
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. 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.
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
groups operating in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
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.
Organized crime in Israel
The major crime groups are the Abergils, the Abutbuls, the Alperons, the Dumranis, the Shirazis, the Amir Molnar and Zeev RosensteinZeev Rosenstein
Zeev Rosenstein is an infamous Israeli mob boss and drug trafficker. Rosenstein was born to a Romanian Jewish father and a mountain Jewish mother in Yafo, Israel....
syndicates. 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.
Ex-Soviet organized crime
Ex-Soviet organized crime in Israel began with the mass immigration of Russian JewsHistory of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union
The vast territories of the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest populations of Jews in the diaspora. Within these territories the Jewish community flourished and developed many of modern Judaism's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions, while also facing periods of...
to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1989. The Russian mafia saw Israel as an ideal place to launder money
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, as Israel's banking system was designed to encourage aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
, the immigration of Jews, and the accompanying capital. Following the trend of global financial deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
, Israel had also implemented legislation aimed at easing the movement of capital. Combined with the lack of anti-money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
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
Israeli passport
The Israeli passport is issued to citizens of the State of Israel for the purpose of international travel and entitles the bearer to the protection of Israel's consular officials overseas....
, using fake Jewish documentation.
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.Israeli crime organizations such as the Abergil crime family and Zeev Rosenstein
Zeev Rosenstein
Zeev Rosenstein is an infamous Israeli mob boss and drug trafficker. Rosenstein was born to a Romanian Jewish father and a mountain Jewish mother in Yafo, Israel....
are heavily involved in ecstasy trafficking in the United States. 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". The main drug supplier of former Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
underboss Sammy Gravano
Sammy Gravano
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is a former underboss of the Gambino crime family. He is known as the man who helped bring down John Gotti, the family's boss, by agreeing to become a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant and turn state's evidence.Originally a mobster for the Colombo crime...
in his Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
drug ring allegedly was New York based Israeli mobster Ilan Zarger, who allegedly distributed more than 1 million Ecstasy pills from May 1999 to May 2000 with a wholesale value of $7 million. 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. 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.
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. 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
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
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.
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, extortionExtortionExtortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
, and money launderingMoney launderingMoney laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
. - Yaakov AlperonYaakov AlperonYaakov Alperon , was an Israeli mobster who was murdered in a car bomb attack. He was reputed to have run Tel Aviv's third-largest crime family, the Alperon crime family.-Biography:...
- Head of the Alperon Crime Family, until his car bombing assassination on November 17, 2008. - Ludwig FainbergLudwig FainbergLeonid "Tarzan" Fainberg also known as Ludwig Lyosha Fainberg is an Israeli mobster. Born in Odessa, Fainberg left the Soviet Union in the early 1980s for Israel, and moved to the United States following the fall of the Soviet Union. In the mid-1990s, Fainberg attempted to purchase a Soviet...
- He was a crime figure in America with connections to the Medellin CartelMedellín CartelThe Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and...
and the Russian MafiaRussian MafiaThe Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
, until he got busted. He lives in Israel now. - Semion MogilevichSemion MogilevichSemion Yudkovich Mogilevich is a Ukrainian-born organized crime boss, believed by European and United States federal law enforcement agencies to be the "boss of bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world...
- A Russian crime figure operating worldwide, said to be the most powerful crime figure in the world, he allegedly runs human traffickingHuman traffickingHuman trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
, prostitutionProstitutionProstitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and other criminal operations in Israel and other countries, and allegedly launders a lot of his money in Israel. - Zeev RosensteinZeev RosensteinZeev Rosenstein is an infamous Israeli mob boss and drug trafficker. Rosenstein was born to a Romanian Jewish father and a mountain Jewish mother in Yafo, Israel....
- 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.