The Nation - News from April 18, 1988

Tactics for state and local officials to use in finding and confiscating the concealed profits of drug dealers are catalogued in a report issued by the National Institute of Justice, the Justice Department’s research arm. A textbook on procedures to root out “money laundering” devices used by organized crime to conceal huge profits from illicit ventures, principally drug trafficking, the 66-page report calls for more state and local action to supplement federal enforcement efforts. Up to now, the report said, the only states that have directly outlawed money laundering are California and Georgia. The California law, which took effect in January, 1987, requires banks to report suspicious cash transactions involving more than $5,000. It has figured in an investigation that led to the arrest last December of two Orange County men on charges of laundering more than $1 million in drug profits.