The Genesis of Organized Crime in Israel

This book begins with an analysis of the period immediately after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. In the first chapter, I describe the socio-economic and political context in which organized crime emerged and the denial by state officials of its existence. This denial was the result of various governmental committees that were looking for evidence of the Italian American model of a mafia, instead of considering the uniquely Israeli context in which the first criminal groups were operating. The case of Havurat Hakerem, the first example of Israeli organized crime, is examined in this chapter. I also discuss three cultural phenomena connected to the growing power of organized crime: its support and promotion of Mizrakhi music, the popularity of criminal borerut (an alternative arbitration system), and the link between organized crime and the Jewish Orthodox religion.