Ron Gonen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ron Gonen is a former mobster and cooperating witness.
Born Roman Gershman in the Ukraine in 1948 into a family heavily involved in black marketeering. His parents immigrated to Israel with him in 1956, in the aftermath of Stalin's death. He was first arrested at the age of 18 for robbing parking meters, and then decided to avoid causing his family any more embarrassment by committing his future crimes abroad. After running scams in Germany, Britain and Guatemala, Gonen moved to New York City where he soon became involved in cocaine trafficking, using a LA-based Israeli contact of his friend's.
In June 1982 he met a girl named Honey Tesman, who introduced him to new Manhattan drug suppliers and who he married two years later. The couple moved to Tel Aviv with Gonen going back for three weeks every month to manage his cocaine business. But Tesman wanted to be near her family and the pair soon moved back to New York.
In 1987 Gonen became involved with Israeli mafia kingpin Yehuda “Johnny” Attias. However he was always merely a fringe member and not directly involved in Attias's crew. Gonen started cooperating with the government in 1989 and was placed in witness protection along with his family and mother, who had received death threats from Israel.
New York's Israeli mafia fell apart soon after, with most of it's top members either dead or imprisoned.
[edit] Reference
- Dave Copeland, Blood and Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia ISBN 1569803277
