Mafia war rages in Netanya, as bikers shoot at mob boss

Men on motorcycles attempt to kill Charlie Abutbul in Netanya; police organized crime unit suspects rival crime family responsible.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN
charlie abutbul 224 88 (photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
charlie abutbul 224 88
(photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
Men on motorcycles attempted to kill Charlie Abutbul in Netanya on Tuesday, as a part of what police suspect is an ongoing mafia war.
Abutbul, allegedly the head of the Netanya-based Abutbul crime family, was in his car by the Carmel Hotel in Netanya when the bikers opened fire. He was not injured.
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The investigation of the event is headed by the Lahav 443 national unit, an elite police unit responsible for investigating organized crime. The unit suspects that the shooting is part of an ongoing mafia war in Netanya.
Police is investigating the event, and suspects that the shooters were from a rival crime family.
Abutbul was critically wounded in an attempted hit in September 2008. His brother, Felix Abutbul, was gunned down outside a casino he owned in Prague in 2002.
Felix’s son, Asi, the one-time head of the crime family, was sentenced in 2009 to 13 years in prison for a litany of charges including arson, extortion, and unlawful imprisonment.
In August, Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court ruled to release alleged organized crime figure Charlie Abutbul to house arrest. Abutbul was arrested earlier that month under suspicion that he ordered the assassination of Eyal Sofer, an alleged associate of a rival crime family.
The Rishon Lezion judge wrote in his decision that investigators had not uncovered sufficient evidence in the time allotted to justify Abutbul's continued incarceration.
In July, a stun grenade was thrown at the Bat Haikar restaurant, owned by the Abutbul crime family, lightly shocking a woman in the area. The attack came a day after arsonists burned down three separate locations of the restaurant chain, owned by Fracois Abutbul.