Remember this case? The organ stealing rabbi from Brooklyn? If you don't, check out the links at the bottom of this post. It is most interesting and good to see Rosenbaum, the organ thieving rabbi thug get a bit of a comeuppance. I look forward to his final verdict. AND he did not even flee to Israel to hide out. Will miracles never cease?
By
Michael Billera
October 28, 2011
An Israeli man who lives in
Brooklyn pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of brokering a kidney transplant
as of a black market organ business. This is the first human organ
trafficking conviction in the United States.
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, 60,
confessed to three counts of acquiring human organs for transportation and one
count of conspiracy in Trenton, N.J. Rosenbaum also admitted that three
ailing people paid him a total of $410,000 to arrange illegal kidney
transplants. He was caught in an undercover sting operation by the FBI when an agent paid him
$10,000.
Lawyers for Rosebaum, who
lives in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, tried to paint him as an
individual trying to help his fellow man in need.
"The transplant
surgeries occurred in prestigious American hospitals and were performed by
experienced and expert kidney transplant surgeons," said attorneys Richard
Finkel and Ronald Kleinberg in a statement reported by the Associated Press.
"The transplants
were successful and the donors and the recipients are now leading full and
healthy lives... the recipients are no longer burdened by the medical and
substantial health dangers associated with dialysis and kidney failure."
Rosenbaum admitted that
he would assist the donors and the recipients to coordinate a false story that
would deceive hospital officials into believing that the donation was
completely voluntary and was not part a monetary transaction.
"Rosenbaum admitted
he was not new to the human kidney business when he was caught brokering what
he thought was a black market deal," said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman,
according to CalgaryHerald.com.
Rosenbaum's Brooklyn home from whence he worked.
"A black market in
human organs is not only a grave threat to public health, it reserves
lifesaving treatment for those who can best afford it at the expense of those
who cannot. We will not tolerate such an affront to human dignity."
Prosecutors say that
between 2006 and 2009, Rosenbaum brokered three kidney transplants. The
recipients of the organs paid him between $120,000 and $150,000.
Rosenbaum was also
arrested in July 2009. The FBI had begun a crackdown on
money laundering and political corruption in New Jersey.
If convicted of his most
recent crimes, Rosenbaum could serve five years for each count and be ordered
to pay a $250,000 fine. Rosenbaum agreed to forfeit his earning and might be
deported back to Israel. He is currently
under house arrest and will receive sentencing in February.
The practice of buying
and selling organs is illegal in almost every country in the world.
However, demand for kidneys has grown exponentially, with 4,540 people dying
the U.S. last year while for a transplant, according to the United Network for
Organ Sharing. There are just not enough willful donors to meet the demand and
so the organ black market has increased around the globe.
Art Caplan is the
co-chairman of the United Nations task force on illegal
organ trafficking. He said Rosenbaum is guilty of one of the worst crimes
a human being can commit.
NY organ trafficker Rosenbaum
admits buying kidneys in Israel for $10,000 ~ and selling them in U.S. for
$120,000.
However, anthropologist and organ trade expert Nancy Scheper-Hughes, who described Israel as a 'pariah' in the organ transplant world, has said in the past that many of the donors were desperately poor immigrants from eastern European countries such as Moldova, Romania and ternationally, about one quarter of all kidneys appear to be trafficked," Caplan said according to CBS news. "But until this case, it had not been a crime recognized as reaching the United States."
However, anthropologist and organ trade expert Nancy Scheper-Hughes, who described Israel as a 'pariah' in the organ transplant world, has said in the past that many of the donors were desperately poor immigrants from eastern European countries such as Moldova, Romania and ternationally, about one quarter of all kidneys appear to be trafficked," Caplan said according to CBS news. "But until this case, it had not been a crime recognized as reaching the United States."
Actually, the Organ Theft and other horrendous
human rights abuses are covered throughout the “Beyond Disgust Series” which can be accessed simply by popping in "beyond disgust" to the search engine on the upper right.
Noor, this is an eye opener. Thank you for such an excellent piece of investigative journalism.
ReplyDeleteI did coauthored an article with my friend Tammy Obeidallah,entitled, " 10 reasons not to honor Israel. Coincidentally,
# 10 reason was about the very same subject you raised. Here is the reference from the article.
< #-10 It has been documented in both Palestinian and Israeli media and in court proceedings that Israeli Occupation Forces are operating a Palestinian butchery at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv. Israeli forces routinely kidnap Palestinians at checkpoints, house raids, and hospital wards; or exhume them from cemeteries in order to harvest their organs for profit inside and outside Israel — all without the family’s knowledge. (See here and here)