'Lude Behavior

The “Matzoh Ball Mafia” is what some police investigators are calling a multistate drug ring which operated in Lower Merion until earlier this month, when 17 people in Miami, New York and Lower Merion were arrested and charged with selling $700,000 worth of Quaaludes. The gang earned its nickname from some cops because a large number of the defendants are Jewish.

The defendants' luck ran out five months ago when a police officer in Lower Moreland made a DUI stop, according to the Montgomery County D.A.'s office. The driver, fearing arrest, began to babble about a large-scale Quaalude distribution ring in Lower Merion. The driver went so far as to offer to become an informant for the cop.

Just days after the car stop, according to the Montco D.A.'s office, Montgomery County and Philadelphia detectives, along with state narcotics investigators and DEA agents, went to work tracking the drug dealers and identifying key players in the organization -- the alleged ring leader, Lawrence Weinmann and his chief lieutenant, Neil Smilen, were New Yorkers. Weinmann, investigators claim, was getting some pill shipments from Switzerland.

The cops IDed two Miami, Fla., men as runners, according to the Montco D.A.'s office. The two were constantly flying back and forth between Miami and New York City, buying large quantities of Quaaludes and allegedly reselling them to Alan Chernick, a Penn Valley resident. The Montgomery County D.A.'s office alleges that Chernick was a big-time distributor who resold the drugs to other dealers on the Main Line. Chernick has an arrest record and has done state and federal time in prison, according to the indictment.

Some of Chernick's associates allegedly involved in the drug ring include: Robert Spear, the owner of several Philadelphia parking garages; Stewart Cohen, a real estate agent; his brother, Fred Cohen, who owns a computer company in Merion; and Craig Ira Yusem, a close friend of Craig Rabinowitz.

You may recall that Craig Rabinowitz murdered his wife Stefanie in April 1997. He then tried to disguise her death as an accidental drowning in an attempt to collect a million-dollar life insurance policy that would wipe out his staggering business debts and finance Rabinowitz's clandestine love affair with a Philly stripper who performed under the alias "Summer."

During the police investigation into Stefanie Rabinowitz's death, Yusem defended his friend Craig Rabinowitz to the media, protesting that Rabinowitz would never harm his wife. But Craig Rabinowitz eventually pled guilty to the first degree murder of his wife and is currently serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania prison with no possibility of parole.

"Most of these guys involved in the 'lude ring know one another," a law enforcement source told City Paper last week. "We call them the Matzoh Ball Mafia. Many of them live in Lower Merion. They come from wealthy Jewish families but wanted to make money the easy way."

Some of the defendants have been charged with state racketeering, drug trafficking offenses and criminal conspiracy, while others face only misdemeanor drug charges related to the crime ring.

Asking not to be identified, one defense attorney for a reputed Matzoh Ball mobster told City Paper last week that he suspects that one of the defendants has cut a deal with the Montco D.A.'s office and will end up testifying against the others.

Lawrence Weinmann has been charged with state racketeering and felony drug charges and will be arraigned in two weeks. Weinmann's attorney was out of the country and unavailable for comment. Neil Smilen's attorney, Burt Rose, did not want to comment other than to say his client is pleading not guilty.

Smilen is charged with state racketeering, felony drug charges and criminal conspiracy. Mark Steinberg, the attorney for Alan Chernick, did not return phone calls. Chernick is charged with 179 counts of criminal use of a communication facility, 29 counts of state racketeering and 29 felony drug deliveries. Calls for Robert Spear were not returned. Spear faces felony and misdemeanor drug charges as well as charges of criminal use of a communication facility. Chuck Peruto, who represents both Stewart and Fred Cohen, refused to comment. The Cohen brothers are charged with criminal conspiracy and criminal use of a communications facility. Craig Ira Yusem also faces criminal conspiracy and criminal use of a communication facility charges, as well as misdemeanor drug charges. Yusem could not be reached for comment.

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