Skating on EcstasySpecial Treatment for An Israeli Drug Lord?James S. Henry

While most major US drug dealers get prison terms of at least 15 years to life for selling a few kilos of coke or a few hundred pills of the Class A illegal drug Ecstasy (MDMA), the world's ecstasy king-pin, Israel-based Russian mobster Ze'ev Rosenstein, has apparently just learned to skate.    

Rosenstein is reportedly one of the "godfathers" in Israel's burgeoning criminal underworld  --  one of "the worst of the worst" among global drug dealers, according to a former US attorney. 

Long sought by Israeli police and the US DEA,  Rosenstein was finally arrested in Tel Aviv in November 2004. At the time, the arrest was hailed as a major victory over transnational crime by former US Attorney General John Ashcroft:

"The arrest of Ze’ev Rosenstein is the result of extraordinary close and creative cooperation between U.S. and Israeli law enforcement. It is a significant step forward in our common struggle against trans-border organized crime and international narcotics trafficking that will make both of our countries safer."

After two years in a maximum security cell, in March 2006 Rosenstein was finally extradited to Miami, charged with having organized an international drug gang that reportedly exported millions of tabs of MDMA from Netherlands-based labs to the US -- including the 800,000 pills that were seized in a New York apartment in July 2001.

Rosenstein, who was  also accused of importing Colombian hit men to conduct a hit on the rival Alperon crime family, faced at least 14 years to life in imprison. In 2004, one of his top lieutenants, Shem Tov Michtavi,  had received  a 20-year sentence for lesser miscondut  -- although in November 2005, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit  reduced it to a maximum of 16 years. With Rosenstein finally in US hands, many thought that he'd probably spend the rest of his days in a Miami prison cell, not far from Panama's former dictator Manual Noriega, who is serving 35 years for drug trafficking.

TIME OFF FOR BAD BEHAVIOR

However, Rosenstein had a secret weapon -- Roy Black, Miami's legendary criminal defense attorney. Black has become the go-to guy for procuring light sentences for big-ticket defendants who appear from a slight distance to be...well, less diplomatic observers might use the term "sleazeballs." 

The interesting thing about Black's defendants is that they almost all eventually end up either behind bars, paying stiff civil fines or settlements, if not on someone's hit list -- though just not while he represents them.

In the mid-1980s Black represented Griselda Blanco, a notorious Colombian "queenpin," one of the most brutal drug dealers in Miami. She got away with a 10 year sentence for dealing, which was considered a victory, given her activities. In 1998, however,  she received another 20-year sentence for multiple murders.

Black is perhaps best known for his successful 1991 defense of Dr. William Kennedy Smith, Senator Ted Kennedy's nephew,  against rape  charges in 1991. Dr. Smith has since gone on to a medical career in Chicago, and a series of sexual harassment charges.

In 1996, Black won an acquittal for alleged Miami cocaine dealer Salvatore Magluta, another one of Miami's most notorious residents, who was accused of smuggling 75 tons of cocaine. In 2003, however, Magluta was convicted of  laundering $27 million in drug money and tampering with the jury in connection with the 1996 trial. Although the jury refused to convict him of murdering 3 witnesses in that case, apparently the federal judge felt differently, sentencing him to 205 years in prison.

In 2001, Black successfully defended Eller Media Corp., a Miami firm owned by  conservative radio giant Clear Channel Communications. The firm was accused of criminal manslaughter after a 12-year old boy was electrocuted at a bus-stop where a company sign had malfunctioned. Black persuaded a jury in the criminal case that the boy might have been struck by lightning. In a subsequent 2004 civil trial, the boy's family was awarded $65 million in civil damages -- echoing the "split criminal-civil" decision that occurred in the OJ Simpson case.

In 2005, Black successfully defended Raphael Adouth, a Miami jeweler accused of laundering $8 million of Colombian drug money. Black argued that the prosecution had been motivated by "anti-Semitism."

More recently, Black represented Rush Limbaugh, the country's most popular right-wing talk show host. In April 2006, Limbaugh pleaded guilty to a single count of "doctor shopping" in Palm Beach, where he had succeeded in procuring Oxycontin, his drug of choice,  in unlimited quantities.    

SWEET  DEAL

In the Rosenstein case, Black was assisted by an outstanding Israeli legal team, including attornies Benny Nahari, Keren Nahari, Hila Nawi, Devora Chen,Shlomo Nissim, and  Professor Uriel Ben Dor.

With all this legal talent, Rosenstein managed to negotiate a  generous plea bargain with the US Justice Department and the new US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida,  R. Alexander Acosta, a former labor lawyer and clerk to Supreme Court Justice Alito who had been appointed by President Bush in June 2006. 

Under the deal, to be approved this week, Rosenstein will get away with (a) serving a maximum of 12 years; (b) keeping all his US assets, and (c) avoiding any additional time for the alleged hits.

Since the Russian-born mobster is also an Israeli citizen, under the country's generous "right of return" for all persons deemed to be "Jews," regardless of criminal background, he qualifies for protection under the highly unusual  US-Israel extradition treaty. This means that Rosenstein will also be permitted to serve his time in one of Israel's relatively comfortable white collar jails -- closer to his gang members, permitting him to remain in control from behind bars.

Finally,  since Rosenstein has already been in custody two years, with "time off for good behavior," he will probably be eligible for parole  in just 5 to 9 years.   

Meanwhile, Israel Ashkenazi and David Rauschi,  two other Israelis who were arrested in 2001 in New York with 1.5 million pills,  have received reduced sentences of just 2 years each, in exchange for testifying against Michtavi and Rosenstein. Despite Rosenstein's light sentence, these other light sentences will stil stand.

All told, then, this has been a pretty good week for Israel's world-beating  organized criminals.   

Many convicted American drug dealers might be surprised at how how light Rosenstein's sentence is, compared with many others  -- for example, the 7 year sentence recently received by a small-time Ecstasy dealer in Flint, Michigan; a 12.5 year sentence  for conspiring to sell 200 pounds of marijuana; a life sentence for conspiring to distribute a relatively small amount of methamphetamine; a life sentence for growing marijuana; and many others, summarized at November.Org.

Obviously they should have all just hired Roy Black.

IMPLICATIONS 

Of course the "first best" solution to such incongruities might just be to repeal the draconian US drug laws entirely, especially those that apply to less-harmful drugs like marijuana and Ecstasy.

Absent that Utopian solution,  however, we should also try to make sure that the drug laws are enforced even-handedly -- and that , once caught, the most influential traffickers on the planet really do receive the stiffest penalties, rather than the most lenient.

Under the current system, the best deals appear to go to the best represented.

A special place in Hell -- or at least a "Wall of Shame" here on Earth -- should also be reserved for parasitic lawyers who have built lucrative careers  on the basis of what  Thorstein Veblen once called "clever chicanery and the thwarting thereof" --  specializing in saving the hind ends of the very cupula of the transnational crime world over and over and over again.

Finally, if Israel really wants cares about winning our hearts and minds, it should take a hard look at the fact that it really has become a kind of haven for world-class mobsters, money launderers, arms dealers, blood diamond traders,  nd drug dealers -- as well as thoroughly-corrupt politicians.

Not that Israel is unique in this, by any means. But some countries pretend to be role models.   

(c)SubmergingMarkets, 2007