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Last update - 12:11 02/09/2008
Israeli informer sparked U.S. probe of alleged mob boss Abergil
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Itzik Abergil, Meir Abergil 

The 2003 testimony of Assi Vaknin, formerly one of the owners of the Roberto modeling agency, to agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seemingly connects the Abergil crime family to alleged Ecstasy drug dealing in Los Angeles.

Vaknin, who left the U.S. after being suspected of various crimes, described the balance of forces between the Israeli crime families and the long history of murders between the organizations. He also claimed that senior Israel Police officials leaked information to the criminal organizations on investigations conducted against them in the U.S. "Yitzhak Abergil is responsible for the wave of violent confrontations between the crime families in Israel," Vaknin asserted in his testimony.

The DEA heard Vaknin's testimony on July 11, 2003 over the telephone after he had been deported to Israel. The conversation between Vaknin and three DEA agents was transcribed in a document revealed in the U.S. trial of Gabi Ben Harosh and Hai Vaknin, the so-called heads of the Jerusalem gang. Hai Vaknin, considered the senior member of the Abergil crime family in the U.S., is Assi's brother. Assi Vaknin told investigators that there was a warrant against him for violating the conditions of his bail in Los Angeles, and he is working through his lawyer to deal with the matter. Hai Vaknin and Ben Harosh in the end signed plea bargains. Hai Vaknin will serve 10 years in prison in the U.S. and pay a $700,000 fine. Ben Harosh served four months in jail and paid a $40,000 fine.
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Vaknin said he decided to testify as part of his efforts to rehabilitate himself, marry and start a family. Vaknin was interested in determining, through his connections with the DEA, what problems he would face in the future, and he "was not interested in surprises."

In the months preceding his testimony, the Israel Police raided Vaknin's house a number of times. They were looking for weapons, drugs and evidence of money laundering. They also demanded information on the conflict between Ze'ev Rosenstein and Yitzhak Abergil, after he was visited at home by a number of people involved in the dispute between the two crime families.

Vaknin's detailed testimony takes up five pages. In it he tells of a battle being waged in Israel at the time between the three main crime families: Rosenstein, Abergil and Abutbul. The battle was over money and power, and focused in particular on casinos and other ways to make large profits.

Vaknin said Rosenstein and Abergil ran casinos in Prague and Armenia. In the end, it all came back to Israel, he told investigators, referring to the power struggles. The three groups fought each other just like the Italian crime families in New York, said Vaknin.

He told a story of Yitzhak Abergil, the central figure in his crime organization, who spent three months in Los Angeles. Vaknin said he thought the Israelis had taken control of L.A.'s Ecstasy market, and the battle between the three crime organizations might reach a full confrontation in the near future.

Vaknin also provided his investigators with information on the fraud at the Trade Bank, in which millions of dollars were laundered through U.S. bank accounts. He claimed that contractor Sasson Barashi was connected to the affair, and said Barashi was living in Los Angeles or Las Vegas. Barashi was convicted in Israel for his role in the Trade Bank affair and sentenced to 14 months in prison. He also appears as a defendant in the indictment issued a month ago in the U.S. against the Abergil brothers.

During his testimony, Vaknin described the chain of murders and attempted assassinations among the three crime families at the time, and accuses the Abergils' organization of responsibility for the wave of violence. The series of murders started with the murder of Felix Abutbul in Prague four months before Vaknin's testimony. Abergil attempted to take over, he explained.

Later Vaknin mentioned the murder of Micha Aslan, who was shot in Eilat in June 2003 by an unknown assassin. Aslan was considered one of the heads of the Jerusalem gang, and was involved in laundering the funds from the Trade Bank, an affair that is now also attributed to the Abergil family. Vaknin claimed Aslan was murdered when he attempted to mediate in the dispute between the Abergil and Rosenstein families. He also noted that a professional assassin from Russia was arrested for the Aslan murder.

Vaknin told the Americans that he had no faith whatsoever in the Israel Police, claiming that senior police officers regularly leaked sensitive information to the criminal organizations they were connected to.

The DEA agents claimed Vaknin was paranoid at the time. He warned them that they should not have any faith in the Israel Police, and that the police were eavesdropping on all telephone calls in Israel. Vaknin even named one police officer connected to organized crime, and claimed his brother, who was affiliated with one of the crime families, received sensitive information from the officer.

Vaknin also said that the Israel Police representative in Washington at the time, Simon Perry, was a good person but was forced to pass on all the information he received from American investigators to his colleagues in the Israel Police - and Vaknin hinted that the information passed on from Washington reached the hands of the crime families is Israel.

Last week Vaknin was interviewed by Channel 2 and claimed Ben Harosh was the one who informed on Abergil. As to his brother, he said Hai would never turn state's evidence.

Related articles:
  • Reputed mob boss Abergil won't be charged over Bat Yam shooting
  • Police: Evidence links crime boss Abergil to woman's beach murder
  • Hard look / Root out the fruit in order to poison organized crime
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