WSNIA - The Educator

INFORMATION ♦ EDUCATION ♦ ENFORCEMENT

THE EDUCATOR - Spring 2002

A Return to the Mountain

by Detective Tom Padukiewicz

With methamphetamine use and production in the limelight, other drug distribution and manufacture organizations are taking advantage of the diversion to plot new ways of smuggling and distributing their product in the United States.

A former narcotics supervisor of mine once said, “Once you visit the mountain it’s that much harder to return and work narcotics cases at a street level.” He was right. My first trip to the “mountain” came during a case which lead us from Lewis County, Washington to California and Mexico. We targeted members of the Felix Arrellano drug cartel, made arrests and seizure of over 160 pounds of cocaine, 10 lbs of methamphetamine, 25 pounds of marijuana and over $100,000.00 in cash. We thought we had reached the pinnacle of drug cases that could be worked at a local level; little did we know there was some thing much bigger waiting for us around the bend.

During an investigation initiated by the Washington State Patrol Narcotics Section and U.S. Immigrations during the spring of 1998, undercover agents met and infiltrated a Colombian cocaine distribution cell directed by the Cali Drug Cartel.

Intelligence gathered confirmed that the Cali Cartel had intentions of smuggling ton quantities of cocaine from Colombia to Washington State where it was to be warehoused and distributed throughout the U.S. The Colombians made it clear that the State of Washington is very attractive to them as a distribution point due to its many seaports, border crossings and sparse law enforcement presence.

As the case continued, we were able to gather intelligence that showed that the primary criminal targets operate internationally and that their drug distribution organization extends from Columbia to Mexico, California, Arizona, Washington, Miami, Chicago, New York and Canada. Further, the primary targets were also involved in a “Tax and Loan” service, which was a front for money laundering. Information we gathered indicated that the targets of investigation were also involved in auto theft, insurance fraud, using counterfeit money and alien smuggling.

As this investigation progressed, Special Agent Jim Cross of the F.B.I., Stan Seto of U.S. Customs and the King County Regional Drug Task Force were brought in to participate. A preliminary analysis of phone numbers frequently called by the primary target linked him to at least 12 other major investigations previously and/or currently under investigation by the F.B.I. These investigations were located in various areas across the United States and Colombia and involved large quantities of illegal drugs and national security topics.

We used a number of props during this investigation to carry out the undercover scenarios and gain the confidence of our suspects. We used a number of sports cars, a fishing trawler rigged for smuggling, a fully furnished luxury condominium and a healthy expense account for wining and dining the suspects. We also displayed large quantities of cash and 50 kilos of cocaine to various suspects during undercover meetings.

We began working towards an undercover meeting with Cali Cartel members to put ourselves in a position of handling the transportation of narcotics for them. Representatives of the Cali Drug Cartel flew to and from Seattle and Colombia as well as New York and Los Angeles to further negotiate the cocaine smuggling operation. The Cartel expressed their interest in using us to transport t quantities of cocaine from Colombia via Costa Rica to Seattle beginning in the Spring of 1999.

During meetings with potential buyers, suspects produced $200,000.00 in cash with the intent of purchasing cocaine from our “distribution organization.” Going for the “bird in the hand,” we made a decision to scrap plans for the meeting in Panama and orchestrate a huge meeting in Seattle to get as many of the Colombian and Eastern European suspects here at the same time as possible. Once all six suspects were in Seattle, we ar ranged several separate undercover scenarios where the suspects were arrested and their money seized. The “reverse sting” scenarios in Seattle resulted in the arrest of all six suspects and over $200,000.00 in cash seized.

Investigators operating from a California-based narcotics task force were conducting a separate, parallel investigation on the same cocaine distribution cell being directed by one of our Colombian suspects arrested in Seattle. During their investigation, they seized more than 3.5 million dollars in U.S. currency and over 100 kilograms of cocaine. The cooperation and sharing of information between agencies has benefited both investigations and prosecutions.

Subsequent to the arrests in Seattle, we received information from the R.C.M.P. in Toronto, Canada, which linked several of our suspects arrested in Seattle to a major Eastern European organized crime group that the R.C.M.P. had been investigating. Two of our suspects arrested in Seattle cooperated with investigators, supplying extensive information on the Toronto- based Russian organized crime group. In December of 1999, cooperation between U.S. and Canadian investigators resulted in a sweep across several Canadian provinces where 42 arrests of major organized crime figures were made and their organization was dismantled. In a story carried by the Associated Press, this sweep and the arrests that resulted were billed as the largest and most significant organized crime group ever arrested in Canada. The Russian-led organized crime group was involved in numerous types of crimes including bank/credit card fraud, prostitution, extortion, narcotics and auto theft.

Other information supplied by our suspects, and currently being investigated by the F.B.I., outlined an elaborate network of cocaine smuggling and money laundering occurring on the eastern seaboard stretching from Colombia to the Bahamas and then to Florida, New York, Chicago and Toronto. The information involves numerous individuals and distribution cells utilizing aircraft, boats and cruise ships to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

(Inter-agency cooperation and the support of your parent agency is integral to conduct investigations of this magnitude. Hats off to all involved -- Editor)