. Sometimes there
were a million dollars in one shipment."
Roy Lopez, representing the Colombian cartels, would arrive from Miami
equipped with a document sent from Colombia, which contained detailed coded
instructions about where to send the money. "Even with automatic
money-counting machines it was difficult to count the money," Sharir
testified. "It arrived in bills of 5, 10 and 20 dollars. The bills, most of
which had been used to sniff cocaine, had a strong odor of coke. A real
stink. My employees could not stand it. Every 2-3 hours they had to take a
break, go out for some fresh air, so as not to get ill."
Sharir's role was to see to it that the money would be transported out
of the US and arrive in the bank accounts of the Colombian cartels in Panama
and in Colombia. For that purpose he deposited money into his bank accounts,
as though it was his profits from the shop, purchased assets for the use of
the drug cartels, bought and sold gold at inflated prices from merchants who
were part of the conspiracy and concealed money through various
manipulations.
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 full 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, has the most amicable relations with
the Israeli government. //
//
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