‘Israeli Mafia’ Killer to Leave Prison in 1987
Joseph Zakaria, a reputed “Israeli Mafia” member whose second-degree murder convictions in the 1979 dismemberment slayings of a North Hollywood couple at the Bonaventure Hotel were recently reversed by an appeals court, agreed to a plea bargain today under which he will be freed from prison in January, 1987.
Zakaria, 33, pleaded guilty before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert R. Devich to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of mutilation in the gruesome deaths of Esther and Eli Ruven. Including credits for time already served, Zakaria will be able to leave San Quentin prison just before his son’s bar mitzvah, defense counsel Bradley Brunon said.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Jorgensen said the arrangement was struck due to the prosecution’s “serious problems” in locating cooperative witnesses for a retrial.
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