New Destination for Alleged Israeli Mobsters on the Run: Morocco
By Yaniv Kubovich
Ha'aretz, September 14, 2012
A number of Israeli organized
crime figures have fled to Morocco in recent years, while others
have explored moving their business ventures there.
One evening in July, just a few minutes before evening
prayer began at the Beit El synagogue in Casablanca, Morocco,
worshipers were surprised to see three unfamiliar men enter the
building. One of the visitors approached a well-known figure in
the local Jewish community and introduced himself as a policeman
and member of the Moroccan intelligence force. The officer's two
colleagues waited at the synagogue entrance.
The policeman politely and quietly attempted to extract
information about several individuals from Israel who had
recently settled in Morocco. A similar scene unfolded among
worshipers at a synagogue in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
At the top of the Moroccan police officers' list of names
were Gabi Ben-Harush, who in the past was considered a Jerusalem
organized crime boss, and Shalom Domrani, one of the Israel
Police's most wanted suspects in recent years.
Information transmitted by Israel through the international
police organization Interpol to Moroccan authorities indicated
that the two had moved to Morocco. And the information from
Israel wasn't confined just to those two, but included a number
of other Israeli organized crime figures.
"They asked in general about these people," said one of the
Moroccan Jewish community leaders who spoke with the police. "It
didn't seem that they were trying to get too deeply into it and
I also didn't have anything to tell them.
"I know some of [the Israelis] and have even seen them, but I
have no interest in getting involved in this matter," the man
said, adding that since the police approached him, he has not
seen the alleged mobsters.
In fact, Ben-Harush lives on one of Casablanca's main streets
on the second floor of a seemingly ordinary building. About 10
years ago, after a high-profile money-laundering case surfaced
involving the Trade Bank in Tel Aviv, and in which he was
implicated, Ben-Harush left Israel for the last time. He fled
initially to the United States at a time when he was also
heavily implicated in the gray-market loan trade, in which money
is lent at high interest rates.
One of his major customers was Ofer Maximov, who lost
millions in gambling, allegedly using funds his sister, Etti
Alon, had stolen from the Trade Bank. When the case was
uncovered, police in Israel began to suspect that a major
portion of the NIS 270 million that had been stolen from the
bank had ended up in the hands of Ben-Harush and his organized
crime colleagues, the Abergil brothers. At that point, however,
Ben-Harush had already moved to California.
He was ultimately apprehended by U.S. authorities, but then
turned state's witness against Hai Vaknin, who had been
laundering money in the United States for the Abergils. Vaknin
was sentenced to 10 years in prison while Ben-Harush was simply
let go.
About a year ago, when brothers Yitzhak and Meir Abergil were
extradited from Israel to the United States, American
authorities again enlisted Ben-Harush's help. This time,
however, he was less than willing to lend assistance and was
expelled from the United States. Apparently knowing that he
would be arrested on his arrival in Israel over allegations
related to the Trade Bank case, Ben-Harush, who holds a Moroccan
passport, settled in Casablanca, where he has since become
religiously observant.
Newly-observant hood
Although not always easily visible when he's cruising the
town in the black Mercedes jeep he imported from the United
States, Ben-Harush now has a beard and wears a skullcap. "Now
he's working for God," said a friend who spent time with him
recently in Morocco. "He's not involved in business in Morocco."
The friend added that Ben-Harush still derives an income from
his businesses in Israel, an apparent reference to real estate
interests in Jerusalem. "He's always receiving guests from
Israel and is not afraid of anyone," the friend said.
In the matter of Shalom Domrani, his associates say in that
recent months he, too, found a quiet refuge in Morocco,
purportedly on the recommendation of rabbis with whom the crime
figure is in contact. Acquaintances of Domrani have said that
the way for his arrival was paved through friends in Israel from
the World Federation of Moroccan Jewry. "He came to do business
there because in Israel the police have not been leaving him
alone and he needs to support his family," said an associate.
Last week, however, Domrani was said to have returned to Israel
to spend the High Holy Days here. His lawyers, Liya Felus and
Moshe Sherman, declined to comment on his presence in Morocco.
Other reputed organized crime figures have also put out
feelers recently about moving their businesses to Morocco. The
range of potential business ventures is wide, and at least
publicly they are saying it includes real estate, agriculture
and the import-export business. In Domrani's case, it is said
that he has a vegetable distribution business in Israel and that
since arriving in Morocco, he is devoting his primary attention
to the produce.
"The ability to do big business there with little money is
huge," said an Israeli businessman in Morocco. "If those people
can bring in vegetables or sell their produce without a
middleman from the Israeli market, then you're talking big
money."
In the past, a senior Israeli police official said, crime
figures sought refuge in South Africa, Mexico or Turkey. "Now
Morocco is the new destination of the criminals," he said,
knowing that it would be difficult for Israeli law enforcement
officials to get their hands on them since there is no
extradition treaty with Morocco. The criminals who have moved
there continue to maintain their business interests in Israel,
he added.
And it is not only criminals from Israel who are attracted to
Morocco. Organized crime figures from other countries have also
set up shop there, bringing with them such plagues as the drug
and counterfeit merchandise trade and trafficking in stolen
cars. Interpol says the South American drug cartels are even
using Morocco as a transit point into Europe for cocaine. And
Israelis, too, have gotten involved in trading in counterfeit
goods in Morocco, an Israeli with business interests in the
North African country said.
Shalom Domrani in Israel in
February 2011 |
