Local News in Brief : Figure in Cocaine Case Gets 4 Years
A man accused of acting as the Los Angeles overseer for a major international cocaine money laundering ring was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
Rodolfo Ariano Jr., 28, arrested in a nationwide undercover sting nicknamed “Operation Cashweb,” was accused of overseeing Southern California operations for a ring that laundered $36 million in cocaine proceeds during a nine-month period in early 1987.
He pleaded guilty to a single count charging him with laundering $300,250 in drug proceeds.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Gordon Greenberg said videotapes introduced at trial showed that Ariano “actually enjoyed playing the role of the big shot” in meetings with undercover FBI agents, but that Ariano has since provided valuable evidence against even more culpable co-defendants in the ring.
“I think the only thing involved is greed,” U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew said. “You wanted money. You got yourself involved.”
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