Reputed Netanya mobster arrested

Abutbul crew stopped by police on way to whack member of rival gang.

By BEN HARTMAN
charlie abutbul 224 88 (photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
charlie abutbul 224 88
(photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
Underworld figure Charlie Abutbul was arrested in Netanya along with four accomplices Sunday evening, on suspicion of plotting a mob hit on a member of a rival crime family.
Police said Abutbul associates Gil Cohen, Avi Orman, and Yaniv Shaar were arrested by detectives from the Anti-Organized Crime Division while they were driving through the Netanya industrial district.
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Police said the three men were found in possession of masks and firearms and were on their way to kill a member of the rival Karajeh family organization when they were stopped.
Associate Maor Ohayon and Abutbul himself were arrested shortly thereafter on suspicion of plotting the hit. The five suspects could face charges of conspiracy, attempted murder, possession of firearms, and car theft.
Charlie Abutbul, who heads the Netanya-based Abutbul crime family, 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.