Netivot, Israel – Following the arrest of southern mob kingpin Shalom Domrani and six of his men on Saturday night, well-known Netivot rabbi Yoram Abergil was also arrested for alleged connection to the Domrani’s case.
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Rabbi Abergil suspected of being the conduit through which Domrani tried to influence Netivot elections by threatening people working for candidate Ayal Mesika.
Abergil was in a feud with Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Ifergan, who has been nicknamed the X-ray rabbi, over support for different candidates for mayor of Netivot.
Abergil was arrested a short while before he was due to board a plane to China. His remand was extended in three days.
Officers came for Domrani at his home in Moshav Otzem, in the Lachish region.
His organization is suspected of extorting a number of people in the southern city of Netivot, police said, but gave no further details. They added that Domrani and his six men would be brought for a remand extension at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court on Sunday afternoon.
There were reports that the suspects may have tried to influence the recent mayoral election in Netivot, and that the city’s Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Ifergan, who has been nicknamed the X-ray rabbi, may have been targeted.
Domrani has been one of the Israel Police’s main targets in recent years, and his organization is one of the strongest crime families in the country.
He has spent more and more time in Morocco, where he has business interests. It is believed he did that to avoid pressure from police and from rivals who have tried to kill him.
Domrani’s lawyer Moshe Sherman told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday evening that the arrest was a sham.
“Just look at the timing, they announce it on Saturday night while the Public Security Minister [Yitzhak Aharonovitch] is speaking live on TV, all in an attempt to say to the public, look, we’re doing something.”
Sherman said “this has nothing to do with the bombings, it’s only an extortion case that Shalom had nothing to do with. I think police just screwed their investigation that they hadn’t yet finished when they made the announcement.”
Domrani’s is the latest in a series of highly publicized arrests over the past two weeks, after a car bombing in Ashkelon on October 24 killed one Domrani associate and badly wounded another. On November 2, another car bomb targeted Domrani in the city, bringing even more attention to his organization, as well as to organized crime in Israel. Police and public security officials have been catching heat from the public and the press for the recent spate of mob violence.
On Thursday, police announced the arrest of Dudu Amouyal, who is said to be among the leaders of the western Rishon Lezion crime gang, and has interests elsewhere in the central region. His remand was extended until Tuesday, and police said he faces a series of charges, including extortion and conspiracy to cause bodily harm.
On Monday, police arrested senior underworld figure Avi Ruhan along with Hanoch Atzmon on suspicion of taking part in the Yarkonim junction car bombing in July that left two dead. Ruhan was also suspected of playing a part in the midday shooting a few months earlier in Petah Tikva that killed two.
Those arrests came a day after police announced that they had arrested three members of Amir Mulner’s organization on weapons charges.
None of the crime figures taken into custody in the past two weeks is believed to be linked to the two car bombs in Ashkelon. Police say their arrests are part of a nationwide campaign to turn up the heat on such organizations.
Already at a fever pitch, public pressure was kicked up even higher on Thursday evening, when a bomb exploded in an SUV belonging to a prominent Tel Aviv prosecutor who was known for working cases against organized crime figures. No one was hurt, but it brought condemnation from the prime minister, the attorneygeneral, the justice minister, and the upper echelons of the law enforcement community.
Suspicion immediately turned on Mulner, whose organization was the subject of indictments prosecuted by the man targeted on Thursday. Mulner is known for being an explosives expert. No arrests have been made in that attack.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
voter intimidation business as usual.
Nebech Nebech on our generation, we are getting to a point where the title Rabbi is a curse.
Nothing new… Move on
It’s come to the point where the safest assumption is that anyone in the rabbinate is corrupt or criminal. Sure, there must be a few good ones, but you have to look hard to find them.
Power corrupts. And the more absolute the power granted the more absolute the corruption gets. These are the fruits we reap from sowing the Daas Torah idea
Who is this well-known Rabbi well-know to?
Rabbis & money shouldn’t mix
When will these Chilull-ey Hashem stop? Is it only a money thing? Or is it much, much deeper than that? I think its the latter? The key is truly understanding what “Derech Eretz Kadmah L’Torah” means. I hope and pray that we in the Frum world make this a priority.