Columnist Jeff German: Israeli mob still has grip

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 11:03 a.m.

If you listen to his lawyer, Gabriel Ben Harosh is simply a jet-setting businessman who owns one of the biggest construction companies in Israel.

Federal agents, however, have a different opinion.

In affidavits I first told you about in April, agents described the 40-year-old Ben Harosh as a "high-ranking" member of the "Jerusalem Network," a violent Israeli-based organized crime family that has set up shop in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Late last year the Moroccan-born Ben Harosh was extradited to Los Angeles from Toronto to face a federal indictment that had been returned in April, charging him and several other reputed Israeli mob members and associates with conspiracy, extortion and money laundering.

Agents thought he would remain safely locked away as the case proceeded to trial.

But within the last month, Ben Harosh's Las Vegas lawyer, David Chesnoff, persuaded a Los Angeles federal judge to release him on a $3 million bond. Ben Harosh, according to Chesnoff, put up $1 million in cash and California property as collateral.

Today, Chesnoff says, Ben Harosh is living in Los Angeles with his family, preparing to fight the federal charges.

His release has surprised the agents who made the case against him. It's unusual for a defendant of such notoriety to be freed after the government has gone to great lengths to have him returned to the country in custody.

Chesnoff, however, insists that he has plenty of ammunition to shoot down the government's theory about his client's business dealings.

"This is a very defensible case," Chesnoff says. "We believe he'll be vindicated."

Ben Harosh, who also is known to have residences in Israel, Morocco, Spain and Mexico, is clearly the biggest catch in April's crackdown on the Israeli mob.

Some lawmen believe he ranks as high as No. 2 in the Jerusalem Network, answering only to the crime family's reputed leader, Itzhak Abergil, who recently was ordered to leave Israel amid rising mob bloodshed with a rival syndicate.

The Israeli mob is involved in traditional rackets, such as loan sharking, prostitution and illegal gambling. But it makes most of its money in the illegal drug trade, importing cocaine and the club drug Ecstasy (MDMA) from Europe into the United States.

Las Vegas, with its booming Strip nightclub scene, has been home to several Jerusalem Network Ecstasy deals in recent years. Agents once overheard a crime family member on court-approved wiretaps bragging that Las Vegas is considered "wide open" territory.

But since the Los Angeles indictment, agents, much to their delight, have witnessed a noticeable decline in the crime family's activities in Las Vegas.

"It's been real quiet," says one agent assigned to a joint task force investigating the Israeli mob here.

Asian syndicates, the agent says, are starting to move in on the Ecstasy trafficking business.

Still, task force members say, the Israeli mob remains a threat on the streets of Las Vegas.

With Ben Harosh nearby in Los Angeles, they aren't letting up on their vigilance.