Mexican cartel worked with US-based group linked to Chinese underground banking to launder drug money: DOJ



The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that a five-year investigation revealed that a Mexican cartel worked with a United States-based group linked to Chinese underground banking to launder drug trafficking money.

A press release from the DOJ stated that "Operation Fortune Runner" uncovered that a money laundering network connected to the Sinaloa drug cartel coordinated with a money transmitting group based in San Gabriel Valley, California, to process "large amounts of drug proceeds in U.S. currency in the Los Angeles area." According to federal authorities, the California-based group has ties to Chinese underground banking.

'A partnership between Sinaloa Cartel associates and a Chinese criminal syndicate operating in Los Angeles and China.'

The groups allegedly concealed the proceeds and made the funds available to the cartel's members in Mexico and elsewhere.

"The Justice Department today announced a 10-count superseding indictment charging Los Angeles-based associates of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel with conspiring with money-laundering groups linked to Chinese underground banking to launder drug trafficking proceeds. During the conspiracy, more than $50 million in drug proceeds flowed between the Sinaloa Cartel associates and Chinese underground money exchanges," the DOJ's press release read.

Chinese and Mexican law enforcement agencies arrested fugitives named in the DOJ's superseding indictment after they fled the U.S., the department stated. Twenty-four defendants are facing multiple charges, including "one count of conspiracy to aid and abet the distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine, one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business," the department reported.

Edgar Joel Martinez-Reyes, 45, of East Los Angeles, was accused of using numerous strategies to conceal the money's source, including trade-based money laundering schemes, "structuring" assets, and cryptocurrency.

The investigation resulted in the seizure of roughly $5 million in illicit drug proceeds, 302 pounds of cocaine, 92 pounds of methamphetamine, 3,000 Ecstasy pills, 44 pounds of psilocybin, ketamine, three rifles, and eight handguns.

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California stated, "Dangerous drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine are destroying people's lives but drug traffickers only care about their profits."

"To protect our community, therefore, it is essential that we go after the sophisticated, international criminal syndicates that launder the drug money," Estrada continued. "As this indictment and our international actions show, we will be dogged in our pursuit of all those who facilitate destruction in our country and make sure they are held accountable for their actions."

Drug Enforcement Administration administrator Anne Milgram explained that Mexican drug cartels are motivated by money and "responsible for the worst drug crisis in American history."

"This DEA investigation uncovered a partnership between Sinaloa Cartel associates and a Chinese criminal syndicate operating in Los Angeles and China to launder drug money. Laundering drug money gives the Sinaloa Cartel the means to produce and import their deadly poison into the United States," Milgram added.

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DEA agent accused of taking $250K in mafia bribes, covering for sex-trafficking strip club, helping HS teacher with marijuana side hustle



A former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent is accused of taking $250,000 in bribes from the mafia, covering for a strip club allegedly involved in sex trafficking, and helping a high school English teacher with his marijuana side hustle.

The federal trial in upstate New York has begun for Joseph Bongiovanni – the former DEA agent accused of providing the Buffalo Mafia with an "umbrella of protection" in exchange for massive bribes.

The Associated Press reported, "Bongiovanni was raised in a tight-knit Italian American community in North Buffalo and known as a 'door kicker' in the DEA, defense attorney Parker MacKay said, 'not the type to sit in front of a computer.'"

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi told the jurors on Thursday that Bongiovanni turned to help the mafia after he encountered financial issues stemming from a costly divorce and his fondness for luxury trips.

Tripi claimed Bongiovanni had an admiration for those associated with "Italian organized crime."

Bongiovanni, 59, is accused of being a "double agent" who betrayed his badge to take $250,000 in bribes from the mafia to help the organized crime syndicate from getting caught by the feds.

The former DEA agent allegedly would tip off the mafia as to when they were "all clear" and law enforcement was not hot on their tail. Bongiovanni is said to have leaked intelligence to the mafia and opened fictitious cases to make it appear that he was investigating certain mafia members or to claim them as informants. Since Bongiovanni pretended to investigate the Buffalo Mafia, he would receive notice of any time another agency began investigating the criminal organization.

Bongiovanni allegedly encouraged his law enforcement colleagues to spend less time investigating Italians and focus on blacks and Hispanics, "n****** and s****" he purportedly said.

According to the AP, "Bongiovanni also is accused of vouching for criminals, filing bogus reports and swiping a sensitive DEA case file on organized crime that he stored in his basement after his abrupt retirement."

Prosecutors allege Bongiovanni went out of his way to protect the Pharoah's Gentlemen’s Club – a strip club in Cheektowaga that reportedly featured illegal drug use and sex trafficking.

The strip club's owner, Peter Gerace Jr, was childhood friends with Bongiovanni and is the grandson of Joseph Todaro – the "reputed leader of the Buffalo Mafia."

Tripi accused Gerace of providing "cocaine and women to high-end clientele."

Prosecutors said Gerace sought Bongiovanni's assistance in covering up the overdose of a stripper.

Gerace reportedly was heard on voicemail asking the former DEA agent about tracing a drug dealer's cellphone, "Is there a way to ping it like police do? I just want to know if you could do that or not."

Gerace's attorney, Mark Foti, said his client "denies all charges and looks forward to confronting the government’s evidence at his trial."

Prosecutors expect to call a public high school English teacher to the stand, who admitted to running a marijuana-growing operation while receiving confidential information from Bongiovanni.

Tripi said of Bongiovanni, "He did just enough legitimate work to avoid detection. He almost got away with it."

Tripi told jurors, "Sometimes the DEA doesn’t get it right. He was able to manipulate everyone because, in law enforcement, there’s a certain amount of trust that’s inherent. He did it under the watch of supervisors who under-supervised him.”

Bongiovanni has denied the counts of bribery, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice that could put him in federal prison for the rest of his life.

Bongiovanni's attorneys argue that he never took any bribes and that the government's case against him is built on the questionable testimony from individuals holding grudges against him and others who are seeking sweet deals from the Department of Justice for their testimony against him.

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'It seems it is just flowing over the borders': Rick Harrison of 'Pawn Stars' says son Adam died due to fentanyl overdose



Rick Harrison of "Pawn Stars" fame has said that his son Adam Harrison died due to a fentanyl overdose.

"Yes, I can confirm Adam died from a fentanyl overdose," he said in a statement, according to Fox News Digital. "The fentanyl crisis in this country must be taken more seriously. It seems it is just flowing over the borders and nothing is being done about it. We must do better."

Adam Harrison was just 39 years old.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel are behind the the majority of fentanyl flowing into the U.S.

"While the cartels' operations are based in Mexico, DEA has identified more than 50 additional countries where these criminal networks operate," a DEA press release states. The agency said that cartels buy chemicals from companies located in China, concoct the drug "in Mexico, and then traffic and distribute finished fentanyl widely throughout the United States."

"Today, fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. In calendar year 2023, DEA seized more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. This is the most fentanyl seized by DEA in a single year. It amounts to more than 386 million deadly doses of fentanyl—enough to kill every American," the DEA noted in a press release.

DEA New Jersey Field Division Special Agent in Charge Cheryl Ortiz described the drug as "the greatest threat to our nation," according to the press release.

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DEA alert about dangerous fentanyl and xylazine cocktails warns of potential for 'rotting of human tissue — that may lead to amputation'



The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has issued a public safety alert warning about an uptick in the trafficking of dangerous drug concoctions containing fentanyl and xylazine.

"Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said, according to the alert. "DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 States. The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine."

"Xylazine and fentanyl drug mixtures place users at a higher risk of suffering a fatal drug poisoning," the DEA alert noted. "People who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine also can develop severe wounds, including necrosis—the rotting of human tissue—that may lead to amputation."

The FDA indicates that while xylazine is approved to be used in animals, it is not safe for humans. According to the FDA, "Repeated exposure to xylazine, by injection, has been associated with severe, necrotic skin ulcerations that are distinctly different from other soft-tissue infections (e.g., cellulitis, abscesses) often associated with injection drug use. These ulcerations may develop in areas of the body away from the site of injection."

"The Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel in Mexico, using chemicals largely sourced from China, are primarily responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in communities across the United States," the DEA noted.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been reporting massive numbers of southwest land border encounters month after month — there have been more than 1 million during the five-month period spanning from October through February.

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DEA seized more than 379 million possibly lethal doses of fentanyl in 2022, 'enough deadly doses ... to kill every American'



The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has announced that it seized more than 50.6 million fentanyl-containing "fake prescription pills" and in excess of 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder during the 2022 calendar year — the DEA laboratory estimated that this amounts to greater than 379 million possibly lethal doses of the dangerous drug.

Fentanyl "is a highly addictive man-made opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin," according to the DEA's press release, which also said that a mere two milligrams of the drug is viewed as a potentially lethal dose.

"These seizures – enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill every American – reflect DEA's unwavering commitment to protect Americans and save lives, by tenaciously pursuing those responsible for the trafficking of fentanyl across the United States," DEA administrator Anne Milgram said, according to the press release. "DEA's top operational priority is to defeat the two Mexican drug cartels—the Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG) Cartels—that are primarily responsible for the fentanyl that is killing Americans today."

The press release noted that "Most of the fentanyl trafficked by the Sinaloa and CJNG Cartels is being mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely from China."

DEA laboratory testing this year found that six out of 10 fentanyl-containing fake prescription pills included a possibly deadly amount of fentanyl, according to the government agency, which also noted that it seized more than twice as many of the fentanyl-laced pills in 2022 as it did in 2021.

The pills are created to appear the same as genuine prescriptions, but include filler and fentanyl and are frequently lethal, according to the DEA.

The DEA has also nabbed almost 131,000 pounds of methamphetamine, over 4,300 pounds of heroin, and more than 444,000 pounds of cocaine this year.

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