After a lengthy undercover investigation that lasted over a year in the central unit in the Tel Aviv District and beyond an open investigation in recent weeks, a branched structure of the gray market in the Gush Dan area and the center was exposed, which was run by a family crime organization led by Shmuel Kahlon, 64, and his sons Avi and Noam, residents of Holon.
During the undercover investigation, a hierarchical structure of the criminal organization was revealed which includes a collection system, a financial system based on change business and an executive team of armed men who terrorized and used violence on debtors who had difficulty repaying the loans.
With the transition to an open investigation, the entire skeleton of the crime organization was arrested for investigation, 15 suspects for a variety of offenses including the Law on Combating Criminal Organizations, extortion by threats, causing an explosion with explosives, arson, money laundering, as well as tax offenses and other economic offenses.
According to the suspicion, the main suspects – the father and his two sons, managed and operated a pirate loan bank in the gray market, which granted loans to citizens at exorbitant interest rates. During the investigation, the investigative teams of the Tel Aviv District Police came to more than 200 citizens and family members of debtors, who took out loans and were required to pay huge sums to cover the loans. According to the suspicion, borrowers who did not meet the loan repayments of hundreds of percent per year, found themselves in a mask of violence and severe threats towards them and their family members, which became a means of pressure and a source of extortion of huge sums.
During the investigation, the Himar investigators revealed the methods of collection and violence allegedly used by the organization’s members in dozens of incidents, including shooting at houses, throwing stun grenades and assault. In one case, a 74-year-old grandfather whose grandson had difficulty repaying a loan was summoned to a meeting at the family’s offices in Holon. During the meeting, the grandfather was blackmailed by the suspects when two rottweiler dogs were kept in the room.
In another case, a sister of a debtor, who owns a kindergarten who was extorted huge sums of money, was summoned after a stun grenade was thrown in the evening at the kindergarten she owned.
During the investigation, the clear hierarchical structure of the criminal organization was revealed, which included a senior level, an intermediate level, field levels, as well as a support system for members of the organization who were involved in crimes, including legal aid and the transfer of “canteen” money to those serving prison terms.
With the transition to the open investigation, dozens of police detectives raided the houses of the suspects and the main “office” of the crime organization on Arba HaHashet Street in Holon, where they seized, among other things, batons, shrapnel, masks and dogs.
During the investigation, six change businesses were mapped, which were allegedly used as a conduit for the organization’s money laundering in the amounts of checks worth millions of shekels, and 10 vehicles and motorcycles were also seized for confiscation.
According to the investigated suspicion, the amount of money laundering is 15-25 million shekels and the amount of tax evasion is 10 million shekels.
With the completion of the investigation conducted in cooperation with the Tax Authority, and the Tel Aviv Criminal and Civil District Attorney’s Office, a prosecutor’s statement was submitted yesterday in the case of 13 suspects regarding the intention to submit indictments and requests for detention against them until the end of the proceedings.