Police said Thursday evening that they had solved the murder of Caucasus crime boss Yanis Yushvayev, 41, of Or Akiva, who was shot dead last month at a gas station in Caesarea.
At the conclusion of the investigation, prosecutors filed a declaration of intent to indict the main suspect, Doron Weizman, 54, of Moshav Hazon in the Galilee. Weizman has a criminal record and has previously served prison sentences. The indictment itself is expected to be filed Friday in Haifa District Court.
Footage from the suspect’s arrival at the restaurant to the moment of the killing:
The murder of Caucasus crime boss Yanis Yushvayev
(Photo: Israel Police)
According to the investigation by the Coastal District Central Unit, Weizman sat in a restaurant, where he ate and drank while waiting for Yushvayev to arrive.
Police said the murder suspect made a major mistake by leaving fingerprints on cigarettes and a drinking glass at the restaurant, as well as inside the getaway car that picked him up after the shooting.
In footage released by police, Weizman is seen arriving at the restaurant, making sure Yushvayev is inside and then going outside to wait on chairs near the building until Yushvayev comes out.
When Weizman sees that Yushvayev is about to leave, he approaches the stairway, takes up position and shoots the Caucasus crime boss in the head. Weizman then flees the scene. Yushvayev was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
The investigation found that the gray getaway car used by the suspected gunman had been stolen in Petah Tikva two years earlier.
Weizman later hid in a storage facility in Hadera with a woman who was not involved in the case and was completely unaware of the murder. He was arrested several days later by a Yamam police counterterrorism unit that had joined detectives from the Coastal and Menashe districts in the search for him.
Police believe that several of Yushvayev’s enemies joined forces and devised a plan to kill him.
A total of four suspects were arrested during the investigation, including a 23-year-old man from Hadera who is the son of Yushvayev’s biggest rival.
Caucasus crime boss Yanis Yushvayev, 41, of Or Akiva, who was shot dead last month at a gas station in Caesarea
Investigators found that the young man, who has ties to senior criminals, had been inside the vehicle used by the killer, and his DNA was found in the car. Police, however, were unable to prove that he was directly involved in planning the murder despite investigative tactics used during his questioning.
Police said Coastal District investigators conducted both covert and overt phases of the investigation, using technological, intelligence and forensic methods.
Several suspects were arrested during the investigation, but all were released except Weizman, whom police say was the man who pulled the trigger.
With legal proceedings now beginning against the suspected gunman, Coastal District investigators say the search for those who ordered the killing will continue and that the final word in the case has yet to be written.
Yushvayev was described by police as the head of a criminal organization and had for years been a major target of the Coastal District Central Unit.
He had been arrested many times in recent years, and his name was linked to a series of serious criminal investigations that did not ultimately lead to major indictments against him.
In November last year, during a hearing on a request to extend his detention on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime, a police representative told the court that Yushvayev “headed a criminal gang involved in blood feuds.”
Two years earlier, in 2023, Yushvayev was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a wave of arson attacks in Or Akiva and Hadera in which dozens of vehicles were set on fire over the course of about a month.