An Israeli mafia boss was shot dead at point-blank range on Sunday, as the country continues to grapple with a surge in organised criminal activity.
Yanis Yushvaev, believed by police to be head of a criminal group associated with Israel’s Jewish Caucasus community, was murdered as he left a petrol station in the northern city of Caesarea.
CCTV footage from the scene, which the JC has deemed too graphic to publish, appeared to show the gunman walking up a flight of stairs to a door as two unidentified men came out of it and walked past him.
Yushvaev then exited through the door and walked down the stairs as the gunman waited for the two men to pass him before turning to shoot Yushvaev in the back of the head.
The mafia boss then fell down the stairs, and the gunman fled the scene.
Magen David Adom medics reported that when they arrived on the scene, Yushvaev had no pulse, was not breathing, and had suffered severe injuries. He was later pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. Police have launched an effort to find and arrest his killer.
Yushvaev was a married father of three, a resident of Or Akiva, and was considered one of Israel’s most dangerous criminals.
His death comes as Israel struggles with a growing organised crime crisis, particularly among the Arab-Israeli community, with a record homicide rate in the first part of the year.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has responsibility for policing, has denied accusations that he has treated the crisis as an internal Arab problem after critics claimed that he had failed to allocate sufficient resources to tackling the issue.
Yushvaev was arrested several times in connection with his alleged involvement in shootings, grenade attacks and vehicle arson attacks, but was never convicted of any offence.
His most recent arrest came in February at Ben Gurion International Airport, where he was detained following his return from Moscow after police received intelligence that he intended to harm criminal rivals.
This shooting follows growing concern that Israel’s underworld wars have begun to spill into everyday public spaces.
Recent attacks on Japanika, a sushi chain that has been targeted with grenades, gunfire, and attempted arson, have been linked by police to an escalating feud between rival crime families. Thirteen attacks were reported on the chain, owned by Beitar Jerusalem FC boss by Barak Abramov, in the space of several days.
In response to the attacks, the US embassy in Jerusalem issued a security warning to Americans in Israel about the threat posed by organised crime attacks in Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Herzliya.
Prime Minister Netanyahu declared an “all-out war” against organised crime.
In an address to the Knesset in January, Netanyahu said he had called in the Shin Bet to tackle the issue, tasking them with strengthening intelligence and operational technology. Israel’s military was tasked with the combatting of weapons smuggling.
Despite this, the former head of Interpol in Israel, Asher Ben Artzi, told The Telegraph: “The state and the police have no power any more, no influence. They can’t fight organised crime... Yushvaev and his kind are real criminals and are smarter than the police.
“They’re richer than the police, they have better equipment than the police, better intelligence technology, so they can live without any worries.”
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