Police nab ‘major’ crime boss in underworld murder case

Israel Police detained nine people Tuesday, including one person whom officers called “the head of a major crime family,” for suspected involvement in a series of underworld slayings.

The victims in so-called “Case 1131” were killed by what the Ynet news website termed the “Little Red Riding Hood” method, in which the victim was invited to a meeting with other underworld figures and then slain.

Ynet reported last week that an organized crime figure had turned state’s witness, the second such person to do so in the past month. But, Ynet said, this second person has presented the police with some difficulties, as the two witnesses have now given conflicting testimony about cases connected to this inquiry, leading to the release of several murder suspects last week.

The remains of one murder victim, well-known criminal Jordan Azoulay, were discovered in July, five years after he went missing.

Last March saw two killings related to criminal underworld figures who were cooperating with police.

In the first murder, a 30-year-old woman whose husband had turned state’s witness was shot dead in front of her three young children in Beersheba. Days later, Avner Mayo, a figure known to police who reportedly ran afoul of two major organized crime families by turning state’s witness, was killed in a car-bombing in Tel Aviv.