Darren R. Levine (born April 3, 1960 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States) is a martial artist, an entrepreneur, and a prosecutor for the

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

's office. He is best known for helping to popularize Krav Maga, the official hand-to-hand combat system of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

Career

Levine, who graduated from Loyola Law School, has worked as a

Deputy District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

for Los Angeles County since 1991. The same year, Levine and his detectives built a case against

Gerald Mason Gerald Fiten Mason (January 31, 1934 – January 22, 2017) was an American convicted murderer and rapist. Mason's 2003 arrest and prosecution for the 1957 murders of two El Segundo, California police officers made national headlines. Criminal ...

, who had evaded arrest since 1957 for the rape of a teenage girl, the assault of three other teenagers, and the murder of two police officers. Mason was sentenced to life imprisonment, ending one of the longest unsolved cases in the United States. As of September 2007, he has a 100% conviction rate. He has been a recipient of several honors from district attorney groups and victim's rights groups.

Krav Maga

Levine is the founder of the Krav Maga Association of America and Krav Maga Worldwide. In 1981, Levine was selected as part of the first group outside of Israel to train in Krav Maga. While training in Israel, Levine was befriended by Krav Maga founder

Imi Lichtenfeld Imre "Imi" Lichtenfeld ( he, אימריך “אימי” ליכטנפלד; 26 May 1910 – 9 January 1998), also known as Imi Sde-Or ( he, אימי שדאור, label=none), was a Hungarian-born Israeli Martial arts, martial artist. He is widely r ...

. In 1982, Lichtenfeld traveled to Los Angeles to stay with Levine and continue his training. Levine is one of only two recipients of a Krav Maga Founder's Diploma awarded by Lichtenfeld before his death in 1998 (the other recipient was

Eyal Yanilov Eyal Yanilov (born 30 May 1959) is an Israeli Krav Maga instructor and currently Chief Instructor of Krav Maga Global. He was a co-founder and Chief Instructor of the International Krav Maga Federation from 1996 to 2010. Biography Eyal Yanilov ...

, who founded Krav Maga Global). At the time, Levine was the highest ranking instructor in the United States, and had training centers in West Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Philadelphia. Levine holds an 8th degree black belt in the Krav Maga. His wife, Marni Levine, was very influential in expanding Krav Maga Worldwide, particularly the Krav Maga Youth program, Km-X. She died on August 31, 2006, after a long fight against cancer. Darren Levine is the co-author, with John Whitman and Ryan Hoover, of ''Complete Krav Maga'', ''Black Belt Krav Maga'', and ''Krav Maga for Beginners''.

References

External links

Krav Maga WorldwideKrav Maga SoutheastThe Fighting Fit – The History of Krav Maga
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, Darren Living people American martial artists American martial arts writers American prosecutors Loyola Law School alumni Krav Maga practitioners 1960 births