Hebrew Speaking Criminals (1977)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1977.

Chaim Nachman Bialik was Israel's great national poet. He lived in the pre-state era. The Hebrew speakers around him dreamed of an age in which a Hebrew-speaking state in the land of the Hebrews would be considered "normal". Bialik died in 1934. Fourteen years before the founding of the Jewish state in 1948.

Bialik is credited with saying “We will be a normal state when we have the first Hebrew prostitute, the first Hebrew thief and the first Hebrew policeman.”

I'm showing this Golden Oldie because the faces of Hebrew-Speaking criminals are now splashed across the front pages of our local Hebrew papers. We are in the midst of an about-to-explode Hebrew-speaking Israeli Mafia gang war on our streets. And Hebrew-speaking policemen are trying to quelch it.

The story in TIME begins...

"Tel Aviv gangster Ya'acov Alperon liked his violence up close and personal. He relied on his boxer's swift, sledgehammer fists and the blade of a knife to terrorize Tel Aviv's shopkeepers, brothel owners and drug dealers into paying protection money. But in the end, what finally got Alperon was that most impersonal of assassin's weapons: the car bomb." -more.

The irony of the whole mess is that Bialik would not be proud.

Israeli Mafia

The Israeli Mafia??!

Well, we've now made it to international Mafia fan sites!!

There's MAFIA TODAY billed as "Your Source for Mafia related news from around the World". It's got "Mafia Family Charts", a "Mafia Movie Database" and the latest news.

And here's their latest update at the time of this writing:

Mob boss crony denies singing to American authorities

"An Israeli believed to be one of the key figures in the Abergil crime organization yesterday denied having either joined the FBI’s witness protection program or of testifying against an alleged Israeli kingpin.

Yoram Elal, who has been in Brazil for the past two years, told his brother on the phone from Brazil yesterday, “No witness program, no way, I have nothing to testify about.” -more

We haven't made it to the site's "Mafia Family Charts" or their "Mafia Movie Database" yet, but give it time.

* * * Somewhere, someone is now planning a movie that does not portray us as the cruel oppressors of the innocent, downtrodden, and peace-loving Palestinians.

Somewhere, someone is now planning a movie that portrays us as cruel, drug-pushing Mafiosi.

* * * Nu? So what do you think?

Extradition

The breaking news here in Israel is that the FBI wants us to extradite accused Israeli "crime bosses" to the United States. Here's the story:

Abergil to be extradited to US for slew of crimes

"Israeli reputed underworld ringleader indicted on crimes committed on American soil; According to LA Times, State Department considers him as one of world’s top 40 drug importers to US

Abergil is being accused of an array of offenses: Murder, drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, heading a crime organization and conspiring to commit crimes.

The exact details of his actions in the US only began being revealed on Tuesday. The process of his extradition to the authorities there will begin soon.

According to the indictment, Itzik Abergil was involved in the murder of Israeli drug dealer Sammy Atias in Los Angeles after the latter allegedly stole money from him during a narcotics transaction. -more