FBI STRIKE ON THE SINALOA CARTELS FASHION DISTRICT LAUNDERING HUB

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back. Today, we're gonna be looking at the FBI

(00:02):
strike on the Sinaloa Cartel's Fashion District laundering hubcase about
ten years ago. On September tenth, twenty fourteen, La Fashion District,
a one hundred block tapestry of garment wholesalers, neon signs,
and cluttered storefront stood on the brink of upheaval. Beneath
its vibrant surface, the Cinaloa Cartel, a titan of Mexico's

(00:22):
drug trade, had woven a sophisticated money laundering operation, funneling
drug profits through clothing stores with the incredible efficiency. At
four am, the FBI's La Office unleashed a meticulous plan
to Sault, deploying nearly one thousand agents to dismantle the
criminal empire in a single sweep. The operation sees over
one hundred million dollars in cash, arrested key nine key operatives,

(00:46):
and exposed that one of the most feared cartels that
infiltrated American commerce. They take down. A master's stroke of
NBI investigative prowess revealed the cartel's audacity, and the agencies
resolved to bring it down. At the time, the Sinaloa
cartel was led by Joaquino Chopo Guzman, who also dominated

(01:06):
drug trafficking, smuggling cocaine, meth, and heroin into US cities.
By the early twenty ten, its operation extended beyond border
runs to sophisticated financial schemes, laundering billions to sustain its empire.
The Fashion district, with its cash driven economy and over
four thousand businesses, was an ideal front they see. The
cartel exploited the black market Peso exchange, a trade based

(01:28):
laundering system that transformed US drug dollars into Mexican pesos.
Operatives delivered cash from drug sales to district retailers who
used it to purchase clothing, fabrics, or accessories. These goods
were then shipped to Mexico, sold in local markets, and
the resulting pesos returned to the cartel. Cleansed of their
illicit origins. Businesses like QT Maternity and Nondescript Maternity clothing

(01:53):
retailer became lynchpins, processing millions under the guise of legitimate trade.
The FBI investigation launch in twenty eleven grew from whispers
of cartel activity in the district narrow alleys the LA office,
renowned for tackling organized crime, formed a task force with
the dea irs Us Custom Service and LAPD. Guided by

(02:15):
the FBI's theory of investigation, the team aim to dismantle
the entire laundering network, not just as foot soldiers. Early
leads come from informants, former cartel couriers and distrontal shop
owners who described cash strops of warehouses and coded ledgers
tracking illicit funds. Financial analysts flagged the regular bank deposits
small some of the smallest ten thousand to skirt reporting

(02:36):
laws linking district businesses to shell companies in Tijuana and Panama.
The investigation zeroed in on QT Maternity and two other retailers,
which collectively laundered up to one point five million monthly.
That's how raged almost twenty million a year. Undercover operations
were the FBI's best tool. Agents, posing as money carriers,

(02:57):
infiltrated the district's chaotic eCos to navigating streets where vendors
hawked denim and delivery trucks jammed loading jaw loading docks.
These operatives, often wired with concealed microphones, met cartel into
mediaries and grimy back rooms or crowded cafes handing over
duffel bags stuff with fifty thousand dollars in crumpled bills.
One agent, identified in court filings as UC one, spent

(03:21):
months building trust, delivering cash to a wholesaler who counted
with a money counter, oblivious to the FBI surveillance wiretops
secured after exhaustive FIZE court applications, captured operatives discussing shipments
and product, and veiled terms code for cash and drugs.
Transcripts revealed a broker bragging about laundering five hundred thousand
dollars a week, unaware that FBI linguists were decoding his slang.

(03:44):
Surveillance teams parked in unmacked van's photographed couriers unloading cash
at three am. Their license plates tied them to Sinaloa
operatives in San Diego. A harrowing subplot emerged, though, exposing
the cartel's ruthlessness. In twenty thirteen, at US Citizen, a
Cineloa distributed in South Carolina lost one hundred kilos of
cocaine to a dea seizure. The cartel reality retaliated by

(04:08):
kidnapping him and holding him in a squalid safehouse. In Cineloa,
where he had dude beatings and electric shocks. His family
was frantic and funnel one hundred and forty grand and
ransom payments through Fashion District businesses. FBI adalysts traced these transactions,
uncovering bank transfers to a cartel front and Coolia Cohn.
The breakthrough connected disparate businesses, revealing a network to launder

(04:28):
not just drug money, but extortion proceeds. Planning the takedown
was logistical marathon, though the Fashion district's density four thousand
businesses packed into a concrete grid, demanded a precise operation.
Many shops operated on cash, with handwritten receipts or no records,
complicating evidence collection. Cartel operators were skittish, switching burner phones

(04:50):
daily and varying drop off points, forcing agents attract them
via GPS beacons hidden in cash bags. Mexican corruption loomed large.
Sharing intelligence with Mexican police risked tipping off the carte. Also,
the FBI relied on US based operations, coordinating with Mexico's
Navy Siemar only for extraditional leads. The task force map
seventy five target locations from QT Maternity's storefront to a

(05:14):
warehouse stuff with cash laden boxes. On September ten, twenty fourteen.
The operation erupted at four point fifteen. FBI SUAD teams
clad and tactical gear rolled out in armored bearcats, their
headlights slicing through the fog. DEE agents and LAPD officers
sealed off streets Pico Boulevard while Customs Service K nine
units stood ready to sniff out hidden cash. A QT

(05:37):
maternity of battering rams split into the front door, revealing
thirty five million dollars in cash stacks of twenties and
hundreds carved into crammed into cardboard boxes and trash bags.
Agents wearing respirators against the stench of mildew and ink,
cataloged the hall of stunt employees watched in handcuffs. Another
raid at a warehouse on twelve Street uncovered thirty million

(05:57):
dollars hidden in false walls and sewn into clothing pallets,
Some marked for shipment to Wadalajara. Bank accounts were holding
thirty five million dollars, ever frozen. Executed simultaneously to prevent
cartel withdrawals, nine suspects, business owners, brokers and couriers were arrested,
charged of money laundering, drug trafficking, conspiracy, and RICO violations.

(06:19):
One operative caught fleeing with two hundred thousand dollars in
a suitcase, confess on the spot, offering names of Cineloa lieutenants.
The operation scale was staggering, cash totaling sixty five million
dollars in physical seizures filled three FBI evidence trucks. The
Assistant Director, Bill Lewis, addressing reporters at FBI headquarters, called
to take down a surgical strike on the Cinealoa cartel's finances.

(06:42):
They said, we've cut off a lifeline. The fallout was immediate.
The operations stalled. Cineloa's cocaine pop line has intercepted funds,
cryptled their ability to pay suppliers in Columbia, arrested operatives
facing twenty years sentences turned informants providing leads on cartel
safeouses in til One in La. The amazing thing about
this story wasn't just the operation and how much money,

(07:03):
in the size and the complexity, but it was that
even after this humongous financial gut punch, the Sinaloa cartel
taking key operatives, it continues on today now today it
is fractioned into two groups, headed one by the Chapito's
Chopo's son and the other one by Zambada. I think
it was Maya, the right hand man of Choppo. And

(07:27):
it continues on, so truly amazing. They're kind of like
a hydra chup off one head and they continue. So
that's it for today's story. Hopefully you enjoyed it.