The Chinese cash factory that finances the mafias

[furiofromnaples]

The Chinese cash factory that finances the mafias

Floriana Bulfon, Repubblica August 21,2023


The Chinese cash factory

The "black money" of Asian companies becomes cash given to the mafias.

A two-headed dragon. On the one hand, it accumulates reserves of cash, the result of tax evasion of shops, restaurants and companies run by Chinese citizens. On the other hand, it makes mountains of banknotes available to the mafias for drug purchases, especially to the 'Ndrangheta.
«If you tell me Hong Kong, I have it... the Chinese will come and bring you the money. Give him an appointment at the hotel, it's not a problem..." advised an intercepted Calabrian trafficker. And this is not an exception, but a cobweb that envelops the entire peninsula.

A million in the bag

The labrador that he discovered a few days ago on the Catania-Aosta bus a woman with a million cash in her purse has sensed the trail of the other Silk Road, the one that transfers the hottest payments everywhere on the planet. By now couriers crossing Italy with similar loads are frequent: the traveling salesmen of a made in China industry that sells cash, one of the goods more in demand on the illicit market by those who want to escape the tax authorities and - in even greater amounts - by those who have to haggle tons of cocaine.

In the last year a series of investigations by the Guardia di Finanza has exposed this perverse circuit. The last one started by chance.A Chinese citizen stopped at a checkpoint in the suburbs: hundreds of thousands of euros in the trunk.

The checks revealed relations with the 'Ndrangheta and following the thread a now consolidated scheme materialized: in exchange for the cash, the men of the clan reclaim the same amount, with the addition of a commission percentage, to Hong Kong companies Kong or Shanghai.
All justified by false invoices for imported goods. An occult channel that also works in the reverse direction to deliver the sums to the South American cartels, allowing the rapid settlement of the shipments of narcotics landed in European ports.
It's a proven gear, because this intercontinental ATM is born from the centuries-old wisdom of communities scattered throughout the world that only handle cash.
They call it "fei ch'ien" or "flying money". For undocumented emigrants, it was the only way to send the fruit of their labor to their relatives.
Now it has become the instrument that has allowed the boom in cocaine exports, solving the problem of settling accounts between the two sides of the ocean. It is the key element of a revolution that is changing the very nature of criminal groups, generating a very powerful "macromafia" that traffics drugs and money, as underlined by the national anti-mafia prosecutor Gianni Melillo:
It's a proven gear, because this intercontinental ATM
this is born of the centuries-old wisdom of communities scattered throughout the world that only handle cash.
They call it "fei ch'ien" or "flying money". For undocumented emigrants, it was the only way to send the fruit of their labor to their relatives.
Now it has become the instrument that has allowed the boom in cocaine exports, solving the problem of settling accounts between the two sides of the ocean. It is the key element of a revolution that is changing the very nature of criminal groups, generating a very powerful "macromafia" that traffics drugs and money, as underlined by the national anti-mafia prosecutor Gianni Melillo:
«The transnational expansion of the main criminal structures voted the control of the import routes of large volumes of drugs has led to the creation of international networks that make use of a gigantic logistical organization and common strategies of concealment and speculative reinvestment of profits from trafficking".
And here is the great transformation, highlighted by the prosecutor Melillo:
«In this dimension, a powerful parallel and clandestine banking system manages the volume of commercial exchanges from the network, which allows each actor to maneuver their financial choices, overcoming the difficulties and costs of cross-border money transfers»

Technology and tradition

Today's mechanism is a mixture of technology and tradition. Last June, the Fiamme Gialle of Reggio Emilia identified a young entrepreneur who owns several companies in the Veneto region:on the phone the men of the 'Ndrangheta called him "the banker". He and other compatriots took care of the delivery: as recognition it was enough to show a banknote with a specific serial number.
Then the money was counted and the total was written on the same banknote: it was photographed with a cell phone and the image transmitted to the client.

Deal closed.

Negotiations and contacts always take place via encrypted mobile phones, which are difficult to intercept. The financiers managed to capture only the internal conversations of the Calabrian clans, such as the debate - recorded in 2018 during the Pollino-European Connection operation - between Luciano Camporesi and Domenico Pelle on where it was better to forward the wire transfers: Hong Kong or China?
Pelle had already experimented with the second goal to pay for drugs and everything had gone smoothly: «But isn't it more convenient for you in China? We sent it there by bank transfer, they made us happy».

Other details have emerged from the investigation by the European police that he has allowed to penetrate the servers of SkyEcc, one of the telephony networks
most popular among criminals, deciphering thousands of messages in code. For example, the chats between Francesco Giorgi di San Luca and his fellow villager Paolo Pellicano on how to transfer the profits from drug trafficking reveal that the commission is only 1 percent. Giorgi, however, warns that in Rome «the Chinese
they don't take more than a million at a time.' They are accused persons for the record entries of cocaine from the container terminal in Antwerp, paid thanks to the usual network.

The recognition "token".

From one Flemish city to another Calabrian who acts as a broker with the Colombians, Lucio Aquino, organizes the delivery of a million to Rome on behalf of the 'ndragheta and provides the number of the "token", the banknote of recognition.
But his emissary warns him: "The Chinese approached the five euros but they don't match." It's just a misunderstanding, clarified via chat: in the same place there was also an appointment with a group of Neapolitan recyclers, who got stuck in traffic.

«Chinese are arriving from all over the place…», is Aquino's comment.

The other face of the criminal Dragon is no less worrying and deals with feeding liquid money, with many streams flowing into the millionaire river.

A cross-section comes from the investigations of the Yellow Flems of Emilia Romagna, who have identified a chain of "paper mills": companies registered or attributable to Chinese citizens who issue false invoices and sort cash.
Only two of these groups have churned out documentation for 127 million euros, transferring 45 million abroad. Others, on the other hand, launch themselves into companies in crisis: they steal assets, make them go bankrupt and give up tax credits.
How extensive this “China syndrome” is is testified by the last one report by the UIF, the Bank of Italy's Financial Intelligence Unit. Thenlast year, the analysis of 62 suspicious transactions revealed a network made up of 1,600 subjects with transactions for 270 million euros who send funds to banks in the People's Republic.
Then the collectors enter the scene: «Generally recently established companies, despite this already closed or in about to be - write the via Nazionale detectives - who sometimes represent the last link in the chain of transfers, being beneficiaries of the return to Italy of the sums deported". And they conclude by closing the circle:

«The evidence acquired demonstrates frequent financial exchanges with names included in the database of the anti-mafia prosecutor».

[Wiseguy]

Interesting article. Sort of an updated Asian version of the old hawala system?

[NJShore4Life]

“Chinks did this?!?” - Christopher Moltisanti

[furiofromnaples]

Interesting article. Sort of an updated Asian version of the old hawala system?

Yes,same sistem different names. And also the hawala is used by criminals and even terrorists.

[newera_212]

Interesting article. Sort of an updated Asian version of the old hawala system?

Good call. Hawala is pretty interesting and kind of amazing when you think about it