(Segway to Ze'ev Rosentein.)One of the FBI's most-wanted drug lords, Israeli Ze'ev Rosentstein has been extradited to Florida to face charges of running an extensive drug ring that purportedly permeated countless American neighborhoods.
In December 2004, he was nabbed in Tel Aviv in connection with an undercover operation that resulted in the seizure of 700,000 pills of ecstasy in a Manhattan apartment in July 2001. Rosenstien was suspected to be the buck behind a large-scale drug operation after one of his co-conspirators sold a sample of the stuff to an FBI informant and was followed back to the apartment being used as a stash house.
The two men found in the apartment, David Roash and Israel Ashkenazi, were arrested and later pleaded guilty.
Rosenstien pleaded not guilty to the charges, but with his cohorts all taking deals and being convicted, his chances look slim.
In November, 2004, two Dadush brothers were willingly extradited from their cells in Israel, where they were serving sentences, to help build the case against Rosenstein.
Rosenstein made his first US appearance on March 8 after his extradition was approved.
Israel seemed happy to be rid of the head of the second largest underground operation which revolved around gambling, prostitution, drugs and violence.
Seven attempts on Rosenstein's life have been made, but like the attempts at his arrest, he always came away a free man. Rosenstein's operations added to the increase in violent crimes in Israel, something which Israelis felt relatively safe from.
Extradition, in this case in seen as an appropriate move. But some view extradition as a slippery slope, especially to the United States. The main concern is the death penalty. Another concern is that the US can't ensure a "jury of peers" for a Jew. In Southern Florida, this seems more likely than in, say the Midwest.
And in Rosenstein's case, the death penalty is off the board because he is being charged with conspiracy to distribute and conspiracy to import ecstasy, each which have a 20-year penalty. Even if he ends up serving for the rest of his life, he's certainly not going to be subject to the death penalty.
The death penalty contradicts the Eighth Amendment, exemption from cruel and unusual punishment, and I think no country should extradite its citizens to the US until it abandons its practice of the death penalty.
The US often makes promises in form of a diplomatic notice to not subject a suspect to the death penalty, but then the case goes from federal to state jurisdiction, where the state can determine its own policy.
International criminals beware: never commit a crime in Texas.
As for Ze'ev: I think Israel is capable of hearing the case and having the man serve his sentence (if convicted) in Israel. Sorry, but our prison system is hurting as is, I don't think we need to import criminals from other countries.
