Suspected crime boss released to house arrest

The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court on Sunday released suspected crime boss Arye (Rico) Shirazi to 15 days house arrest with restrictions. Shirazi and 11 of his associates were arrested some two weeks ago after an investigation by the Serious and International Crimes Unit. Police suspect that Shirazi's syndicate was responsible for a long chain of serious offenses, including money-laundering and 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.