Israeli crime boss killed in bold car-bomb explosion

JERUSALEM — One of Israel's best-known outlaws, a crime-family boss with a long list of enemies in the country's increasingly brazen underworld, was killed Monday when a bomb exploded under his rental car near a busy Tel Aviv intersection.

The midday slaying of Yaakov Alperon was described by Israeli media as the boldest hit yet in a string of turf wars that have killed dozens of gangsters and at least eight bystanders in the last three years. A 13-year-old boy and two other pedestrians were slightly wounded in Monday's blast.

Israelis, who are far more accustomed to violent clashes with their Palestinian neighbors, were transfixed by the slaying. It dominated the airwaves and overshadowed news of ongoing rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Yossi Sedbon, a former Tel Aviv police chief said: "The meaning of this is simple: The battles between these criminal gangs will continue and the families will be even more driven to avenge his death. I fear the bloody red line will be crossed forever."

Suspicion initially fell on three rival crime families — two of them are involved with the Alperon family in a battle for control of a lucrative bottle-recycling racket.

Crime gangs in Israel also fight over control of gambling clubs and illegal drugs. Despite shootings and bombings that have prompted many of his rivals to travel with bodyguards in armored vehicles, Alperon had refused to do so, often saying he was not afraid.

He was driving alone in the car when it blew up near a bus stop not far from Tel Aviv's courthouse, police said. Witnesses described a huge explosion that shook the ground.

Army Radio said police suspected the bomb had been placed under the car while it was parked at the courthouse.