The Ashkenazum was an

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

group active in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in the first half of the 20th century. Ashkenazum was founded by Simon Rubinstein as a splinter group from the larger Zwi Migdal, an organized crime group that stretched across five continents and specialized in the sex trafficking of

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountains, and ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

girls. Simon Rubinstein arrived in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

in 1900 from

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, and there he quickly acquired control of a condom factory. He was a notorious silk smuggler and became affiliated with the Zwi Migdal. At the height of his operation, he had 700 agents in Argentina trafficking women for him. Like the larger Zwi Migdal, the Ashkenazum also had its own cemetery outside of Buenos Aires.Kupferboim, Rona. “Argentine Jewry's Dark Secret.” Ynet News, Jewish World, 25 May 2007.
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References

{{Organized crime groups in America Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Argentina Organized crime groups in Argentina Jewish organisations based in Argentina Jews and Judaism in Buenos Aires Prostitution in Argentina Jewish Argentine history Sex trafficking

See also

References