Car bombing in southern Israel leaves top mob official dead
The incident comes as a number of suspected gangland hits have taken place throughout Israel.
By ELIYAHU KAMISHERUpdated: JUNE 27, 2017 23:46Scene of the crime in Ashkelon where a mob official was killed in a car bombing(photo credit: COURTESY ISRAEL POLICE)
A suspected assassination in Ashkelon left a well-known criminal figure dead on early Tuesday morning as his car exploded.Police responded to the incident at around 3:20 a.m. and found the car with a man inside engulfed in flames on South Africa Street in the coastal city. A gag order was placed on all details of the investigation early Tuesday morning. Hebrew media reported that the victim was a senior member of a crime organization in southern Israel.Channel 2 reported that the police warned the victim that he was the target of an assassination attempt as part conflict between the victim and the family of criminal organization.According to the report, the wife of the mob boss complained that the victim was walking around the house and threatening her.According to Walla News, the police are investigating a video sent to the victim a few months ago, in which a man fires several shots at a picture of the victim.Magen David Adom paramedic Ariel Plaut said, “When we arrived at the place, we saw a burning vehicle and could not approach.After the firefighters’ actions, we saw a man with severe burns in the driver’s seat, he had no signs of life and we pronounced his death at the scene.”Tuesday’s incident comes as a number of suspected gangland hits have taken place throughout Israel. Two weeks ago in Rishon Lezion, Roman Aton, 43, died when he was shot more than a dozen times. Aton was reportedly under police protection at the time.Meanwhile in May, police reopened a murder investigation into the death of attorney Yoram Hachman, nine years after the lawyer was killed in a suspected mob assassination.Well-known Netanya mob boss Asi Abutbul, who is already serving a 17-year sentence for a series of other charges, is suspected of ordering the killing.