The Southern District Attorney’s Office on Monday submitted four indictments in
the Beersheba District Court against 15 defendants, all of the same Beersheba
crime syndicate. The state said that in the coming days another indictment is
expected to be filed against a rival criminal organization that operated in
Eilat.
The large busts of the crime syndicates came about as a result of
joint efforts between police personnel fighting organized crime and a unit
investigating systematic financial crimes such as money laundering and tax
fraud.
Most of the case against the two crime syndicates was assembled by
one of the syndicate’s turncoat agents who had worked in both syndicates, but
turned state’s witness and remained undercover gathering evidence for some
time.
There is a gag order on the identity of the state witness, who is
referred to only as “A.V.” in the indictment.
A.V. was the driver for
many of the organization’s “hits” as well as for collecting money from the
organization’s debtors, said the indictments.
He was involved in the
organization from its founding in 2001, noted the indictments, although he took
a break from the Beersheba syndicate for a few years, working in the Eilat
syndicate during that time.
Regarding the Beersheba crime organization,
the charges include: running a crime organization; managing and directing the
crime organization; several counts of attempted murder; conspiracy; extortion;
causing aggravated bodily harm; tax fraud; and money laundering.
The
indictments state that the organization was formed for the purpose of making
large profits through the use of violence, threats and extortion, in order to
grant loans with interest and cover-up profits with tax fraud and money
laundering.
The Beersheba crime syndicate heads were Shmuel Greenberg and
Yossi “Zaza” Tzadik, said the indictments.
The organization operated with
a clear hierarchical structure, where every defendant had specific duties,
alleged the indictments.
According to the indictments, which mostly cover
the years 2008-2012, Greenberg and Tzadik gave directives to their subordinates
regarding their actions, financed the activities of the organization and decided
on the distribution of the organization’s profits.
The indictments also
trace a conflict and violence between the Beersheba syndicate and the Eilat
syndicate, led by Hagai Zagury and Moshe Rubin.
Members of the Beersheba
organization also trailed and spied on members of the Eilat organization in
order to plan and carry out violent activities, noted the
indictments.
The Beersheba criminal organization’s members traveled
throughout the city armed with various weapons and often in stolen vehicles,
said the indictments.
A press release by the Justice Ministry noted that
most of the members of the Eilat syndicate were recently convicted in a separate
case in the Beersheba District Court and sentenced to lengthy prison
terms.
While filing of the indictments, the prosecution simultaneously
requested that the court remand all fifteen defendants to police custody until
the end of legal proceedings against them, as well as for forfeiture of their
seized property and money.
The press release cited the arrests as yet
another example of the police’s ongoing struggle against organized crime in the
South.
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