Trafficking the Traffickers: Undercover Ethnography in the Organs Trafficking Underworld

Trafficking the Traffickers: Undercover Ethnography in the Organs Trafficking Underworld

Here's a few excerpts of Nancy Scheper-Hughes on the Brian Lehrer Show/NPR:
"I had begun to unravel a huge network -- a criminal network that really looks like, smells like, kind of a mafia. The head office of the pyramid scheme originated in Israel, with brokers placed in Turkey; in New York City; in Philadelphia; in Durban; in Johannesburg; in Recife, Brazil; Moldova -- all over the place. And I used my ethnographic investigative skills to just go country-hopping and try to connect the dots.

Eventually, it brought me to Rabbi Isaac Rosenbaum being the head broker for Ilan Peri in Israel, who is the don, basically, of the operation, and who is a slippery guy. The Israelis tried to nail him and arrest him. They tried to get him on tax evasion and he escaped to Germany. I think he's back in Israel."

According to Scheper-Hughes' informant within Rosenbaum's organization, confused and disoriented Russians would be flown into New York City by Israeli brokers who forced them at gunpoint to "donate" kidneys.

Scheper-Hughes: "They told me the names of the hospitals, and they were our best hospitals!"

Brian Lehrer: "And did they know, Professor, that they were performing kidney surgery on people who were unwilling participants and were being exploited and threatened?"

Scheper-Hughes: "My sense is, how could some of them not have known? The people that arrived, some of them didn't speak the same languages, they were poor, they were disoriented...We have rules. We have transplant coordinating committees. We have ethical guidelines. And you don't just let people walk in off the streets."

She goes on to name Mount Sinai hospital, against whom she has videotaped evidence. She brought the videotape to the attention of 60 Minutes, which did not broadcast it. Later in the interview, she refers to operations done at Albert Einstein Medical Center (in the BRONX). Mount Sinai says that its kidney donors "undergo an extensive evaluation to provide for their safety and well-being."

Over the years, many have accused Israel of trafficking in the organs of Palestinians. The Palestinians themselves have no doubt that the practice is common.