Top associates of mobster Amir Mulner indicted in weapons, conspiracy case

Police believe indictment could help probe of November car bomb that targeted TA prosecutor.

By BEN HARTMAN
Five associates of top Israeli organized crime figure Amir Mulner conspired to carry out an attack against a man who had crossed their boss, and acquired and stashed a pistol to use in the assault, according to an indictment presented by Tel Aviv prosecutors on Wednesday. The police did not state officially if they thought the intent was to kill the man or only harm him.
Police said that there is reason to believe the indictment will help advance their investigation into the car bomb that targeted the jeep belonging to a Tel Aviv prosecutor in the city in November. Mulner’s organization has been suspected in that attack from day one, largely because the prosecutor targeted was tasked with the state’s case against Mulner.
The five suspects include Moshe “Chico” Bat Adeh, 33; Lior Belisa, 35; Lior Abadeh, 26; Adam Yitzhak, 24; and Kobi Dagan, 26. They all face charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, weapons offense, possession of a firearm and attempted aggravated assault.
Three of the men indicted on Wednesday live in the same building on Arnon Street in Ramat Gan, where the alleged conspiracy took place. According to police, at some point in recent months, an unknown person got mixed up in a dispute with Mulner’s organization, and was invited for a meeting at the building on Arnon Street.
The associates of Mulner’s conspired to acquire the stolen pistol and use it against the man, after he arrived at the meeting.
According to police, the trigger man was supposed to be Bat Adeh, who lived in the building and was tasked with bringing the pistol to the building, and then using it on the man when the time came.
When the man didn’t show, police say the accused persons stashed the pistol in the fuse box and fled the building.
Police said they were able to make the arrests before the attack could occur, and that based on video evidence they were able to capture the alleged acts take place. They also reportedly filmed Mulner himself taking part in the act.
Mulner himself is no longer in the country and left around the same time that the alleged hit was planned to take place and he is wanted for questioning.
When asked if police know where in the world Mulner is, an investigative source would only say Wednesday “we know everything we need to know about his location at the moment.”
The indictment against Mulner’s organization, one of the top investigatory targets of Israeli police, also includes the testimony of 48 detectives from the LAHAV 433 serious crimes branch of the police.
The men were among 11 Mulner associates arrested in the case earlier in the month.
The indictment came at the same time police and tax authority officials arrested several associates of Mulner’s who they say were involved in extortion, money laundering, and tax evasion. The case involves the suspects’ alleged operations in the “grey market,” the Israeli term for loan sharking.