Underworld figure shot dead at Rishon Lezion junction

Rami Amira, killed in shooting, was the target of a 2008 Bat Yam assassination attempt that killed mother of two.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
police car 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
police car 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A motorcyclist was shot dead in a suspected criminal assassination at a busy junction in Rishon Lezion on Wednesday morning.
The gunshot victim has been named as underworld figure Rami Amira. Amira has been the target of several assassination attempts in recent years, including a shooting on a Bat Yam beach in 2008 in which an innocent bystander, 31- year-old Marguerita Lautin, was shot dead in front of her husband and two children.
In Wednesday’s attack, Amira was treated by paramedics at the scene, but died of his wounds soon afterwards.
A woman was lightly injured by glass in her vehicle.
The Central District’s Central Unit has been tasked with leading a homicide investigation into the shooting.
The gunman in the 2008 attack, Ronen Ben-Adi, was convicted of Lautin’s murder last year. Shimon Sabah was convicted of acting as Ben-Adi’s getaway driver. The incident shocked the country and led to calls for a major crackdown on organized crime.
Since then, dozens of organized crime family heads have been arrested, and police have stepped up intelligence on the movements and activities of organized crime kingpins.
Police believed a possible motive for the 2008 attack was an attempt by Amira to leave the alleged Abergil crime organization and link up with a rival franchise. But the gunman and his driver have been the only ones convicted of the shooting.
Lautin’s widower, Alex, slammed police on Wednesday for failing to prevent the latest shooting.
“Where is the police? They knew he was a target. Where was the initiative to prevent a ticking bomb from wondering around the streets?” he said on Army Radio.
“A woman was lightly injured, but it could have easily ended differently.
Are we supposed to simply trust luck and hope nothing will happen?” he asked.
Alex Lautin also said promises by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to provide state compensation to innocent victims of criminal violence had so far amounted to nothing.
“After two-and-a-half years since the incident, we received nothing from the state, and we won’t get anything. There’s no law relating to victims of criminal terrorism. Our story has been forgotten,” Lautin said.