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A money tree grows in Brooklyn

Exclusive neighborhood home to largest Syrian Jewish community in U.S.
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/21/06
BY BOB CULLINANE
STAFF WRITER

BROOKLYN — The heat and humidity have driven everyone inside along East Fifth Street, leaving behind a steamy summer diorama: Water drips from air conditioners in duplex windows, deserted toys bake on scrubby lawns and the air itself appears to melt, shimmering above the asphalt street.

It's also trash day here in the Gravesend section of the borough, and the stench from an open garbage truck has soured the street from curb to curb.

But walk a few blocks south, to where East Fifth crosses Avenue S, and a curtain seems to part, opening another world.

Streets are cool and shady beneath a canopy of oak trees. Lawns are lush, the landscaping precise. The only toys visible are the ones tucked in driveways and bearing names like Mercedes, Lexus and Range Rover.

And the smell? That would be success.

"It's a beautiful place, man," says James Maclendon, a carpenter working on a large house under construction on Avenue S. "I wouldn't mind living here."

The house where Maclendon works is at the edge of an exclusive four-by-four-block neighborhood where homes have sold recently for as much as $11 million, only to be razed to make way for grander homes.

Patrolled by a private security firm — on this day, four cars cruise the streets — the neighborhood is home to the largest community of Syrian Jews in the nation, according to the 2000 census, which reports 8,814 Brooklyn residents identify themselves as having ancestors from Syria.

One Jewish scholar estimates as many as 40,000 Syrian Jews live in Brooklyn, however, and says the community is wealthy.

"Their wealth is measured in billions, not millions," said Mark Kligman, a professor of Jewish musicology at Hebrew Union College in New York, who wrote his doctorate on the Syrian Jewish community of Brooklyn.

Many of these wealthy Syrian Jews own equally fabulous homes in [color="Red"]Deal and West Long Branch, and some also have invested with Solomon Dwek, the Jersey Shore-based real estate tycoon whose recent financial collapse has resulted in federal charges of bank fraud and more than $338 million in civil claims against him.
[color="red"]The troubles of Dwek, himself a Syrian Jew and the son of a respected Deal-area rabbi, has led these wealthy Syrian businessmen to file some of the largest claims against him in the highly publicized litigation.
"I don't imagine they welcome the attention," said Gary A. Rendsburg, chairman of the department of Jewish studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. "The Syrian community is very, very insular."

Kligman said such isolation likely is a remnant of the experience of daily life in Syria, where Jews, Muslims and Christians formed separate and independent cultures, communities and neighborhoods.

Deal Mayor Harry I. Franco, a Syrian Jew, cited the community's "strong desire to maintain their roots, their identity, their culture and the old traditions of their forefathers" as a reason for their sense of separateness.

note from Bud: hmm, sounds like they haven't heard the time of segregation is over with. Maybe we can help import some Hatians into their neighborhood

"They do not want this generation to be their last," he said in a written statement.

Giants in apparel industry

Although these wealthy Syrian investors are well-known within their community, they are hardly household names outside it.

What is recognizable, however, are some of the businesses that members of this community control and the products they produce.

In New York's apparel industry, for example, Syrian Jewish businessmen own or operate such companies as Jordache Jeans and Champion Clothing.

The largest claim made against Solomon Dwek — $60.2 million — was filed by his uncle, Joseph Dwek, an executive with the Adjmi Apparel Group. The company was founded by the late Jack Adjmi, a friend of the Dwek family and Solomon Dwek's mentor.

The company manufactures children's clothing under the brands Esprit, Reebok, Starter, Shaq, Denise Austin and Mary-Kate and Ashley, according to its Web site, http://www.adjmi.com. ()

The second-largest individual claim against Dwek — $30 million — was filed by Isaac Franco, a resident of Deal who is the CEO of Franco Apparel Group. The company's current sports licenses include NBA, NHL, NCAA, MLB, Starter, Shaq, and Russell Athletic brands, according to its Web site, http://www.francoapparel.com.

Another claimant is Charles Ishay of Brooklyn, president of L.A. Girl, who contends Dwek owes him $5 million.

Two other claims of $110,000 each against Dwek were made by Irwin and Joe Mizrahi, executives with Handcraft Manufacturing, which markets children's clothing under the Looney Tunes, Blues Clues and Mickey Mouse brands.

Wealthy creditor

Among the creditors Dwek paid just before his arrest on bank fraud charges was Kenneth Cayre, a Syrian Jew who, along with brothers Stanley and Joseph, amassed a fortune in the music and video industry.
Once named to Forbes magazine's list of the top 400 wealthiest people in the world with a net worth of $1.1 billion in 1996 (ranked just ahead of movie director Steven Spielberg), the Cayre brothers have owned a recording company, a video distributor and a video-game manufacturing firm that was ultimately sold to industry giant Atari.

According to claims made by PNC Bank, which contends Dwek defrauded it of $21 million, Dwek wired $2.2 million from a PNC account to repay a loan to Kenneth Cayre.

Cayre, who owns six homes in Deal and Long Branch, according to Monmouth County tax records, also is a developer. He could not be reached for comment.

Cayre was a partner in the Renaissance on the Ocean development on the Long Branch beachfront, which was built in 2000.

Cayre and Moshe G. "Mike" Gohar were managers of Apple Farms, a proposed residential development in Ocean Township that was at the center of a bribery scandal.

In 2002, former Ocean Township Mayor Terrance D. Weldon pleaded guilty to accepting a $50,000 bribe for his help in securing zoning approvals for Apple Farms, which was never built.

According to a 2006 federal indictment, Gohar paid the $50,000 bribe to Weldon. Gohar has pleaded innocent and is awaiting trial.
Cayre was not named in the case.

ON THE WEB: Visit our Web site, http://www.app.com, and look for our special five-part series, "Rise and Fall: Inside Solomon Dwek's Empire,' for stories, an interactive map and chart, videos, past articles, links and a chance to comment about this series in our Forums.