Netanya to get special anti-crime task force

City's mob wars escalate; father and infant son wounded in apparent reprisal for attempted mob hit.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
charlie abutbul 224 88 (photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
charlie abutbul 224 88
(photo credit: Channel 10 [file])
Following the failed assassination of Netanya crime figure Yotam Cohen late Thursday night, the police have decided to create a special task force of 200 additional officers to combat the recent wave of mutual assassination attempts by the city's two crime families, the Abutbuls and Shirazis. The decision was made at a meeting convened by Israel Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen on Friday. Meanwhile, Netanya Mayor Miriam Fireberg called on Public Security Minister Avi Dichter to convene an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss the rise in organized crime, which she said had become "a tangible danger to the lives of residents [of Netanya]." Yotam Cohen and his infant son were lightly wounded around 2 a.m. on Friday when gunmen opened fire on their car on Golda Meir Street. Cohen managed to drive himself to the hospital. He suffered a gunshot wound to the hand, while his three-month-old son was lightly wounded by broken glass. The shooting was apparently carried out by two men on a motorcycle, in a very similar manner to the attempt on the life of underworld figure Charlie Abutbul in the city's industrial district last Monday. Police are investigating whether the attack on Cohen was a reprisal by Abutbul's family. According to reports, Cohen, 28, has a record of narcotic and property offenses and is a member of a crime organization headed by Aryeh "Rico" Shirazi, who is considered a rival of the Abutbul family. Three bystanders were hurt in the attempt on Charlie Abutbul's life, in which two men entered an eatery and opened fire on him. The shooting took place near the Bat Ha'ikar restaurant, which is owned by the Abutbul family. Shirazi was arrested in August 2007, and police said that his syndicate was responsible for a long chain of serious offenses, including money-laundering, takeovers of legitimate businesses, organizing, managing and funding illegal gambling, illegally taking control of debtors' property, extortion through threats, fraudulently hiding assets and use of "straw man" bank accounts. Yaakov Lappin and Rebecca Anna Stoil contributed to this report.