Posted on 11/01/2025 8:50:26 AM PDT by Angelino97
The FBI’s growing list of domestic threats has mutated in recent years to include every conceivable affiliation of Americans across the political spectrum: right-wing violent extremists, left-wing violent extremists, black identity extremists, and animal rights extremists. The current administration has even added nihilistic violent extremists—those who “believe in nothing”—to the laundry list. The Biden administration, for its part, aided in this exercise by vastly overstating the threat posed by Trump-aligned conservatives in the wake of January 6th.
But neither Democratic nor Republican administrations have ever grandstanded about another significant threat group that the FBI secretly monitors on U.S. soil: Israeli Based Organized Crime Syndicates, or “IBOCS”.
Leaked FBI records and court filings detail widespread money laundering, taxpayer theft, and drug smuggling enterprises operated in the U.S. by Israeli citizens connected or belonging to Israeli crime groups. Despite the trickle of prosecutions over the past 25 years, the FBI has never publicly disclosed the fact that it has designated resources allocated to investigating these criminal organizations.
A 2020 FBI intelligence report from the “Blue Leaks” hack conducted by the hacker group Anonymous and archived by the nonprofit DDoSecrets describes IBOCS operating in Nevada and Florida embezzling money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
IBOCS “have defrauded US Government relief programs and manipulated tax documents since at least 2015 to reduce tax liability and conceal money laundering activities, as well as have access to companies and agents, which are necessary to process PPP loan applications,” the report found.
The report also lists instances of IBOCS committing both disaster relief and tax fraud, and notes that IBOCS are involved in money laundering, extortion, illegal gambling, fraud, and narcotics trafficking in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, according to FBI investigations.
As far back as 2009, leaked State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks detail one of the reasons why criminals belonging to or associated with Israeli crime families and syndicates have been able to operate inside America with ease: The State Department is not authorized to block their visas.
The cables warn of the Israeli mafia taking on a growing role in the American trade of ecstasy, and of the loophole which prevents U.S. embassies from automatically denying Israeli crime figures travel documents.
While the State Department has formalized powers in its foreign affairs manual to restrict visas for Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, the Italian mafia, the Hells Angels biker gangs, Outlaws, Bandidos, Mongols and two dozen Latin American gangs including Tren de Aragua, Israeli organized crime groups remain absent more than a decade after the State Department cable first warned of the Israeli mafia loophole.
“Given the volume of travel and trade between the United States and Israel, it is not surprising that Israeli OC [organized crime] has also gained a foothold in America,” one cable reads. “The consular section has revoked several visas for those who have been convicted of crimes in Israel, but many OC figures have no prior criminal convictions and carry no visa ineligibilities. As a result, many hold valid nonimmigrant visas to the United States and have traveled freely or attempted to travel for a variety of purposes.”
A former FBI special agent who worked on investigations involving IBOCS told The American Conservative, “There is real Israeli organized crime in this country, and there is a formalized FBI program for investigating these groups,” adding that “they look for the success of other criminals and then try to build a better model on those.”
He also said, “Once you move beyond that and your target becomes more sophisticated, they are presumed to be intelligence operatives and operatives of the Israeli government and then that gets moved highside in the national security division.”
A sentencing letter for an international narcotics smuggling case prosecuted in the Southern District of New York hints at this reality, referencing the IBOCS designation in connection to an international ecstasy smuggling conspiracy: “The defendant engaged in internationally laundering narcotics proceeds as part of an Israel-based organized crime syndicate. In addition to his demonstrated ability to launder drug money across borders, he also possessed ample global connections in the narcotics trade and access to narcotics themselves.” A second former FBI agent pointed to the recent west coast indictment of “a suspected high-level member of an Israeli transnational organized crime group” running an illegal poker game in Hollywood.
“It’s no secret that politics inevitably shapes enforcement priorities,” the agent said, explaining why the bureau has never highlighted its IBOCS enforcement. “This has not been a popular thing to wave around in the press, which is why you see a steady stream of prosecutions related to Israeli crime figures without the same discussion of organization that you might have with cartels or gangs.”
So politically unpopular is criticism of illegal activities by Israelis that repeated espionage efforts have been swept under the rug, or at the very least, restricted from public view.
In 2019, POLITICO reported that intelligence officials suspected that Israel was behind the placement of cellphone surveillance devices planted around the White House and in other locations in Washington D.C. According to the report, the Israelis were not sanctioned with a formal reprimand from the State Department.
Another potential reason for the lack of visibility on IBOCS is the changing face of Israeli politics and the increasing proximity of organized crime figures to the ruling Likud party.
Ten Likud officials chose to spend the Jewish holiday of Sukkot with convicted mobster Rafi Chaim-Kedoshim this year. In the past, members of Israel’s mafia families elected to parliament on the Likud line have attempted to use their positions to quash investigations in organized crime.
The FBI did not respond to The American Conservative’s request for comment about the current status of the Bureau’s IBOCS investigations.
It’s antisemitic to crack down on Israeli organized crime.
For a while the Jewish mafia was very big in organized crime.
“Son of a bitch! Do you know who I am? I’m Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!”
[In 2019, POLITICO reported that intelligence officials suspected that Israel was behind the placement of cellphone surveillance devices planted around the White House and in other locations in Washington D.C. According to the report, the Israelis were not sanctioned with a formal reprimand from the State Department.]
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/etc/textbooks.html
The Israelis probably spend more money in DC than anywhere else.
I always hear this excuse (among others) when Israeli spies are caught.
I never hear excuses when other nations are caught spying.
Only Israeli spies enjoy a fanbase in the U.S.
“whats up with all the anti-israel crap in the news lately?”
You mean there are no Israeli crime organizations operating here? Or is it anti-semitic to expose it?
This is really just mainly Russian or Ukrainian organized crime.
Lots of Russians and Ukrainians mobsters with an alleged Jewish grandparent immigrated to Israel.
I did oilfield work offshore Israel and the Russian and Ukrainian (and other Eastern European) mobsters would periodically steal crap or cause labor problems.
And lots of Russian and Ukrainian Jews (not merely alleged) immigrated to Israel and the U.S.
I've often walked through Queens, NY. There are neighborhoods that are heavily Russian. I saw Russian store signs and heard Russian spoken, amid many Jewish Centers and synagogues, but saw no signs of Russian Orthodox Christianity.
I even passed a King David nightclub on Queens Blvd, and heard Russian spoken outside it by some of the people waiting to get in.
This is simply another type of organized crime. I expect the FBI and other agencies to go after them just like they do Italian, Mexican, Venezuelan gangs and cartels.
When I was living in South Florida 2 decades ago it was filled with Russian Jewish mobsters running scams of different types. One tried to involve himself with my sister’s business but she quickly rejected that idea. She said he was the scariest person she had ever dealt with.
ok ok your one of those
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