Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Ring of Observant Jewish Drug Dealers Refused to Work on Shabbat

Law enforcement took note that the members of a drug ring in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn were keeping unusual hours. What drew attention was not when the pushers were doing business, but rather when they weren’t.

According to the New York Daily News, a group of apparently Jewish men have been indicted for running a shomer Shabbos drug operation. The sellers of oxycodone, cocaine and heroin sent messages to clients warning them not to come by between sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.

“We are closing 7:30 on the dot and we will reopen saturday 8:15 so if u need anything you have 45mins to get what you want,” read one text message they blasted on Friday to clients. In another message, they wrote that business was “closed for Shabbat.”

The men may be observant of Jewish law, but the secular authorities don’t see anything kosher about their allegedly criminal behavior.

Prosecutors charged David Gerowitz, Philip Mandel, Eduard Sorin, Jack Zaibak, Jack Zibak, and Aaron Dombroff with criminal sale of a controlled substance. Zibak, Zaibak, Sorin and Gerowitz were also charged with criminal possession of a weapon, as they were found not only with hundreds of thousands of dollars of illegal drugs and stolen prescription pads, but also a sawed-off shotgun.

Sorin, a Russian citizen with a previous federal drug-related conviction, was arraigned Tuesday and entered a not guilty plea. Mandel has not posted bail and is in jail. The others are out on bail pending arraignment.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.