Israel’s former police representative in the U.S., Deputy Inspector Michael Bochner, who has recently returned after four years service in America, said that “only” 230 Israelis had been apprehended in the U.S. for crimes committed there.
In an interview published in the current issue of the Israeli English-language “Newsview” weekly magazine, Bochner says that this is a relatively small number in view of the some quarter million Israeli yordim in America. “The difference is that they are Israelis (as compared to larger numbers from other national or ethnic groups) and for that reason alone are more conspicuous,” he said.
Bochner said that much of the petty crime by Israelis is committed in New York, with more serious crimes occurring on the West Coast, where some 20-30 “professional criminals” forming the nucleus of the so-called “Israel Mafia” is located in Los Angeles. Around them are another some 50 former Israelis serving as contacts or agents.
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