#MoneyLaunderingMysteries: How do mobs and cartels pay their employees without revealing their network?
Hey there! So you’re curious about how those shady characters manage to pay their employees without exposing their whole operation, huh? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive into this intriguing topic together!
## The Art of Money Laundering
First things first, let’s talk about how mobs and cartels clean their dirty money. Money laundering is the process of making illegally obtained funds appear legitimate. This allows criminals to enjoy their ill-gotten gains without raising suspicion.
### Step 1: Placement
The first step is to get the dirty cash into the financial system without raising any red flags. This can involve breaking down large sums into smaller amounts or depositing the money in various accounts to avoid detection.
### Step 2: Layering
Next, the money undergoes a process called layering, where it is moved around through a series of complex financial transactions to obscure its origins. This could involve wire transfers, overseas accounts, or shell companies.
### Step 3: Integration
Finally, the money is integrated back into the legitimate economy. This could be done through investments, real estate purchases, or high-end purchases like mansions and estates.
## Buying Mansions and Estates
Now, let’s address your question about how these criminals manage to buy luxurious properties without raising suspicion.
### Cash Purchases
While it may seem unlikely, some criminals do make cash purchases for their properties. By breaking up the payment into smaller amounts or using multiple individuals to make the purchase, they can avoid drawing attention to themselves.
### Mortgage Fraud
In some cases, criminals may use fraudulent means to obtain mortgages for their properties. This could involve providing false information about their income or assets to qualify for the loan.
### Shell Companies
Another common tactic is to use shell companies to purchase properties. These companies are often set up with the sole purpose of hiding the true owner’s identity, making it difficult to trace the property back to the criminal.
## Conclusion
In conclusion, the world of money laundering is a complex and intricate web of deception. By following the steps of placement, layering, and integration, mobs and cartels are able to pay their employees and enjoy their ill-gotten gains without attracting unwanted attention. Just remember, crime doesn’t pay in the long run!
I hope this gives you some insight into the dark underworld of financial crime. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! Happy learning! 💸🕵️♂️
Yeah I work at the warehouse as an executive logistics consultant. No I am never at the office. No, none of the employees there know who I am. No I don’t know anything about warehouses or logistics. Yes that warehouse is owned by a guy who **allegedly** has ties to organized crime. Hey stop asking questions if you know what’s good for you mister
The mob is a pyramid. Money runs uphill, shit runs downhill. The lower guys earn and kick up to the higher guys. It’s tribute, just like in the old country.
I’m assuming they do it through companies and/or other people. Fake identities. Once you’re powerful enough you can get creative.
Washing money.
They wash their money, that’s how they do it.
They make their illegitimate money into legitimate money. Service businesses are great for that.
You know that laundry mat that’s never busy? Well somehow that owner took in a ton of business from their machines, paid taxes on it, and now it’s legitimate money. They have people who do this and make the money look good.
There’s a million other ways to launder money, but a laundry mat can be one of them.
That catering business? Well they bought a ton of product (they actually didn’t buy anything) and took care of a huge party for someone. (The party never happened) and made tons of money from it.
Money laundering.
Then they withdraw from clean bank account to pay their employees and expenses.
As for how money laundering works you can eli5 it or watch the Ozarks
They launder money. By that I mean, they purchase legitimate businesses to act as a “front.” Usually businesses that mainly operate with cash.
So let’s say I’m a successful drug dealer (Just to clarify for the record, I am NOT lol). I sell a lot of drugs and work only with cash. Let’s say I’m bringing in $10k/month with my illicit business. That money can’t go into a bank account, because the IRS is gonna shit their pants when they see it and try to figure out where it came from.
A year later though, I have $120k. Now I can purchase a “legitimate business.” So maybe I decide to open a donut shop or something. The donut shop might not be super successful, but I can start funnelling that drug money into the books at the donut shop and pretend that I now own a profitable donut shop in the city, when in reality most of the “profits” come from illegal activity. As long as you go slow and don’t get crazy with your deposits, the IRS doesn’t pay attention. So in other words if I deposit $3k a week of the drug money, I’m good. If I try to deposit $20k a week though, that’s suspicious because no donut shop is taking in $20k per week.
So that’s money laundering. Of course at this point I’m paying taxes to the IRS on my “legitimate” income, but if I’m bringing in that much money from my illegitimate business, I’m not worried about taxes. The government gets their share and they leave me alone unless I do something stupid, such as trying to deposit $20k per week from my tiny donut shop, which would make no sense financially.
Also I realize that I just rambled and didn’t actually answer the question. So how are the employees paid? They’re often paid in cash. Whatever they choose to do with that cash is on them. OR the more likely option is I put them on the payroll at my “donut shop” and give them legitimate paychecks for “working” there. Even though they don’t actually come to the shop and make donuts, they just sell drugs for me instead.
There’s a fried chicken place right up the road from me. I’m pretty sure it’s a front. I drive past it every day and it’s always open but I’ve never ever seen a car in the parking lot. No customers, no employees. It’s just there, and yet somehow it makes enough money to stay open. Obviously I’m speculating here, but I can’t fathom how a restaurant can stay open all day and not bring in a single customer unless there’s some illegitimate cash coming in.
The term you are looking for is “money laundering”, the art of turning illegally acquired money into legal-looking money that you can put in a bank account, pay taxes on, and yes, pay your mortgage with.
As a simple example, I go to school and sell my lunch instead of eating it. But my parents would get suspicious of me having extra money. So I go out babysitting and tell my parents that I’m getting paid more than I really am, and voila, they think my extra money is legitimate.
As a less simple example, I sell drugs, but I also run a popular restaurant. Wow, there’s always a lot of money in the tip jar, and when customers pay cash I sometimes forget to subtract the value of their coupons from the till. Voila, extra “income” I can report to the IRS.
As they get towards the area of mansions and estates they generally don’t just go out and buy million dollar companies or grow there crappy shop to have huge incomes they need to invest into existing’s, This would be a trigger for the Govt in any country.
Lets say 1 guy has a trucking company with 5 trucks, You could go to them and say lets buy another 10 trucks, Well your going to give that guy a few million in cash, Hes going to put that thru his business as income. Now your invested in a trucking business with 15 trucks valued at 5million.. You actually own those 15 trucks, You may not even pay them up front you may just rent them it doesnt bother you about Interest.
Now you can start to launder even larger amounts of money, Smart money laundering actually has people to grow that illegitimate business. Nobody whos in the space of buying mansions and estates is in a “life of crime” they begin to shift and grow illegitimate business to be large the advantage they have is they can afford to make mistakes and challenge companies with small profit margin to go out of business.
Its the large companies to be cautious of, Even companies with a history of 50 years can have investors of a shady past, Sometimes it pops up when somebody gets murdred and the news is like “Family man, Nobody knew anything about it” and then you hear a “Was known to be friends with x,y,z” who were all people in illegimate circles.
They’ve practically paid him, Hes living a good life to be legit whilst needing to be illegimate at the same time but every so often the discussion isnt just business and it gets personal.