FBI agents investigating bribery, fraud, extortion and money laundering at Trenton City Hall are probing the owner of a scrap auto and towing business, the New Jersey Times reports.

Feds investigating Mayor Tony Mack’s administration are examining business dealings the city had with Nedal Abuhumoud, owner of Acres Auto in Hamilton and co-founder of a Trenton scrap yard and towing business, according to the New Jersey Times.

Abuhumoud told the Times he is not part of the investigation and has not been questioned by the FBI.

The news comes a week after agents searched Mack’s home and city hall.

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Steve Neavling

A Mexican drug cartel is accused of using Bank of America Corp. to invest money generated from selling cocaine into U.S. horse racing, Bloomberg reports.

Jose Trevino-Morales, the brother of the cartel’s alleged leader, was indicted by a grand jury June 11.

“The ultimate goal of this money laundering operation was to provide Jose Trevino with apparent legitimate assets purchased and maintained by illegally obtained money,” Preece , a special agent with the FBI, said in a statement.

Court filings show that Los Zetas drug cartel  is one of the largest in Mexico and funnels thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. each year, according to Bloomberg.

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ice video photo

 It’s all fun and games til your toy purchases may be supporting international drug cartels.

An 18-month investigation of L.A.company, Woody’s Toys Inc., by Homeland Security’s ICE and the DEA’s Southern California Drug Task Force yielded video of employees receiving bricks of cash in fast food chain parking lots, among other incriminating evidence.

Homeland Security’s press release states the co-owners and three employees of Woody’s Toys have been indicted  on charges of  orchestrating an elaborate financial scheme to launder millions of dollars for drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and Colombia.

Two Mexico-based toy dealers are charged as well.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, legitimate teddy bear buyers don’t close the sale with stacks of cash in restaurant parking lots,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles in a statement. “The reality is, unscrupulous companies that conspire to help the cartels cover their financial tracks are contributing in no small way to the devastation wrought by the international drug trade.”

To read more click here.

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Rep. Issa/gov photo

WASHINGTON — The powerful chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform increased his pressure on the Justice Department on Friday, raising new questions about how the Drug Enforcement Administration conducts its undercover money-laundering investigations and whether those operations cross the line between fighting and facilitating crime.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican who is chairman of the committee, accused the Justice Department of dragging its feet in responding to his request more than a month ago for a briefing on the operations, which allow D.E.A. agents to pose as money launderers and smugglers in order to infiltrate drug-trafficking organizations.

Mr. Issa wrote that he was concerned about whether there was sufficient oversight of these operations. He said an inquiry by his office had revealed evidence of potential impropriety, including the arrests of two American pilots who were held in a Panamanian jail for seven months.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

A Lebanese man indicted by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va. in November was charged on Tuesday with coordinating a multi-ton shipment of cocaine to the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel in the United States, along with laundering hundreds of millions of dollars back to Colombian suppliers, reports local NBC affiliate KETK.

CNN reported that the man has ties to Hezbollah, the Lebanese organization the U.S. has labeled as a terrorist group.

The DEA and the US Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the charges against Ayman Joumaa, a.k.a. “Junior.”  That and money laundering charges means Joumaa faces a possible life sentence.

KETK reports that for at least eight years Joumaa and others conspired to bring tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the Los Zetas drug cartel in the US through Columbia and Central America.

To read more click here.

Anthony Macisco has over 30 years of extensive leadership and management experience for agencies in the Departments of the Treasury (USSS Executive Protective Service and US Customs-Investigations) and Homeland Security (Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Investigations), in investigations and intelligence fields, in both a covert and overt capacity. Tony is currently a partner in The Densus Group, an international consulting firm that specializes in public order management techniques for foreign and domestic government agencies.

Anthony Macisco/sec debrief photo

It was recently reported that Congress is launching an investigation into the Drug Enforcement Administration, following claims that the agency helped drug cartels launder money – an operation some in Congress say bears striking resemblance to the failed “Fast and Furious” anti-gunrunning probe.

While most of America is appalled at the “Fast and Furious” operation, myself included, money laundering investigations are a completely different, proven and accepted investigative technique when conducted properly.

Long-term covert money laundering investigations have been around since the early 1980s when the U.S. Customs Service Office of Investigations conducted one of the first successful investigations known as “Operation C-Chase.”

It was one of the most successful undercover operations in the history of U.S. law enforcement, and the evidence gathered during the investigation proved critical to the conviction of General Manuel Noriega.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

The DEA sting operation involving the laundering of money to drug cartels that has angered some Republican congressmen actually dates back to the Reagan administration, according to the Justice Department.

Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Ronald Weich sent a letter to Rep. Darrel Issa–the Republic congressman leading the charges against the Justice Department–which said Congress gave the DEA the authority to conduct such operations in 1984, reports a blog from the Houston Chronicle. During Reagan’s time in office DEA investigations laundered as much as $100 million, gaining access to top levels of drug cartel leadership, according to Weich.

Congress gave the Drug Enforcement Administration the authority to conduct such sting runs as far back as 1984, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Ronald Weich told Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in a letter, obtained by Texas on the Potomac. In investigations during the Ronald Reagan administration, some in which agents laundered over $100 million, they gained access to the top levels of drug-cartel leadership, Weich wrote.

To read more click here.

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By Danny Fenster

Relations between U.S. and Mexico may suffer even more in wake of the latest disclosure of a  DEA money laundering sting.

The New York Times reported that DEA agents allowed and even facilitated the movement of drug money among criminals in the hopes that the paper trail would lead to top  bosses of the Mexican cartels. The operation has been used before internationally, but not in Mexico. While it drew criticism at home, the allegations have Mexican lawmakers furious and asking for an investigation, reports CNN.

Mexican Senator Felipe Gonzalez says his ruling PAN party will demand an investigation into the operation to see if the DEA allowed agents to launder money, possibly on Mexican soil, as part of their investigation.

“This is not increasing the trust among countries to work together against crime,” Gonzalez said, according to CNN. “Furthermore, you can’t fight crime by committing criminal acts and violating the law.”

At home, Rep. Darrel Issa has made similar claims, broadening an ongoing investigation beyond ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious. It will now include the allegations about the DEA.

To read more click here.