Protection Racket and Money Laundering Worth Millions: Prosecutors File Notice Against 3 Crime Family Members

Attorney Ronen Haliwa on the match-fixing affair / Walla system, Shlomo Weiss

Through the National Unit for Major and Economic Crimes in Lahav 433, Israel Police filed a prosecutorial notice yesterday, Wednesday, against three senior figures in the Daka crime organization, along with a request to extend their detention until the end of proceedings. The investigation concerns a serious case of extortion of protection money, collection of protection payments and money laundering on a scale of millions of shekels.

According to the suspicion, the suspects operated for a long period in the Pardes Daka complex in Tel Aviv, and ran a system of threats, extortion and coercion of services against contracting companies in the construction, infrastructure and guarding sectors. The purpose of the activity, according to law enforcement sources, was to take over the work being carried out in the complex and push away other suppliers and competitors.

Police said that in recent months the investigation was conducted covertly by a special task force in the unit for combating economic crime, in cooperation with the Tax Authority, the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, and the Economic Department of the State Attorney’s Office. After moving to the overt phase on 18.5.26, a large-scale arrest operation was carried out in Jaffa and southern Israel.

According to the investigators, the money received from the criminal activity was laundered through shell companies, which were used as cover for fictitious economic activity, while additional tax offenses were also committed. At the same time, significant economic damage was caused to the contracting companies that were harmed by the extortion.

Over the past three weeks, an intensive investigation was conducted, at the end of which an evidentiary foundation was established against the three main suspects. With the investigation concluded, the prosecutorial notice was filed as stated, and a serious indictment is expected to be filed against them soon.

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