Feds Break Up Chinese Gang that Trafficked N. Korean “Supernotes”

Don’t let the entertainment value fool you. This one appears to have been a bust of major significance, which the feds claim “decapitated” one of the largest crime syndicates operating in the United States:

The guests thought they were headed to an early afternoon wedding on a yacht docked near Atlantic City. They ended up in jail instead, courtesy of an elaborate ruse by federal authorities hoping to bust up an international smuggling ring.

Lengthy undercover investigations on opposite sides of the country resulted in indictments of 87 Asians and U.S. citizens on charges of smuggling counterfeit money, drugs and cigarettes into the United States, law enforcement officials said Monday.

Authorities said they seized $4.4 million in high-quality fake $100 bills, more than 1 billion counterfeit cigarettes worth $42 million, and ecstasy, methamphetamine and Viagra worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of the cigarettes were made in China, said acting assistant Attorney General John Richter.

The feds showed some real panache this time:

The affair was seven months in the making, and the bride and groom were actually undercover FBI agents who worked with the accused smugglers for several years, said Christopher J. Christie, the U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

“Invitations were sent out, a date was given and RSVPs were received from different points around the world,” Christie said at a Justice Department news conference. Guests arrived at an area hotel in recent days and mingled with the lucky couple, Christie said.

They were assured transportation would be provided from their hotel to the yacht. They were taken into custody instead.

The reporters did not miss the North Korean connection to the “supernotes,” which are so much like the real thing that their forebears inspired the recent redesign of U.S. currency:

Of particular concern, Secret Service officials said, was the group’s apparent ability to generate counterfeit U.S. currency that could fool even the most sophisticated detection devices. A government source said the bills, known as “super notes” because they were virtually identical to real currency, had been made in North Korea. The bills were seized before they entered the U.S. money supply, authorities said.

North Korea is known to be a producer of illegal drugs, including meth. Although the report doesn’t name North Korea as the source, I can add some relevant knowledge based on my prosecutorial experience. First, almost all meth in the U.S. is produced domestically in hidden labs. Most of the imported stuff comes from Mexico and has a distinctive brownish color, like dried peanut butter or brown sugar. North Korea is known to be a producer, however, and if meth was being brought in through crates of furniture from Asia, North Korea is one of the likely sources. Both meth and ecstasy are also increasingly available in China. Other more disturbing contraband was also on the way:

Two defendants in New Jersey also were charged with conspiracy to ship $1 million in rocket launchers, automatic rifles and silenced pistols and submachine guns, officials said. The weapons were never delivered, they said.

So many interesting questions follow:

1. Were any North Korean nationals caught or implicated?
2. Were other branches of the same organization operating in third countries? What countries?
3. Will international cooperation be sufficiently swift to snip those branches?
4. Will it be enough to shut down the entire network?
5. Is there a connection to North Korean diplomats, who routinely finance their official functions through illegal activity?
6. Where were the drugs made?
7. Were any of those caught connected to the Chinese government?
8. In the end, how badly will this hurt the finances of the North Korean regime?