JERUSALEM — One of Israel's best-known mobsters, a crime family boss with a long list of enemies in the country's increasingly brazen underworld, was killed Monday when a bomb exploded under his rental car near a busy Tel Aviv intersection.
The midday slaying of Ya- akov Alperon was described by Israeli media as the boldest hit yet in a string of turf battles that have killed dozens of gangsters and at least eight bystanders in the last three years. A 13-year-old boy and two other pedestrians were slightly injured.
Israelis, who are far more accustomed to violence between them and their Palestinian neighbors, were transfixed by the slaying. It dominated the airwaves and overshadowed news of ongoing rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Television stations interrupted regular programming to show Alperon's bloodied body slumped out of a door of the burning car, clad in the polo shirt he had worn during an appearance that morning in court.
Tel Aviv Police Chief Ilan Franco called the killing "an extremely serious event" that "likely happened because of an internal conflict within the Tel Aviv crime world."
Yossi Sedbon, a former police chief in the city, said: "The meaning of this is simple: The battles between these criminal gangs will continue and the families will be even more driven to avenge his death. I fear the bloody red line will be crossed forever."
Suspicion initially fell on three rival crime families -- two of them are battling the Alperon family for control of a lucrative bottle recycling racket.
Crime gangs in Israel are also fighting for control of gambling clubs and illegal drugs. Despite shootings and bombings that have prompted many of his rivals to travel in armored vehicles with bodyguards, Alperon had refused to do so, often telling reporters that he was not afraid.
He was alone in the car when it blew up near a bus stop at the intersection of Namir and Yehuda Maccabi streets, not far from Tel Aviv's courthouse, police said. Witnesses described a huge explosion that shook the ground.
Army Radio said police suspected the bomb had been placed under the car while it was parked at the courthouse.
The 51-year-old mobster was popularly known as Don Alperon. He and his brothers gave frequent television interviews and were parodied on comedy shows. His immediate family even took part in a reality TV show.
