10 criminal organization members arrested
Detainees suspected of extortion, threats, money laundering and illegal gambling; Netanya crime figure Riko Shirazi among those arrested
According to the suspicions, the organization members – residents of Netanya and central Israel - were engaged in a large variety of offenses, including money laundering, illegal gambling and using "straw accounts".
The 10 individuals will be brought before the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court on Sunday for a custody hearing.
Shirazi was convicted in the past for committing violence offenses. In 2000, he was released from jail after serving a sentence for his involvement in the murder of another criminal, against the backdrop of power struggles in Netanya's crime world. Since then he had been involved in grey market loans.
In 2002, several people were arrested on suspicion of planning to assassinate him. Police sources said that in the past few years he had become one of the top crime figures in Israel.
The affair which led to the arrests began as a secret investigation and was conducted over a long period of time.
Shirazi is suspected of heading and running a criminal organization and directly or indirectly supervising it. According to the suspicions, he also served as an arbitrator in affairs involving distribution of funds in the organization and among criminals.
The organization, according to the police, operated in a systematic manner with a clear distribution of roles to separate subgroups: Money laundering, collecting funds, gambling, etc.
