OPERATION GREEN ICE

Operation Green Ice at the time was a major event in international crime fighting. For the first time a huge sting operation was carried out in unison and in various countries throughout the world tying a number of criminal organizations together and arresting major money launderers as large portions of the Cali drug cartels cocaine money were seized in an operation that stretched three continents and eight nations.

The investigations were first started by the American Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA and were looking into a huge money laundering operation probably the biggest at the time in the world. Trans Americas in three years from 1989 to 1992 washed more than 53 million for the Columbian Cali cartel. Trans Americas washed the money through North America, Europe and back into bank accounts controlled by the cartel in Switzerland, Cayman Islands, and Panama and eventually back into Columbia. They also had numerous cash pick ups in England, Holland, Belgium and Italy where the three Italian Mafia groups Camorra, N'Drangheta and the Sicilian Cosa Nostra would also help out for distribution purposes.

The Cali cartel were happy for Trans Americas to wash their money as plenty more fake corporations were set up as part of the laundry cycle. However little did the Cali cartel know that Trans Americas were actually staffed by DEA agents for the purposes of investigating South American drug money Laundering. The DEA had truly hit the jackpot, as over the next three years the DEA got inside the inner workings of a major South American drug cartels extensive and sophisticated money laundering operation. It was the first time anyone had got such a close look at the inside of the money laundering business, and it was from here where new co-operations in other countries were much needed to come on board, as this was an international problem.

On September 28th 1992, police from eight countries - America, Great Britain, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Spain, Holland and the Cayman Islands arrested more than 200 people, including 112 in the U.S, 3 in Britain, 4 in Spain, and 34 in Italy. The top prize though had to be Jose Duran. The 38-year-old Columbian drug lord was arrested in Rome, and thought of at the time as the worlds most important drug distributor, there were over 20 different dossiers on him in over 20 different countries using over 20 different aliases.

Also 15 money laundering front companies were raided and $54 million in cash was seized to go along with the 3 quarters of a ton of cocaine. Thousands of files were confiscated on both sides of the Atlantic. Computer records were also seized in a Cali office in Columbia, which also gave great details into the extensive money laundering operation and joint ventures between the Italian Mafia's drug trafficking along the French Riviera and money laundering ventures in the Rhine Valley real estate in Germany.

As a result of operation Green Ice a capo in the Neapolitan Camorra was arrested along with the suspected No. 2 man in Sicily. Following the operation more big names began to fall, such as Michele Zaza, the overall leader of the Camorra. He was picked up on the French Riviera where he and his clan had invested millions of drug money into hotels and casino's, 40 of his group were also arrested in Belgium, Italy and Germany. Showing once again how extensive the laundering operations for organized crime has become.

This was to be one of the finest and most calculated operations of its kind in the world. The benchmark for what needs to be done more often as solid evidence is here to prove that international policing can be a possibility. Operation Green Ice also proved that international co-operation is a must if they are going to succeed in their quest to try and control the amount of extensive drug and money laundering operations and networks that exist.

William Ruzzamenti, Chief of Public Affairs, Drug Enforcement Administration, "DEA Celebrates 20 Years of Innovative Drug Enforcement". It has been nearly a decade since "Operation Green Ice". Other drug lords and cartels have filled the vacuum left by the Cali cartel. The tactics used to destroy the Cali financial base were effective; however, the drug lords are not fools. The drug trade is not restricted to any one nation. It is a mistake to focus only on one country in the global drug trafficking industry. It is remarkable how well the drug industry can adapt to changing trends in law enforcement and laws. For instance, with the passage of legislation by the Congress of the United States to deal with international money laundering, the drug industry showed its flexibility: "So as banks around the world became stricter about money laundering laws, Colombian traffickers began to avoid using the legitimate bank system and started infiltrating the black peso exchange to launder their drug money. This sophisticated method would eventually become known as the Black Market Peso Exchange, and is still one of the most successful money-laundering methods ever devised. Fanny Kertzman, the former chief of Colombian Customs, says the black peso exchange launders almost $5 billion dollars of drug money a year for the Colombian traffickers."

Which just goes to show that even the most successful of operations must not be celebrated for too long as the initiative can swiftly change back to those with the millions of narco dollars who are ready to business once again. Just as one successful operation is brought to a close it mustn't be treat as if this was the last chapter and the launderers are going to go away. The pressure must retained by starting new investigations immediately as one is brought to a conclusion. Then and only then will the drug lords feel the real heat. However this is far easier said than done.

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