Israeli mafia
| Founded | 1970s/1980s |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Israel |
| Years active | 1970s/1980s-present |
| Territory | Israel, Europe, United States |
| Ethnicity | Maghrebi Jews, Russian Jews, Georgian Jews and Arabs (including Bedouins) |
| Criminal activities | Drug trafficking, diamond trafficking, racketeering, loan sharking, robbery, extortion, money laundering, highjacking, gambling, prostitution, bookmaking, weapons trafficking, human trafficking, Lobbying |
| Allies | Italian-American mafia, Russian mafia, Georgian mafia, Romanian mafia, Jewish American mafia, Italian organized crime groups |
| Rivals | Aryan Brotherhood, Nazi Lowriders, Neo Nazis and Mexican drug cartels |
The Israeli mafia (Hebrew: מאפיה ישראלית or ארגוני פשע בישראל) 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. There are reputed to be six Maghrebi Jewish crime families active and three Arab crime families. Many heads and members of the crime groups have either been killed or are in prison.
The major crime groups are the Abergils, the Abutbuls, the Alperons, the Dumranis, the Shirazis, the Amir Molnar and Zeev Rosenstein syndicates. The illegal activities they are engaged in include: Operating casinos and other forms of gambling inside and outside Israel, Car theft, Prostitution, Drug trafficking, Human trafficking, Money Laundering, Protection and extortion rackets, Loan sharking, and Drug dealing.
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 lives of innocent bystanders. The Iakhbal is the Israeli Special Police Unit that fights organized crime.
In 2010, it was reported by that the United States Embassy in Israel, expressed grave concern that Inbal Gavrieli, the niece of one of Israel's most powerful mafia families, had been elected to the Knesset as an MK for the Likud party.
The immigration of Egyptian and Moroccan Jews to Israel and their settlement in the more impoverished neighborhoods led to the creation of crime families among Maghrebi Jews as well. This is evident in the fact that a large number of Israeli organized criminals have fled to Morocco in recent years. Israeli crime families of Moroccan Jewish descent expanded their operations to Europe and the USA, especially with their involvement in drug trafficking. Some of Israel's more well-known crime families are of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish descent: the Abergil crime family as well as the Abutbul and Domrani clans are originally from Morocco, the Alperon clan came from Egypt, and the Shirazi clan from Iran.
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Wikipedia