They sat across from police investigators trembling, mouths dry with fear. Officers had already raided the homes of 27 suspects, yet some of the people who said they had endured threats, humiliation and violence, sometimes in front of their children, still refused to say the name of the man they feared.
“My body won’t let me say the word Yossi. I can’t talk about him,” one man whispered, according to investigators.
Hundreds of residents of Migdal HaEmek, a city in northern Israel, and surrounding communities, both Jewish and Arab, were drawn into what police describe as a sprawling cycle of illegal gambling, high-interest loans and debt collection. What often began as a small online bet or a visit to an illegal casino allegedly…