Israel’s Mobs on Verge of War?

Ya'akov Alperon“We will never forgive,” said one of Ya’akov Alperon’s sons at the graveside. “We will find the man who did this. I’ll send this man to God. He won’t have a grave because I’ll cut off his arms, his head and his legs.”

A nephew told a radio station Tuesday that Alperon’s murderer would be punished. “If he’s not punished from above, he will be punished by other means,” said Ronen Salameh. “We’ll find out who did it. It’s only a matter of time.” .”

Fatal Bomb on Tel Aviv Street

Ya’akov Alperon, 54, was killed just before noon Monday when a bomb destroyed his car on a busy street in Tel Aviv. Three bystanders were injured in the explosion. Alperon was driving from a Tel Aviv court where his son Dror had just been indicted on extortion charges.

Alperon, who served multiple prison terms and was arrested several times for assault, blackmail and intimidation, had many enemies. Among them were convicted drug dealer and mobster Ze’ev Rosenstein, mobster Amir Mulner and the powerful Abergil and Abutbul crime families, with whom Alperon had a dispute over the lucrative bottle recycling racket in Israel. Alperon had already survived several attempts on his life, including a 2001 grenade attack and a 2003 car bombing.David Tzur (Photo credit: www.haaretz.com)

“The Alperon family members will find out where (the bomb) came from, and then they’ll respond,” former Tel Aviv police chief David Tzur told the Ynet news site.

Lahav 443, Israel’s answer to the FBI, has been following leads with the Tel Aviv police to prevent a cycle of revenge. “We’re operating on the intelligence level and the operational level to stop any repercussions from this incident,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Bloomberg News. “He was the top of the top in the criminal world and we’re taking it very seriously.”

-- Beth Kampschror