El Dorado has targeted money remitter services that are used more and more frequently by drug cartels to launder money abroad. In fact. the task force identified 12 large scale businesses in the New York Metropolitan area that were used to wire hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal drug proceeds overseas. These companies are affiliated with hundreds of smaller businesses ranging from travel agencies to beeper and cellular telephone outlets. which are found in predominantly poor immigrant neighborhoods throughout the city. The result was that communities like Jackson Heights were becoming magnets for drug cartels to funnel their illicit proceeds from drug sales to drug source countries. That is how I became involved almost four years ago.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrant neighborhoods are magnets for drug cartels.