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Zeev Rosenstein ( he, זאב רוזנשטיין; born 1954) is an infamous
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i drug trafficker. Rosenstein was born in
Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
to immigrant parents, a
Romanian Jewish The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...
father and a
Mountain Jewish Mountain Jews or Caucasus Jews also known as Juhuro, Juvuro, Juhuri, Juwuri, Juhurim, Kavkazi Jews or Gorsky Jews ( he, יהודי קווקז ''Yehudey Kavkaz'' or ''Yehudey he-Harim''; russian: Горские евреи, translit=Gorskie Yevrei ...
mother. He never completed high school, and instead worked in an electronics store on
Allenby Street Allenby Street ( he, רחוב אלנבי ''Rehov Alenbi'') is a major street in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was named in honor of Field Marshal Viscount Allenby. Allenby Street stretches from the Mediterranean Sea in the northwest to HaAliya Street in ...
in Tel Aviv until beginning his mandatory service in 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 ...
. Rosenstein served in
Camp Rabin HaKirya, or The Kirya ( he, הַקִּרְיָה, ''lit.'' The Campus), is an area in central Tel Aviv, consisting of an urban military base north of Kaplan Street, and a civilian area south of it. HaKirya contains the Tel Aviv District's govern ...
, but left the army before completing his full term of service. Rosenstein began his criminal career in his youth, starting with small break-ins. With the exception of a
robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
conviction In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which is consid ...
in the 1970s, police had never managed to gather sufficient evidence to
indict An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...
Rosenstein. On 11 December 2003, a bomb aimed at Rosenstein killed three people and injured 18 others in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
. The bombing, which occurred during the peak of the
Second Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...
, led to a media outcry against the Israeli mob families, with newspapers comparing them with the Intifada's
Palestinian terror Palestinian political violence refers to acts of political violence, violence perpetrated for political ends in relation to the State of Palestine or in connection with Palestinian nationalism. Common political objectives include self-determinat ...
ists in terms of threat to the Israeli state.
Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. S ...
called an emergency cabinet meeting and the government announced an extra 500 million shekels in the fight against organized crime. The bombing was the seventh attempt on the life of Rosenstein, who became known as the "wolf with seven lives", and was said to have been carried out by the Abergil Crime Family, which Rosenstein had been feuding with for several years. In November 2004, after 700,000 ecstasy tablets were seized in a
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
apartment, he was charged with distributing ecstasy in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in a joint effort of
U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
and
Israeli Ministry of Justice The Justice Ministry ( he, מִשְׂרָד הַמִשְׁפָּטִים, ''Misrad HaMishpatim''; ar, وزارة العدل) is the Israeli government ministry that oversees the Israeli judicial system. Since 13 June 2021, Israel's Minister of Ju ...
. After exhausting his legal options in Israel, a precedent-setting decision by the
Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court (, ''Beit HaMishpat HaElyon''; ar, المحكمة العليا) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme C ...
,
extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...
Rosenstein to the U.S. on 6 March 2006, making him one of very few Israelis to ever be extradited for prosecution in another country, especially the United States. Rosenstein pleaded not guilty in U.S. court to the distribution of ecstasy and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In accordance with the extradition treaty between Israel and the U.S., he was returned to Israel to serve his U.S.-imposed sentence in an Israeli prison. As part of his plea agreement in the U.S., he had confessed to having hired assassins to kill rival mafia leaders in Israel, which he had previously denied. As a result, upon his return to Israel he was charged with conspiracy to murder. He reached a plea bargain, and was sentenced to an additional five years in prison.http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/206/382.html


References


External links


USDOJ Press Release announcing his arrest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenstein, Zeev 1954 births Living people Israeli people of Mountain Jewish descent Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent People from Jaffa Israeli drug traffickers Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government