FBI stages a wedding to bust international smuggling ring

[matcom]

<snip>

For nearly five years, undercover FBI agents in Atlantic City burrowed deep into a sprawling global network of Asian organized crime, posing as Jersey mobsters willing to move smuggled drugs, fake cigarettes and counterfeit money from the Newark docks throughout the country.

But when it came time to dismantle the rings, the agents needed a way to lure their prey to the same place.

They decided on a wedding.

The gold-embossed invitations, sent out weeks ago, announced the nuptials of the would-be mobster and his girlfriend, both agents. They promised free hotel rooms and limo rides to the ceremony and festivities on a yacht named Royal Charm off Atlantic City.

The big day, Sunday, was memorable, but not for the normal reasons. Instead of carrying them to an oceangoing reception, the limos whisked the guests to holding cells and gave them only handcuffs as party favors.

The guests were among dozens of suspects arrested and charged over the weekend in Los Angeles, Chicago, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Las Vegas, New York and Canada.

Indictments unsealed yesterday in New Jersey and California said the defendants, working in loosely organized networks, trafficked 200 million counterfeit cigarettes, smuggled narcotics and fake Viagra pills and sold agents more than $3 million in high-quality counterfeit $50 and $100 bills.

Several of the defendants allegedly promised to sell a shipment of grenade launchers, anti-tank missiles and submachine guns to the undercover agents for $1 million. But the sellers postponed the delivery after the London bombings because they were afraid of getting caught.

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