Yaakov Alperon

Yaakov Alperon (Hebrew: יעקב אלפרון‎‎; February 18, 1955 – November 17, 2008) was an Israeli mobster who was murdered in a car bomb attack.

Alperon was born in Israel in 1955 to a poor family of Jewish immigrants from Egypt and grew up in a small apartment in Givat Shmuel. He and his brothers learned boxing and began taking over small businesses in the area. The family gained power by protection racket in the Gush Dan area. Alperon was first arrested when he was in his twenties. In 1993, he was jailed for 4.5 years after the police busted his extortion company. Two of his brothers, Nissim and Zalman, were also convicted.

Alperon's enemies included Zeev Rosenstein, a drug lord who had also been the target of murder attempts. Alperon also battled with the rival Abutbul and Abergil families over money from bottle recycling, an industry that brings in $5 million a year, based on police estimates. As part of a protection racket offered to restaurant owners, the businesses would pay for the mobsters' "services" by leaving empty bottles, which would leave no documentation and could be redeemed for cash to provide an apparently legitimate revenue source.

In March 2004, Israeli police arrested four suspected contract killers from Belarus who had been found with weapons, including explosives and shoulder-held missiles, at their hideout. The arrested hit men had been accused of involvement in a failed murder attempt against Yaakov Alperon in December 2003, and earlier attempts that same year against Alperon's brother Nissim and another attack against a member of a crime family linked with the Alperons.

At a January 2, 2006, summit held at a hotel north of Tel Aviv intended to address their differences, Alperon met with rival gangster Amir Mulner. Guns and knives were used after the arbitration efforts failed, and Mulner was stabbed in the neck, allegedly by Alperon. Yaakov Alperon and his son went into hiding and were not found despite a two-month nationwide search. The two turned themselves into police custody. In March 2006, Alperon and his brother Reuven were charged with "making threats, attempted assault, and intentionally damaging a car" for their involvement in the incident.

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