Mil
03-09-2004, 07:41 PM
Police nab 4 foreign hitmen working for Israeli mafia
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
In a major blow to the criminal underworld operating in Israel, police have arrested 18 people suspected of involvement in a number of attempted underworld assassinations, including four foreign nationals from the former Soviet Union who police believe were brought to the country as paid assassins, police announced Tuesday.
Police believe that the four foreign mercenaries, all of whom are from Belorussia, tried to kill the father of Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli, Shoni Gavrieli, by placing an incendiary device on his car, while it was parked at Tel Aviv's central Azrieli shopping mall in January.
The planned attack was thwarted after the bomb fell off the vehicle, and was safely defused by police sappers, who at first were concerned that it was placed in the underground parking lot by Palestinian terrorists.
The usually dormant issue of underworld crime was catapulted to the headlines in Israel in December following the failed assassination attempt on underworld kingpin Ze'ev Rosenstein in the heart of Tel Aviv, a bombing which claimed the lives of three innocent bystanders.
In the past year and a half, nine passersby have been killed in mafia attacks, including the three bystanders killed in the December 11 assassination attempt on Rosenstein.
Israeli gangsters control extortion, gambling, prostitution, and drugs, and periodically try to kill each other.
Police believe that the attempt to kill Gavrieli was part of an underworld power struggle, and say that Gavrieli may have been a target because of his alleged business contacts with underworld figures. Gavrieli has denied any involvement in underworld dealings.
The four suspects, who entered Israel via the Egyptian border in November 2003 using the same route taken by women traffickers, were apprehended by police in February. Following their arrest, the alleged hit men led police to a Kfar Saba apartment where a large cache of arms was uncovered.
Among the items seized from the flat included two LAW anti-tank rockets, dozens of hand grenades, firearms, pistol silencers, and a variety of other explosive-making materials.
A court gag order that was imposed on the case - code-named 'liquidation sale' by police - was lifted Tuesday, when the details of the arrests were released at a Tel Aviv police press conference.
Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon called the case "one of the most severe and worrying" affairs ever uncovered in Israel.
During their investigation of the thwarted attack on Gavrieli's life, police found video evidence that shows the device falling off his car, and had called him in for questioning.
Although Gavrieli denied that he had any enemies who would kill him, police recommended that he start employing bodyguards.
Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli said Tuesday that she was certain that her father was not the intended target of the hit, and was not concerned for his safety.
Police have identified six major organized crime families operating in Israel, who are fighting for control in the underworld of gambling, prostitution, and drugs, operations which are estimated to be worth about NIS 14 billion a year.
The primary underworld crime families operating in Israel are divided into two main camps: the Ze'ev Rosenstein crime family, backed by the Aboutbul family on one side, and the Abergil family and the allied Alperon family on the other.
To date, the cash-strapped government has rejected a police request for a special NIS 1.3 billion funding increase over the next three years to fight organized crime.
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
In a major blow to the criminal underworld operating in Israel, police have arrested 18 people suspected of involvement in a number of attempted underworld assassinations, including four foreign nationals from the former Soviet Union who police believe were brought to the country as paid assassins, police announced Tuesday.
Police believe that the four foreign mercenaries, all of whom are from Belorussia, tried to kill the father of Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli, Shoni Gavrieli, by placing an incendiary device on his car, while it was parked at Tel Aviv's central Azrieli shopping mall in January.
The planned attack was thwarted after the bomb fell off the vehicle, and was safely defused by police sappers, who at first were concerned that it was placed in the underground parking lot by Palestinian terrorists.
The usually dormant issue of underworld crime was catapulted to the headlines in Israel in December following the failed assassination attempt on underworld kingpin Ze'ev Rosenstein in the heart of Tel Aviv, a bombing which claimed the lives of three innocent bystanders.
In the past year and a half, nine passersby have been killed in mafia attacks, including the three bystanders killed in the December 11 assassination attempt on Rosenstein.
Israeli gangsters control extortion, gambling, prostitution, and drugs, and periodically try to kill each other.
Police believe that the attempt to kill Gavrieli was part of an underworld power struggle, and say that Gavrieli may have been a target because of his alleged business contacts with underworld figures. Gavrieli has denied any involvement in underworld dealings.
The four suspects, who entered Israel via the Egyptian border in November 2003 using the same route taken by women traffickers, were apprehended by police in February. Following their arrest, the alleged hit men led police to a Kfar Saba apartment where a large cache of arms was uncovered.
Among the items seized from the flat included two LAW anti-tank rockets, dozens of hand grenades, firearms, pistol silencers, and a variety of other explosive-making materials.
A court gag order that was imposed on the case - code-named 'liquidation sale' by police - was lifted Tuesday, when the details of the arrests were released at a Tel Aviv police press conference.
Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon called the case "one of the most severe and worrying" affairs ever uncovered in Israel.
During their investigation of the thwarted attack on Gavrieli's life, police found video evidence that shows the device falling off his car, and had called him in for questioning.
Although Gavrieli denied that he had any enemies who would kill him, police recommended that he start employing bodyguards.
Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli said Tuesday that she was certain that her father was not the intended target of the hit, and was not concerned for his safety.
Police have identified six major organized crime families operating in Israel, who are fighting for control in the underworld of gambling, prostitution, and drugs, operations which are estimated to be worth about NIS 14 billion a year.
The primary underworld crime families operating in Israel are divided into two main camps: the Ze'ev Rosenstein crime family, backed by the Aboutbul family on one side, and the Abergil family and the allied Alperon family on the other.
To date, the cash-strapped government has rejected a police request for a special NIS 1.3 billion funding increase over the next three years to fight organized crime.