INTERVIEW
So, that was last night’ s case; but, two days ago we had a money pick up and it worked just the way it is supposed to. We watched two guys deliver a giant duffle bag full of cash to a known associate of the organization but we can’ t hit the two guys because we have to protect our investigation. So, the two guys drove to another borough and someone delivered a bag to their car; however, the two guys are still off limits. So, we watched them drive to yet another borough and watched someone get into the car and leave the car with the bag. The guy who left the car is now free game. So, we were able to stop the guy and we discovered that the bag was filled with cash and the original two guys drove off and they never even realized what happened. In the end, by watching one target, we developed another target and we arrested him and seized the cash.
The interesting thing is that sometimes we will sit on a target for two months waiting for them to do the same exchange and they do not do it again. So, it does not always go as smoothly. Sometimes the criminals do the pickups every day and sometimes they do not do anything for months. This line of work is unpredictable.
Editor’ s note: Bill had been up for over 24-hours when I did this interview with him. He was also out with his team when they arrested the three detainees I had seen earlier in the day. He is only one example of the many dedicated people I met during my visit at HSI EDTF.
AT: What was your most memorable arrest?
BB: Earlier this year we seized $ 4.1 million and three kilos of heroin. That case has generated almost $ 10 million in seizures in the last three years and 90 kilos of heroin and 18 arrests. We had a heroin seizure on that case two years ago that included 70 kilos of heroin and $ 2 million, which was the fourth largest heroin seizure in the country and the largest in the state of New York. The prosecutor said there was enough heroin in that seizure for every man, woman and child in New York to have a hit of heroin. So, it was rewarding to get heroin off the street. People ask,“ Why fight the
The three kilos of heroin
drug battle if you are not making a dent?” But you can make a dent. You are hurting the criminals financially. Stopping and dismantling is difficult, but slowing them down and getting them off the street makes a difference. Even though we are a financial group because we are doing narcotic proceeds, sometimes we run into narcotics by mistake and sometimes we will seize more by mistake than some street cops will seize their whole careers because we are trying to get the dirty money off the streets and then we get to prosecute the criminals.
AT: Do you have cases that go national or extend to other states?
BB: Yes, our drug trade teams come from Texas or Miami, Boston and Rhode Island. We deal mostly in the northeast and down the coast, but we have had some cases that have extended to California. For example, cocaine was being bought and shipped to California and to Canada, but since we focus on New York, we call the other offices in other states and send them our leads.
AT: What are other ways you follow the money besides your own covert operations?
BB: We work together with the different groups in HSI EDTF and we also do a lot of surveillance. It is extremely rewarding when we get the people arrested and prosecuted. For example, we had been surveilling the target from last night for six weeks, and when we stopped the suspect yesterday, the bag they had was empty. So, the next step was to search the car for money traps. We had a dog come and the dog confirmed that there was a scent of narcotics. So I ripped up the front seat cover and inside the front seat was a hidden compartment where the drugs were hidden. Everything is about hidden compartments. The interesting thing is that the driver gave us consent to search his car. Guilty people seem to want to be cooperative and they never think we will find anything. Criminals spend a lot of money outfitting their cars and homes with hidden compartments. The $ 4.1 million was all hidden in furniture.
AT: What has been your longest and shortest case?
BB: Four years and still ongoing is the longest case. The target is smart enough to never touch the money. So, I would like to catch that target before I retire. The shortest case was an hour.
Editor’ s note: After the interview, Bill went back to work to continue his 24-plus hour shift.
The commercial building seized by Erik Rosenblatt
44 ACAMS TODAY | SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017 | ACAMS. ORG | ACAMSTODAY. ORG