Last update - 00:00 29/04/2007
Court approves sentence issued in U.S. against mob boss Rosenstein
By Roni Zinger-Heruti and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents
A Jerusalem court on Sunday approved the sentence issued by a United States court against Israeli underworld figure Ze'ev Rosenstein. The U.S. court sentenced Rosenstein to 12 years imprisonment, two and a half years of which he already served in the Florida while awaiting extradition to Israel.
Rosenstein entered a plea bargain three months ago which enabled him to serve his sentence in Israel. In March, Rosenstein arrived in Israel and was transferred to the Ayalon prison where he was held in protective custody separate from the general inmate population. As part of the plea, Rosenstein confessed to taking part in the smuggling of around 700,000 pills of ecstasy from Europe to the United States.
Rosenstein's attorneys argued that he should only have to serve four and a half years in prison, as a third of his sentence was removed and he has shown good behavior so far during his incarceration.
Under the plea bargain, the prosecution reserves the right to indict Rosenstein at a future date for his connection in the murders of Yaakov and Nissim Alperon.