Yaakov Alperon
November 17, 2008), was an Israeli mobster who was assassinated in a car bomb attack. He was reputed to have run Tel Aviv's third-largest crime family, the Alperon Crime Family.
Alperon's enemies included Zeev Rosenstein, a drug lord who had been the target himself of a number of assassination attempts.
Alperon also battled with the rival Abutbul and Abergil families over money from bottle recycling, an industry that generates $5 million annually in revenue, based on police estimates. As part of a protection racket offered to restaurant owners, the businesses would pay for the mobster's services by leaving empty bottles, which would leave no documentation and could be redeemed for cash to provide an apparently legitimate revenue source.
In March 2004, Israeli police arrested four suspected contract killers from Belarus, who had been found with weapons including explosives and shoulder-held missiles at their hideout.
The hit men arrested had been accused of involvement in a failed assasination attempt against Yaakov Alperon in December 2003, and earlier attempts that same year against Alperon's brother Nissim and another attack against a member of a crime family linked with the Alperons.
At a January 2, 2006 summit held at a hotel north of Tel Aviv intended to address their differences, Alperon met with rival gangster Amir Mulner. Guns and knives were used after the arbitration efforts failed, and Mulner was stabbed in the neck, which was said to have been done by Alperon.
Alperon had also been involved in setting up Internet cafés during a time when few had computer access at home, in which the fee paid for use of the computer would be paid in cash to the restaurant and would then be used to gamble on the computer. The internet business was shut down in spring 2002 after mounting costs started to exceed the gambling revenues.
Alperon was killed on November 17, 2008 by a bomb explosion in his car at the crowded Tel Aviv intersection of Yehuda Hamaccabi and Derech Namir.
At least three other people were wounded in the attack, including a 13-year-old boy. The body was identified as wearing the same shirt that Alperon had been wearing in court for the indictment of his son on unrelated charges.
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