Crime & Safety
Member of Israeli Crime Family Sentenced for 2003 Murder
Moshe Malul, a member of the Abergil crime family, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the 2003 murder of Sami Atias.
An Israeli man was sentenced today to 15 years behind bars for his part in a 2003 killing in Sherman Oaks in which the victim interfered with a drug deal.
Moshe Malul, 40, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder to serve three years under supervised release after his release from federal prison.
He declined to make a statement prior to sentencing.
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Malul pleaded guilty last month to a federal charge of racketeering conspiracy, admitting to conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to import the drug Ecstasy, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Malul acknowledged in his plea agreement that as part of the Israel- based Abergil crime family, he hired members of the Vineland Boyz street gang, which is based in North Hollywood, to kill Sami Atias in retaliation for stealing Ecstasy that belonged to Malul and others.
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Atias was gunned down, execution style, in August 2003. Reputed Israeli crime boss Itzhak Abergil admitted during his May guilty plea hearing in which he received a 10-year federal prison term that the victim was killed for interfering with a drug deal in which Abergil and others were involved, prosecutors said.
In a 77-page, 32-count indictment, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles alleged that Abergil and associates ran one of the largest Ecstasy importation rings in the United States and worked closely with the Vineland Boyz to sell the drugs.
During the investigation, agents intercepted about 100,000 Ecstasy pills at hubs in the Midwest that were being shipped to Southern California. The street price for the drugs was estimated at about $2 million, prosecutors said.
