The Ashkenazum was an

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

group active in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the first half of the 20th century. Ashkenazum was founded by Simon Rubinstein as a splinter group from the larger

Zwi Migdal Zwi Migdal ( yi, צבי מגדל, Polish: Cwi Migdał) was an organized-crime group by Polish Jewish individuals, founded in Poland and based mainly in Argentina, that trafficked in Jewish women from Central Europe for sexual slavery and forced ...

, an organized crime group that stretched across five continents and specialized in the sex trafficking of

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

girls. Simon Rubinstein arrived in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1900 from

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, and there he quickly acquired control of a condom factory. He was a notorious silk smuggler and became affiliated with the Zwi Migdal. At the height of his operation, he had 700 agents in Argentina trafficking women for him. Like the larger Zwi Migdal, the Ashkenazum also had its own cemetery outside of Buenos Aires.Kupferboim, Rona. “Argentine Jewry's Dark Secret.” Ynet News, Jewish World, 25 May 2007.
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References

{{Organized crime groups in America Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Argentina Organized crime groups in Argentina Jewish organisations based in Argentina Jews and Judaism in Buenos Aires Prostitution in Argentina Jewish Argentine history Sex trafficking

See also

References