Word: saccoccia
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...Saccoccia's operation, say prosecutors, hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed into dummy shops in Manhattan's jewelry district each day from nationwide drug couriers. The cash was bundled into duffel bags or gold- shipment crates and driven by Brink's or Loomis armored trucks to the Saccoccia Coin Co., an unobtrusive storefront in Cranston, R.I. (pop. 76,000), or to a second location in Los Angeles. Thereafter, most of the money was subdivided, deposited in U.S. banks -- ranging from Rhode Island's modest Fleet/Norstar to Bank of America -- and then converted into cashier's checks made out to dummy...
...racket apparently grew with astonishing speed. Saccoccia started as a decent enough kid, collecting coins while in high school in Cranston until he dropped out in 1973 to open his coin shop. By 1980, with the price of gold soaring, the boy wonder enjoyed a statewide reputation. "He was fencing ((buying and reselling)) all the stolen gold in the area," recalls a local federal agent. "Kids were busting into houses left and right, stealing precious metals and lining up outside his store." By the time he pleaded guilty in 1985 to tax evasion, Saccoccia was reputedly a key moneymaking "associate...
...government agents dismantle Saccoccia's web, they marvel at his sophistication. "He was a tough micromanager who dictated every piece of the operation and castigated his subordinates regularly for not doing deals fast enough," says Charles Domroe, who heads the FBI's narcotics unit in New York. "He is also the first known launderer to serve both the Medellin and the Cali cartels." Among those indicted with Saccoccia is a man he allegedly answered to, a Miami-based trafficker for the Cali group named Duvan ("Uncle") Arboleda, who slipped quietly and safely back to Colombia two months...
...Saccoccia wasn't as lucky -- or as careful. When his cash deposits became suspiciously large, banks tipped off the IRS. Then, in a display of cooperation rarely seen in the financial industry, 10 banks agreed to continue taking the money as federal agents watched. Saccoccia's final mistake may have been his failure, quite literally, to wash the greenbacks before laundering them. In March 1990, Saccoccia and an aide delivered to a bank $53,000 packaged in 53 bundles. The currency was tested by a cocaine-sniffing German shepherd named Basko, which promptly went "bonkers," says an agent...
...privately insured banks and credit unions with it. The bank's fugitive president, Joseph Mollicone Jr., who is accused of embezzling $13 million, was initially a target of the Polar Cap probe. On the same day last fall that state examiners were inside Heritage reviewing the books, one of Saccoccia's aides turned up at a teller's window with $52,600 in cash...