Tawil, convicted by a Miami court of conspiring to commit a crime and sentenced to 12 years in an Israeli prison, is expected to arrive in the country in the upcoming days to start serving his time.



The Shin Bet’s Nahshon escort unit was chosen to transfer the convicted mobster. Ahead of the mission, law enforcement authorities investigated intelligence information about Tawil's underworld foes and the possibility of an attempt on his life.

Although Tawil has been behind bars for a few years now, estimates are that his rivals may still try to target him. Tawil has already been the target of a number of unsuccessful hits in the past, including a shooting in central Tel Aviv in 2003 which killed two innocent bystanders.

Since Tawil is under heavy security and it is nearly impossible to target him in prison, security forces fear that if his enemies want to pull of a hit – it will be during his transfer to Israel.

United States police forces are slated to bring Tawil to an American airport, where he will be handed over to the Nahshon unit. Although he will be heavily guarded, Tawil will be relatively exposed during the journey.

As a result, information regarding his transfer – such as the date, the airline and the route – is being kept highly confidential. Security forces are also concerned that passengers scheduled to fly on the same plane will refuse to fly to avoid a brush with the convict.

Upon his arrival in Israel Tawil will immediately be transferred to an isolation cell, apparently at the Ayalon Prison. He will be held in solitary confinement until security forces ascertain that the inmates in nearby cells and prison employees are not in any way linked to Tawil's network of enemies.

Tawil, 51, was extradited about 12 months ago to the American authorities after an indictment was issued against him in Miami when a police operation revealed that he allegedly headed a drug ring that pushed millions of ecstasy pills from Israel to the United States and Australia, through Europe.