Alleged Israel Mob Boss Extradited to U.S.

Mon Mar 6, 4:57 AM ET

JERUSALEM - A suspected Israeli mob boss described by U.S. prosecutors as one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers was extradited to the United States on Monday, police said.

Zeev Rosenstein is suspected in the distribution of more than 1 million Ecstasy pills in the United States, mostly in New York and Miami.

He was handed over to U.S. marshals at Ben Gurion International Airport and taken aboard a direct El Al flight to Miami, where he will face drug charges, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

The target of numerous gangland assassination attempts, Rosenfeld was driven to the airport in an undercover police car accompanied by several motorcycles, Israeli radios reported.

Israeli police, acting on an international arrest warrant, arrested Rosenstein more than a year ago for allegedly smuggling drugs from Europe to the United States.

In one shipment, Rosenstein allegedly planned distribution of 700,000 Ecstasy pills that were seized in a Manhattan apartment along with $187,000 in July 2001, according to the U.S. extradition request.

The drugs, which originated in Europe, were seized after they were offered for sale to an undercover Miami-Dade County police informant. The informant also worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The investigation leading to Rosenstein's arrest spanned three years and several countries.

Rosenstein, 51, has long been accused of being one of Israel's top mob leaders, but aside from a five-year stint in prison for armed robbery in the 1970s, he had eluded authorities.

Source

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.