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L.A. Judge OKs Transfer of Israeli Mob Boss to Israel
L.A. Judge OKs Transfer of Israeli Mob Boss to Israel
Members of the crime leader’s ecstasy distribution ring killed former Sherman Oaks resident Sami Atias for stealing a drug shipment
By City News Service
A reputed Israeli crime boss who helped run a large-scale Ecstasy distribution ring and whose members killed a Sherman Oaks man for stealing a drug shipment was granted extradition Monday and will serve the remainder of his prison sentence in his home country.
Itzhak Abergil, 45, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles last year to his role in the racketeering enterprise and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors raised no objection to Abergil’s request to serve the rest of his time in an Israeli penitentiary.
“They’re happy to unburden themselves of one more defendant,” defense attorney Mark Werksman said outside court.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Suzanne H. Segal signed papers authorizing Abergil’s transfer to Israel after officials of that country approved of the extradition.
Werksman said it could take up to three weeks for Abergil’s return. He has been housed at the medium security federal prison at Lompoc.
In a 77-page, 32-count indictment, prosecutors charged that Abergil, his brother, and their associates ran one of the largest rings importing Ecstasy into the United States, working with two other drug syndicates, the Jerusalem Network and one in the San Fernando Valley.
Abergil also was charged with being part of the conspiracy to murder Sami Atias of Sherman Oaks. In his guilty plea, Abergil admitted that Atias was gunned down for stealing a large drug shipment from the gang.
Court documents list the supposed underworld nicknames of Abergil, who was also apparently known as “The Friend,” “The Big Friend” and “The Man from the South.”
Abergil’s brother, Meir, was convicted of extortion for making threats against people in the United States and Israel in an effort to collect $1 million. In August 2011, Meir Abergil was sentenced to three years in federal prison, including time served previously in Israel, and was subsequently returned to Israel.
