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### Viewing cable 09TELAVIV1098, ISRAEL, A PROMISED LAND FOR ORGANISED CRIME?

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09TELAVIV1098 | 2009-05-15 14:02 | 2010-12-01 21:09 | UNCLASSIFIED | Embassy Tel Aviv
Appears in these articles: http://www.spiegel.de

`

    VZCZCXYZ0018
    RR RUEHWEB

    DE RUEHTV #1098/01 1351414
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD66A605 MSI9229-632)
    R 151414Z MAY 09 ZDS
    FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1845
    INFO RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 2041
    RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC//INTD/CTD/CT WATCH//
    RHMFIUU/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHDC
    RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC 0068
    RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 7509

` `

    UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001098

    C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (CORRECTED ADDEE)

    DEPT FOR CA/VO/L/C; CA/VO/L/A; CA/FPP SARAH SEXTON; INR/TIPOFF; DS
    OFAC
    ROME FOR DHS/ICE

    CA/FPP: PLEASE PASS TO DOJ LISA HOLTYN AND BRUCE OHR
    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958:N/A
    TAGS: CVIS SNAR CMGT KFRD KCOR KCRM KTIP PINR IS
    SUBJECT: ISRAEL, A PROMISED LAND FOR ORGANISED CRIME?

    Summary
    ---------

    ¶1. (SBU) Organized crime (OC) has longstanding roots in Israel, but
    in recent years there has been a sharp increase in the reach and
    impact of OC networks. In seeking a competitive advantage in such
    lucrative trades as narcotics and prostitution, Israeli crime groups
    have demonstrated their ability and willingness to engage in violent
    attacks on each other with little regard for innocent bystanders.
    The Israeli National Police (INP) and the courts have engaged in a
    vigorous campaign against organized crime leaders, including the
    creation of a new specialized anti-OC unit, but they remain unable
    to cope with the full scope of the problem. Organized crime in
    Israel now has global reach, with direct impact inside the United
    States. Post is currently utilizing all available tools to deny
    Israeli OC figures access to the United States in order to prevent
    them from furthering their criminal activities on U.S. soil. End
    Summary.

    Crime War Hits the Streets of Israel
    -------------------------------------

    ¶2. (SBU) 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.

    ¶3. 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). The day after Alperon's death, two members of
    the Abergil syndicate were sentenced for conspiring to kill
    Alperon's brother, Nissim, in May 2008.

    ¶4. (SBU) In response to rising concerns for public safety, former
    Prime Minister Olmert convened an emergency meeting of top law
    enforcement officials, cabinet members, and prosecutors in December
    ¶2008. He promised to add 1,000 officers to the INP and to allocate
    approximately NIS 340 million (USD 81 million) to improve the INP's
    technical capabilities. In general, the rise in OC-related violence
    has led some public figures to call for emergency state powers to
    attack criminal organizations, and OC became a minor but important
    issue in the February 2009 Knesset elections. Former Labor Party MK
    Ephraim Sneh publicly decried criminal extortion in his campaign
    ads, only to have his car torched in apparent retaliation outside
    his home in Herzliya.

    Background
    ------------

    ¶5. (SBU) 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). Five or six crime families have traditionally dominated
    OC in Israel, although the names and makeup of these syndicates have
    fluctuated in recent years. The Abergil, Abutbul, Alperon, and
    Rosenstein organizations are among the most well known, but recent
    arrests and assassinations have created a power vacuum at the top.
    New names such as Mulner, Shirazi, Cohen and Domrani have moved
    quickly to fill the gap. Other up-and-coming groups include the
    Harari, Ohana, and Kdoshim families. There are also a number of
    rival families active in the underworld of Israel's Arab sector.

    ¶6. (SBU) Traditional OC activities in Israel include illegal
    neighborhood casinos, prostitution rings, extortion, and loan
    sharking, with each family controlling a different geographic
    region. The Alperon family, for instance, dominates the Sharon
    region, while the Abutbul operation is based in the coastal city of
    Netanya. 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.

    Not Your Grandfather's Mob
    ---------------------------

    ¶7. (SBU) Despite their notoriety, OC figures have generally been
    viewed as a nuisance to be handled by local police. Law enforcement
    resources were directed to more existential security threats from
    terrorists and enemy states. In recent years, however, the rules of
    the game have changed. 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. New
    OC business also includes technology-related crimes, such as stock
    market and credit card fraud, and operates on a global scale.

    ¶8. (SBU) 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. The Abutbul family began its
    gambling business in Romania over a decade ago, and now owns the
    Europe-wide Casino Royale network. In 2002, Israeli OC turf wars
    spilled into Europe when Yaakov Abergil and Felix Abutbul were
    killed two months apart. Abutbul was gunned down in front of his
    casino in Prague in a show of force by the Abergils as they
    attempted to capture a portion of the European gambling market.

    ¶9. (SBU) 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. 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.

    ¶10. (SBU) The prostitution business has also grown beyond the
    neighborhood brothel. In March 2009, the INP 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.

    Law Enforcement Steps up the Pressure
    -------------------------------------

    ¶11. (SBU) After years of perceived inaction, in 2008 the INP
    created a new unit called Lahav 433. The elite unit operates under
    the direct command of the police commissioner, and is charged
    specifically with infiltrating and eliminating Israel's major crime
    syndicates. Lahav 433 also cooperates closely with district
    investigative units to combat smaller criminal organizations, many
    of which are aligned with the larger crime families.

    ¶12. (SBU) Following Alperon's assassination, the INP initiated a
    series of raids that led to the arrests of a number of leading crime
    figures. Among their targets were Aviv and Adam Abutbul, sons of
    crime-family head Charlie Abutbul, both charged with possession of
    illegal weapons. (A third brother, Francois, is already facing
    murder charges for a nightclub killing in 2004.) Police also
    arrested gangland figure Amir Mulner for weapons possession and
    conspiracy to commit a crime. Mulner is known to be an explosives
    expert by army training, and is a suspect in Yaakov Alperon's
    murder. He is also believed to be managing affairs for Rosenstein
    while the latter serves his sentence in the United States.

    ¶13. (SBU) Yaakov Alperon's brother Nissim was arrested with 18
    others in December 2008, in what was reported to be a "mafia
    meeting" in a Tel Aviv-area caf. According to the Jerusalem Post,
    the group may have been planning a revenge attack for his brother's
    recent assassination. Alperon's son Dror, recently dismissed from
    his army service for disorderly behavior, also faces several counts
    of assault and was convicted on extortion charges. Also in
    December, police in Netanya launched several raids on illegal
    gambling houses and the homes of suspected money launderers with
    ties to the crime families. In Ashdod, brothers Roni and David
    Harari were arrested on charges of extortion. Regional police stuck
    a blow against the Jerusalem Gang, and convicted its leader Itzik
    Bar Muha.

    Skepticism Hovers Over GOI Efforts
    ----------------------------------

    ¶14. (SBU)xxxxx told conoffs that
    "thousands of foot soldiers" remain active on the streets despite
    these aggressive anti-OC operations. He noted that approximately
    2,000 people attended Alperon's very public funeral. xxxxx
    expressed skepticism that recent arrests will bear fruit in the long
    term without a sustained commitment to enforcement. He noted that
    many of the crime leaders remain active while in prison and their
    operations are not hampered significantly even when they are
    convicted and jailed.

    ¶15. (SBU) In December 2008, former Prime Minister Olmert himself
    admitted that efforts to combat OC have long been diluted among
    different agencies, and that INP technology lags far behind that
    allocated to security services for counterterrorism. Given the
    recent change in government and the current economic crisis, there
    is public skepticism as to whether GOI promises to remedy the
    situation will be fulfilled. In 2003, following a failed
    assassination attempt on Rosenstein, then Prime Minister Ariel
    Sharon made similar promises to commit manpower and resources to
    combating the problem.

    ¶16. (SBU) It is not entirely clear to what extent OC elements have
    penetrated the Israeli establishment and corrupted public officials.
    The INP insists that such instances are rare, despite the
    occasional revelation of crooked police officers in the press.
    Nevertheless, there have been several dramatic revelations in recent
    years that indicate a growing problem. In 2004, former government
    minister Gonen Segev was arrested for trying to smuggle thousands of
    ecstasy pills into Israel, a case that produced considerable
    circumstantial evidence of his involvement in OC. The election of
    Inbal Gavrieli to the Knesset in 2003 as a member of Likud raised
    concerns about OC influence in the party's Central Committee.
    Gavrieli is the daughter of a suspected crime boss, and she
    attempted to use her parliamentary immunity to block investigations
    into her father's business. (Gavrieli is no longer a member of the
    Knesset.) Just last month, Israeli politicos and OC figures came
    together for the funeral of Likud party activist Shlomi Oz, who
    served time in prison in the 1990s for extortion on behalf of the
    Alperon family. Among those in attendance was Omri Sharon, son of
    former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was himself convicted in
    2006 on illegal fundraising charges unrelated to OC.

    Courts Testing New Powers
    --------------------------

    ¶17. (SBU) In 2003, the GOI passed anti-OC legislation that carries
    a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment for heading a criminal
    organization and three years for working in such an organization.
    The law defines such a body as a group of people working in an
    "organized, methodical and ongoing pattern to commit offenses that
    are defined by the laws of Israel as crimes." The law also allows
    for property forfeiture, both in the wake of conviction and in cases
    where it is proven to belong to a criminal organization.

    ¶18. (SBU) Until recently, xxxxx, judges and lawyers have been
    slow to make use of this authority, and are hampered by a lack of
    resources, insufficient understanding of the tools at their
    disposal, and reticence to mete out tough sentences. A witness
    protection program for those who testify against OC is just now
    getting off the ground, and is not backed by any specific
    legislation. Nevertheless, on March 16th, a Tel Aviv district court
    took the important step of sentencing 14 convicted criminals
    belonging to two mob organizations in Ramle and Jaffa to up to 27
    years in prison.

    ¶19. (SBU) Increased efforts by Israeli authorities to combat OC
    have engendered retaliatory threats of violence. Recent press
    reports indicate that as many as 10 Israeli judges are currently
    receiving 24-hour protection by the police against the threat of
    violence from members of crime organizations. Israeli OC appears to
    be intent on intimidating judges personally, as a way of influencing
    the legal process. Judges in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa have
    been assigned police protection, underscoring the depth of the
    problem.

    Israeli Crime Reaches American Shores
    --------------------------------------

    ¶20. (SBU) 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.

    ¶21. (SBU) 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. 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.

    Israeli OC Operating Freely in United States
    ---------------------------------------------

    ¶22. (SBU) 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.

    ¶23. (SBU) As part of an ongoing effort to track Israeli OC through
    media reports and police sources, Post so far has identified 16
    families and 78 related individuals who are at the center of Israeli
    organized criminal activity. The consular section has revoked
    several visas for those who have been convicted of crimes in Israel,
    but many OC figures have no prior criminal convictions and carry no
    visa ineligibilities. As a result, many hold valid nonimmigrant
    visas to the United States and have traveled freely or attempted to
    travel for a variety of purposes.

    ¶24. (SBU) In March 2009, Post received information from law
    enforcement authorities that convicted criminal and member of the
    Abergil organization, Mordechai Yair Hasin, along with his pregnant
    wife and child, was intending to flee Israel for Los Angeles on
    valid tourist visas. Hasin's visa was revoked based on his
    conviction, as were his family's visas after they were determined to
    be intending immigrants.

    ¶25. (SBU) As in the Hasin case, Post is using every available tool
    to limit OC travel to the United States, but such efforts are not
    always successful. In June 2008, Post issued Adam Abitbul a valid
    tourist visa. Abitbul had no prior criminal convictions, and
    carried no visa ineligibilities. Several months later, Post
    received information from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)
    that he had traveled to the United States to carry out a hit.
    Abitbul returned to Israel prematurely for his father's funeral, at
    which time Post revoked his visa. (Post can only revoke the visas of
    Israeli citizens while in country.) In a similar case, in October
    2008 Post issued Moshe Bar Muha a tourist visa; he claimed to be
    traveling for medical treatment. Post subsequently received
    information from the LAPD that Bar Muha is in fact the brother of
    Itzik Bar Muha of the Jerusalem Gang (see above) and a convicted
    criminal.

    ¶26. (SBU) As recently as March 2009, Zvika Ben Shabat, Yaacov
    Avitan, and Tzuri Rokah requested visas to attend a
    "security-related convention" in Las Vegas. According to local
    media reports, all three had involvement with OC. Post asked the
    applicants to provide police reports for any criminal records in
    Israel, but without such evidence there is no immediate
    ineligibility for links to OC. Luckily, all three have so far
    failed to return for continued adjudication of their applications.
    Nevertheless, it is fair to assume that many known OC figures hold
    valid tourist visas to the United States and travel freely.

    Comment: Israeli OC Slipping Through the Consular Cracks
    --------------------------------------------- ---------

    ¶27. (SBU) Given the growing reach and lethal methods of Israeli OC,
    blocking the travel of known OC figures to the United States is a
    matter of great concern to Post. Through collaboration with Israeli
    and U.S. law enforcement authorities, Post has developed an
    extensive database and placed lookouts for OC figures and their foot
    soldiers. Nevertheless, the above visa cases demonstrate the
    challenges that have arisen since the termination of the Visas Shark
    in September 2008. Unlike OC groups from the former Soviet Union,
    Italy, China, and Central America, application of INA
    212(a)(3)(A)(ii) against Israeli OC is not specifically authorized
    per Foreign Affairs Manual 40.31 N5.3. As such, Israelis who are
    known to work for or belong to OC families are not automatically
    ineligible for travel to the United States.

    Cunningham

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