ГУЛаг Палестины

Finally, all the money was turned into checks drawn on the accounts of Jewish religious institutions. Sharir received from the Colombians 6 percent of the

turnover for his labors. Within a short period of time he moved with his family to a luxurious house in Woodmere, on Long Island. He purchased a luxury

Jaguar car, showered his wife Miryam with expensive jewels and donated lavishly to Jewish charities.

The troubles began in late 1988. In December his shop was raided by American customs and internal revenue agents, after they received notice from his

banks concerning the volume of his deposits. They brought dogs to sniff out drugs, carried out a meticulous search of the offices and took away cars fall of

documents. Sharir did no lose his cool. While the agents were milling around his offices, he managed to conceal $600,000 which were in his bank account at

the time and to transfer the money to a safe place. Simultaneously, Sharir fell out with his Colombian operators who claimed that he stole $26 million of their

drug money. Sharir, who denied the accusation, hired an Israeli professional investigator, Lihu Ichilov, to solve the mystery. Ichilov soon became Sharir's

partner. He flew to Panama, established two dummy corporations there, opened bank accounts and improved the laundering routes.

Following the Federal agents' raid on his offices Sharir did not give up.Within two weeks he opened two other offices on 47th Street and resumed work.

When asked by one of his lawyers how he had expected to escape the attentions of the law, Sharir replied: "I changed my system and believed that now, with

God's help, I would never be caught." Sharir's new system included Rabbi Yosef Crozet whom we discussed earlier. Crozer's big mouth brought Sharir

down, and he was arrested in March 1990. Crozer also led to Sharir confessing to having laundered $200 million. His wife Miryam was arrested together

with him. Sharir, under the pressure of the interrogation, agreed to cooperate in exchange for his wife's release and the cancellation of the charges against her.

The prosecution agreed.

It was an extremely good deal as far as the prosecution was concerned. For three months Sharir fed the Federal investigators with most valuable information

concerning the Jewish laundering industry. The information included names, methods of operation, codes, and bank accounts. Sharir led them to the exposure

of what is termed the new "cocaine triangle".

His information led to the incrimination of more than 35 Jewish launderers, the capture of $10 million and the breakup of numerous Jewish laundering rings.

Among others, Sharir incriminated the biggest laundering shark in the history of the US, Stephan Scorkia. The information given by Sharir, who testified at his

trial, directly led to his conviction. Scorkia was charged with laundering $300 million, and was sentenced to 660 years' imprisonment.

Sharir is now enrolled in the US witness protection program. He lives under an assumed identity, has been released on bail, travels under heavy security

between New York, Rhode Island, Arizona and other states, testifies in criminal trials and goes on.

His wife Miryam divorced him shortly after the affair erupted. She refuses to comment on the matter and told the Daily News: "I have no intention of talking. I

divorced Aharon in order to distance myself from him and from his friends, and that is exactly what I am doing."

Sharir was directly responsible for the flight of at least 35 Colombians from the US back to Colombia. One of the escapees was Duvan Arbolda, one of the

Kali cartel's major launderers. Arbolda was charged in a Manhattan court of laundering on a vast scale, following Sliarir's testimony. Afler he completes his

testifying, Sharir himself will stand trial.

The prosecution will agree to a very low sentence, but this does not improve his chances of survival. "At present, Aharon Sharir heads the Kali cartel's

wanted list," said an American customs official. Charges have also been served against Lihu Ichilov, Sharir's partner. However, Ichilov fled to Israel on the

eve of his trial, in January 199 1. That was the period of the Gulf War and the judge, Richard Owen, who tried Ichilov in absentia, said: "Mr. Ichilov

apparently prefers to face the horror of Scud missiles falling on Israel than the American justice system."

Note 1. The Satmar Hassidic sect fiercely opposes Zionism. The present rabbi's uncle and predecessor (the position of a rabbi among the Hassids is limited

to the members of "the sacred family"), Yoel Taitelbaum, had published learned books in which Zionism was described as an invention of Satan, Israeli

victories (especially the one in the Six Day War) were attributed solely to the direct help given to the Israeli army, while the Holocaust was being "justified" as

the Divine punishment of the Jews for the sin of some of them becoming Zionists. The present rabbi, although formally continuing the teachings of his uncle,