Militant N.Y. Jewish Leader Fires on Rival

A bicoastal feud between two militant Jewish organizations erupted in violence Thursday in Greenwich Village, as the head of one faction fired shots at the leader of another, injuring a bystander, police said.

Heavily armed Mordechai Levy, 27, head of the Jewish Defense Organization, held police at bay in his apartment for 2 1/2 hours before surrendering after a brief conversation with police negotiators.

“He was afraid that the people were coming to kill him,” said Chief Robert J. Johnston Jr. “We got him to surrender by essentially telling him that we would take care of everything.”

Johnston said Levy would be charged with attempted murder for shooting at Irv Rubin, the head of the Jewish Defense League; Steve Rombom, a private investigator; a third man who had accompanied Rubin to serve Levy with legal papers, and Dominick Spinelli, who was shot in the knee.

Spinelli, 69, who worked for G&E; Mechanics in Brooklyn, was sitting in a van parked in front of Levy’s four-story apartment building when a shot came through the windshield and hit him in the knee. He was taken to a hospital where his condition was stable.

Levy’s apparent target was Rubin, who had gone to the Bleecker Street address to serve Levy with papers in connection with a libel suit Rubin had filed.

At issue were comments Levy made during an interview on Los Angeles talk radio station KFI-AM (640), according to Earl Krugel, chairman of the Jewish Defense League’s Los Angeles chapter.

“Levy accused him (Rubin) of being a drug dealer and said she (Mrs. Rubin) attempted suicide,” Krugel said. The suit was filed July 27 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The two groups--the JDL and JDO--have been at odds for years, with Rubin and Levy battling over who inherited the mantle of the JDL’s founder, Meir Kahane.

Levy had apparently called police Wednesday night to report that “there were two people on their way to kill him,” Johnston said.

Then on Thursday, “apparently he called the 9th Precinct detectives . . . and said that people were trying to kill him,” Johnston said. About 10 minutes later, Levy allegedly opened fire.

Spinelli told police that the incident began when “the two process servers were out here throwing rocks at the window at about 12 o’clock, telling him (Levy) to come out,” Johnston said.

Levy, armed with a Ruger Mini-14, “went up to the roof and he fired two shots at one process server and four shots at the other,” athe chief said.

Levy had seven guns--including an Uzi--listed on his rifle-shotgun permit, police spokesman Inspector Richard Mayronne said.

“The license allows you to buy as many guns as you can safely keep,” said Steven D’Andrilli, whose firm, Guardian Group International, helps clients obtain gun permits from the police department.

The Jewish Defense League was originally formed by Kahane to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts in New York. It gained notoriety when its members were linked to bombings, most of them aimed at Soviet targets in retaliation for the way that country treated its Jewish population.

When Kahane moved to Israel and, with his Kach party, gained election to the parliament, he left the JDL behind. A power struggle ensued, with Rubin and Levy among the contenders.

“Levy left the JDL about 7 or 8 years ago . . . he formed his own organization, the JDO, and they’ve been at odds with the JDL since then,” said Lt. David Nadel, a police liaison with the Jewish community.