Лев Гунин - ГУЛаг Палестины

from where it is exported to Milano and used to make jewelry which then legitimately returns to 47th Street. "The funniest thing in this business," say the

investigators, "is that the jewelry comes here under favored import conditions because the gold seemingly originates from Colombia and that state possesses

favored terms of trade with tile US." There are also other methods. Drug money is deposited in the accounts of diamond merchants as though it were their

profits and is later transferred to Colonibia.

Sophisticated diamond deals are made between various parties with the aiin of "releasing" large amounts of money on the side. Sums of less than $10,000 are

deposited in various bank accounts, converted into travelers' checks and then transported to their final destination.

But in spite of the ingenuity, undoubtedly one of the most popular and

successful ways to launder money is through Jewish religious institutions, such as yeshivas and synagogues. Since the majority of the 47th Street gold and

diamond merchants are religious Jews the process is made easier. The Jewish religious institutions badly need funds. The Colombian drug traders can be

generous. They transfer their drug money as donations, which go to the Jewish religious institutions one way and come out by the other way back to the

donors. On the way, the synagogue or yeshiva obtains a respectable percentage for its pious uses. Everyone is happy, the drug barons who launder their

money quickly and efficiently and the synagogue or yeshiva which makes easy money.

The first laundering operation in which a Jewish institute in New York was involved was exposed in 1984. A ring which laundered about $23 million while

making a profit of $2 million operated at the oldest yeshiva in the city, Tifereth Yerushalayim, located in Manhattan. The laundering was performed for the

Kali cartel. The contact man was David Va'anunu, mentioned in the context of the Prism affair, who worked with the cartel's major launderer, Jose Satro.

The yeshiva's representative was a very pious Hassid, Mendel Goldenberger, who daily received cash from Va'anunu and deposited the money in the

yeshiva's accounts.

Goldenberger, who claimed not to have known the source of the money, was convicted of forging bank documents and given five years' suspended

imprisonment. Va'anunu was convicted, sentenced to eight years' imprisonment but released much earlier after he became an informer for the DEA. Later, as

was stated, he ran into trouble again and fled the US. Nine persons were convicted in that affair, including Rabbi Israel Eidelman, Vice President of the

yeshiva and some of its dignitaries. Tiferet Yer-ushalayim faced financial difficulties at that time. It leaders attempted to maintain the students by paying them

from the laundered drug profits.

The phenomenon, incidentally, is very common among New York Jews. Many Jewish congregations are dying because their members are leaving the city or

their former neighborhoods. Thus, the congregations are losing their sources of income and facing large debts. In that situation the road is short for the

synagogue or yeshiva to launder drug money as a pious duty, since it means easy money and lots of it. "Laundering money is extremely beneficial to the

yeshivas and other Jewish religious institutions," said a source close to the investigation. "They are in a difficult situation and therefore they turn a blind eye to

the drug problem. They don't ask what the source of the money is as long as it keeps coming in."

The attitude of the pious Jewish community, according to the same source, is: "Drugs are sold anyway. As long as it does not harm our own community and

only does good for it, it doesn't matter if we benefit from drug trade." The role of the Israelis is, in many cases, to make the connection between the religious

Jewish communities of New York and the Colombians.

The Colombians are more satisfied with this method of laundering than with any other because, for political reasons, it is a relatively secure way of which it

could be initially assumed that it was not going to be forcibly investigated by the US authorities. Only in July 1990 the situation began to change.

The Federal authorities renewed an investigation of some Williamsburg Hassids, owners of jewelry shops on 47th Street, who were suspected of laundering

drug money. The investigation focused on the brothers Naftali, Naiklosh and Yitzhak Slilesinger, and on Ya'akov Shlesinger (Naftali's son) and Milon

Jakloby, his nephew. The investigators found evidence of close connections between the Slilesingers and the Andonian brothers, members of a Colombian

family accused of laundering, almost one billion dollars. The Shlesingers were suspected of laundering money by means of a subsidiary called Bali, through

checks drawn from the account of "Camp Yereim" ["Camp of the Pious]" a Hassidic summer camp in the Catskills.

Camp Yereim denies any connection with these checks. On April 7 of this year, Rabbi Abraham Lau, a prominent Hassid from "Magen Abraham" synagogue

in Los Angeles was convicted of conspiring to launder drug money. Lau is married to the niece of the Satmar Rebbe, Moshe Teitlebaumi, who wields

enormous political influence in New York State.

Unfortunately, Lau told an undercover FBI agent about a "sacred network" of Satmar Hassids in which other Orthodox Jews had also participated. The

"sacred network", whose membership was strictly limited to pious Jews, operated in the 47th Street area in New York and was capable of laundering up to

$5 million weekly, thanks to its widespread contacts with Jewish charitable institutions.

Unfortunately, law enforcement agents in New York do not believe that the "sacred network" and the many other Jewish laundering rings have any sanctity.

In the past year the Federal activity concerning Israelis and Jews on 47th Street has greatly increased. The investigators now employ the services of many

Hebrew translators since the rings, even if composed of native American Jews, employ only "the sacred language" for their operations.

Aharon Sharir is, undoubtedly, the major Israeli launderer. He was born in Iraq about 45 years ago, immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of one

year, graduated from an Israeli high school, served with distinction in the army and became an expert in fixing delicate mechanical instruments used to mend

gold jewelry. In 1979, Sharir came to New York on a tourist visa with $6,000 in his pocket. He went into the gold business, established a small plant for

manufacturing gold jewelry and did well. Then, through another Israeli diamond trader, he discovered the laundering business. Sharir reached a laundering

activity of about $160,000 per day, six days per week (laundering is not done on the Sabbath), but in 1985 his wings were clipped when he was accused of

having swindled a New York bank to the tune of $3 million. He quickly returned the money and was sentenced to a fine and a suspended prison sentence.

In 1988 Sharir's laundering activities reached amazing heights. His gold shop on 47tll Street became one of the greatest laundering centers in the entire US.

"Three times a week," Sharir told the court at one of the many trials in which he is now testifying, "we received the cash. It used to arrive in canvas sacks, in

cardboard boxes or in suitcases. Sometimes there were a million dollars in one shipment."

Roy Lopez, representing the Colombian cartels, would arrive from Miami equipped with a document sent from Colombia which contained detailed coded

instructions about where to send the money. "Even with automatic money-counting machines it was difficult to count the money," Sharir testified. "It arrived in

bills of 5, 10 and 20 dollars. The bills, most of which had been used to sniff cocaine, had a strong odor of coke. A real stink. My employees could not stand

it. Every 2-3 hours they had to take a break, go out for some fresh air, so as not to get ill."

Sharir's role was to see to it that the money would be transported out of the US and arrive in the bank accounts of the Colombian cartels in Panama and in

Colombia. For that purpose he deposited money into his bank accounts, as though it was his profits from the shop, purchased assets for the use of the drug

cartels, bought and sold gold at inflated prices from merchants who were part of the conspiracy and concealed money through various manipulations.

Finally, all the money was turned into checks drawn on the accounts of Jewish religious institutions. Sharir received from the Colombians 6 percent of the

turnover for his labors. Within a short period of time he moved with his family to a luxurious house in Woodmere, on Long Island. He purchased a luxury

Jaguar car, showered his wife Miryam with expensive jewels and donated lavishly to Jewish charities.

The troubles began in late 1988. In December his shop was raided by American customs and internal revenue agents, after they received notice from his

banks concerning the volume of his deposits. They brought dogs to sniff out drugs, carried out a meticulous search of the offices and took away cars fall of

documents. Sharir did no lose his cool. While the agents were milling around his offices, he managed to conceal $600,000 which were in his bank account at

the time and to transfer the money to a safe place. Simultaneously, Sharir fell out with his Colombian operators who claimed that he stole $26 million of their

drug money. Sharir, who denied the accusation, hired an Israeli professional investigator, Lihu Ichilov, to solve the mystery. Ichilov soon became Sharir's

partner. He flew to Panama, established two dummy corporations there, opened bank accounts and improved the laundering routes.

Following the Federal agents' raid on his offices Sharir did not give up.Within two weeks he opened two other offices on 47th Street and resumed work.

When asked by one of his lawyers how he had expected to escape the attentions of the law, Sharir replied: "I changed my system and believed that now, with

God's help, I would never be caught." Sharir's new system included Rabbi Yosef Crozet whom we discussed earlier. Crozer's big mouth brought Sharir

down, and he was arrested in March 1990. Crozer also led to Sharir confessing to having laundered $200 million. His wife Miryam was arrested together

with him. Sharir, under the pressure of the interrogation, agreed to cooperate in exchange for his wife's release and the cancellation of the charges against her.

The prosecution agreed.

It was an extremely good deal as far as the prosecution was concerned. For three months Sharir fed the Federal investigators with most valuable information

concerning the Jewish laundering industry. The information included names, methods of operation, codes, and bank accounts. Sharir led them to the exposure

of what is termed the new "cocaine triangle".

His information led to the incrimination of more than 35 Jewish launderers, the capture of $10 million and the breakup of numerous Jewish laundering rings.

Among others, Sharir incriminated the biggest laundering shark in the history of the US, Stephan Scorkia. The information given by Sharir, who testified at his

trial, directly led to his conviction. Scorkia was charged with laundering $300 million, and was sentenced to 660 years' imprisonment.

Sharir is now enrolled in the US witness protection program. He lives under an assumed identity, has been released on bail, travels under heavy security