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Tel aviv blast aimed alleged mob figure Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/7469884.htm http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/7469884.htm Posted on Thu, Dec. 11, 2003 3 killed in Tel Aviv blast aimed at alleged mob figure By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson Knight Ridder Newspapers TEL AVIV, Israel - Three people were killed and dozens more injured Thursday in Tel Aviv when a bomb exploded at a currency exchange shop in what police suspect was an attempt by Israeli mobsters to assassinate a rival kingpin. The attack marked the third time in four months that bystanders were killed in mob-related violence and heralded a second front in Israel's war on terror. Police, already overwhelmed by Palestinian suicide bombings, vowed to strike back. "What's new and worrying to us is that many innocent people are dying," Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said. "There is no question that they (mobsters) have upped the stakes." Police Chief Shlomo Aharonishky gathered senior police officers Thursday night to discuss the escalating attacks and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would do the same with his Cabinet on Sunday. The Israeli media and public have long been critical of the police stance on organized crime. Criminal rings involved in prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking are flourishing at a time when Israeli police have their hands full thwarting Palestinian militants on a daily basis. "What is this here, Chicago?" Amit Hanin, the daughter of one recent mob victim, snapped during an Israeli television interview following Thursday's attack. "The police don't do anything" to fight crime syndicates, she complained. Hanin's mother was killed in August in a Tel Aviv office building by a bomb intended for an underworld figure that exploded in an elevator. Last month, a hand grenade tossed into a used-car lot by mobsters seeking protection money from the lot owner killed an Israeli couple in the northern Israeli city of Hadera. The latest bomb exploded at 12:30 p.m. over the door of a currency exchange shop near a busy intersection in Tel Aviv. Several cars on the street were damaged and a porch on a nearby building collapsed. Two people were killed instantly in the explosion, police said. A third victim, a teenage boy, died later in the hospital of his wounds. None of the dead were connected to the apparent target, casino owner Ze'ev Rosenstein, who escaped with minor injuries, Kleiman said. At least four other attempts have been made on Rosenstein's life during the past decade, most recently in June when an explosion in Tel Aviv's port wounded him and three bodyguards. Police detained Rosenstein earlier this month on suspicion that he played a part in the killing of two criminal rivals, but he was never charged.

Israeli criminals suspected for blast Mob related bombing kills 3 Police call it criminal attack { December 11 2003 } Tel aviv blast aimed alleged mob figure Files Listed: 4

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