Court Says Israel Can Extradite to U.S.

Court Says Israel Can Extradite to U.S.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5447095,00.html

Wednesday November 30, 2005 9:46 AM

By LAURIE COPANS

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - A suspected Israeli mob boss who is described by U.S. prosecutors
as one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers can be extradited to the United
States, Israel's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

Zeev Rosenstein is suspected of involvement in distributing more than 1 million
Ectasy pills in the United States, mostly in New York and Miami.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to approve Rosenstein's
extradition, and his lawyers said they might appeal such a decision. However, two
senior Israeli officers are already in Miami to help U.S. authorities build a case
against Rosenstein, and a prison cell has been prepared for him there, Israel Radio
said.

In April, a lower court ruled that Rosenstein could be extradited, but he appealed
the ruling. On Wednesday, a three-judge Supreme Court panel upheld the lower court
ruling.

``The United States is the country which was hurt by the evil acts which were
committed ... and how just and right it is, that it should be the United States
which judges him and sentences him (should he be convicted),'' Judge Michael Cheshin
wrote.

Israeli police, acting on an international arrest warrant, arrested Rosenstein a
year ago for allegedly smuggling drugs from Europe to the United States.

A U.S. extradition request, submitted last December, said Rosenstein was involved in
distributing more than 1 million pills of Ecstasy, court documents said.

In one shipment, Rosenstein allegedly coordinated the distribution of 700,000
Ecstasy pills that were seized in a Manhattan apartment along with $187,000 in July
2001, according to the extradition request. The drugs, which originated in Europe,
were seized after they were offered for sale to an undercover Miami-Dade County
police informant. The informant also worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration.


The investigation leading to Rosenstein's arrest spanned three years and several
countries.

Rosenstein, 51, has long been accused of being one of Israel's top mob leaders, but
aside from a brief stint in prison for armed robbery in the 1970s, he had eluded
authorities.

In December 2003, a bomb attack in Tel Aviv targeted Rosenstein - the seventh
attempt on his life - leaving him with scratches while killing three passers-by and
wounding 18 others. The attack was believed to have been ordered by rival mob
bosses, police said.

Rosenstein has been charged in the United States with conspiracy to distribute a
controlled substance and conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the United
States. The maximum penalty under American law is 20 years, or more if the drugs
sold caused death or serious injury.

Wednesday's ruling ``is good for the country and good for the cooperation between
countries against international crime,'' said Israeli prosecutor Yitzhak Bloom.