Israeli mafia

Organized crime in Israel

The major crime groups include the Abergils, Abutbuls, Alperons, Dumranis, Shirazis, Amir Molnar syndicate, and Zeev Rosenstein syndicate. Their illegal activities encompass casinos and gambling inside and outside Israel, car theft, prostitution, human trafficking, money laundering, murder, protection and extortion rackets, loan sharking, and drug dealing. Former Israel Police Commissioner David Cohen stated that Israeli crime organizations had penetrated the formal economic sector and local governments, equipping themselves with large quantities of combat means, explosives, and arms.

A mob war beginning in the early 2000s resulted in several crime bosses killed and innocent bystanders losing their lives. The Lakhbal is the Israeli Special Police Unit that fights organized crime. In 2010, Wikileaks reported that the United States Embassy in Israel expressed grave concern over Inbal Gavrieli, niece of a powerful mob boss, being elected to the Knesset for the Likud party. Her attempt to use parliamentary immunity to prevent a police search of her father's house during an investigation into illegal gambling and tax evasion compounded concerns about organized crime's influence in the Likud central committee.

Her father, Ezra "Shuni" Gavrieli, had been convicted of racketeering offenses, as had her brother; her cousin was murdered in 2009 in a suspected gangland slaying. The immigration of Egyptian and Moroccan Jews to impoverished neighborhoods led to the creation of crime families among Maghrebi Jews, with many Israeli organized criminals fleeing to Morocco in recent years. Israeli crime families of Moroccan Jewish descent expanded operations to Europe and the US, particularly in drug trafficking.

Well-known families of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish descent include the Abergil crime family and Abutbul clans from Morocco, the Alperon clan from Egypt, and the Shirazi clan from Iran.

In the United States

During the 1980s, a New York-based crime syndicate led by Johnny Attias became known as the "Israeli mafia." It carried off the biggest gold heist in Manhattan's jewelry district, stealing more than $4 million in gold jewelry. Attias was killed in January 1990, and the group soon collapsed. Several members, including Ron Gonen, became informants, and authorities arrested the remaining gang members in September of that year.

Israeli criminal groups like the Abergil crime family and Zeev Rosenstein were deeply involved in ecstasy trafficking in the United States. In 2000, U.S. Customs Service officials told Congress that Israeli organized-crime elements seemed to control the multibillion-dollar U.S. ecstasy trade, from production to international smuggling. Ilan Zarger, a New York-based Israeli mobster, was allegedly the main drug supplier for former Gambino crime family underboss Sammy Gravano's Arizona drug ring.

Zarger was said to have distributed over one million ecstasy pills between May 1999 and May 2000, with a wholesale value of $7 million. He later pleaded guilty to running a drug gang that flooded Arizona and New York with nearly four million ecstasy pills over three years. Another Israeli, Oded Tuito, who was described as leading one of the largest ecstasy-smuggling operations, was arrested in May 2001. His organization imported millions of ecstasy pills from Paris, Brussels, and Frankfurt into New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

In 2006, Zeev Rosenstein was extradited to the U.S. after his arrest in Israel. He pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court to ecstasy distribution charges and received a 12-year prison sentence, which he serves in Israel. In January 2011, Itzik Abergil, Meir Abergil, and three others were extradited to the U.S. They faced a 77-page, 32-count federal indictment that included allegations of murder, massive embezzlement, money laundering, racketeering, and running a large ecstasy ring based in Los Angeles.

In 2025 and 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice linked Israeli and Italian-American crime families to alleged illegal and rigged poker games involving former NBA basketball players across the United States.

In Mexico

In Mexico City on July 24, 2019, two Israeli gangsters, Ben Sutchi and Alon Azulay, were gunned down at a mall restaurant in full daylight. The shooter, 33-year-old Esperanza Gutiérrez Rojano, was paid 5,000 Mexican pesos—about 260 US dollars—and was later arrested. Her suspected accomplice was taken into custody in Cancun two days later. What authorities first believed was a dispute among Israeli criminals turned into a different theory: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel may have been involved, after business ties between the cartel and the two men soured.

The cartel allegedly believed the Israelis were trying to cheat them. Sutchi, who had fled to Mexico in the early 2000s after being convicted of attempting to kill fellow Israeli gangster Meni Aslan, was also said to have connections with Édgar Valdéz Villarreal, known as "La Barbie," a former leader of Los Negros. In December 2022, Gutiérrez received a 26-year prison sentence.

Notable members

The Israeli underworld includes several prominent crime families and organizations. The Abergil crime family, a Moroccan Jewish group based in Lod and Tel Aviv, focuses on drug trafficking and illegal gambling. Their longtime rivals, the Abutbul crime family, were founded in Netanya by Felix Abutbul, who was known as the king of Netanya's illegal gambling before his death in 2002. The Abutbuls built their wealth through illegal casinos in Israel and Europe.

Yaakov Alperon, who led the Egyptian Jewish Alperon Crime Family, died in a car bombing in November 2008. Ludwig Fainberg operated in the United States, connecting with the Medellin Cartel and the Russian mafia until his arrest. Zeev Rosenstein was once the top crime figure in Tel Aviv, heavily involved in ecstasy trafficking and other criminal activities before being caught. Michael Mor, called the Shark from Nahariya, ran a criminal organization in northern Israel.

Early in his career, he was targeted in the Avenging Cops affair, where police officers turned vigilantes attempted to assassinate him in 2006; this incident inspired the TV series The Cops. Shalom Domrani started as an associate of the Abergils and Alperons, then became independent and led the largest criminal organization in southern Israel during the 2010s. Benny Shlomo, who had worked with Domrani, broke away while Domrani was in prison and engaged in a long feud with his former boss.

He was killed in October 2022 by members of the Jarushi family. Yossi Musli runs the Musli crime organization with his brother Eli Musli. Ismail Jarushi heads the Jarushi crime family, based in Ramla. Ali Jarushi, a high-ranking Jarushi member who acted as an arbitrator in the criminal underworld, was assassinated in January 2023, possibly in retaliation for Benny Shlomo's death.

Ayman Qarajah, formerly the head of the Qarajah crime family, moved his base from Ramla to Harish and later relocated to Georgia in the 2020s, claiming to have left crime behind. Qutayer Odeh leads a criminal organization in Tayibe, notorious for extreme violence and threats against police officers.