U.S. Extradites Major Drug Suspect to L.A.

The alleged mastermind of an international money-laundering network that funneled $500 million in drug profits through Los Angeles jewelry stores to a Colombian cocaine cartel has been extradited to Los Angeles for trial, authorities said Saturday.

Raul Silvio Vivas, 39, was released into U.S. custody after the Uruguay Supreme Court rejected a request by Vivas’ attorneys to prevent his extradition, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Russell Hayman. Vivas was flown Friday on an FBI plane to an undisclosed location in Los Angeles, where he is being held pending his arraignment Monday before a federal magistrate.

Vivas’ extradition was hailed by U.S. law enforcement officials as a legal victory in their effort to pursue drug traffickers beyond the nation’s borders. It means that he could face trial in January in the first of two cases against 32 individuals and a Miami corporation indicted in the Los Angeles case. Authorities have described the operation as the largest money-laundering scheme ever uncovered,

Hayman said “the government is delighted that the judiciary in Uruguay ordered the extradition and looks forward to prosecuting him on two pending indictments” generated by the continuing FBI investigation, code-named Operation Polar Cap.

“Vivas is probably the top money-launderer to the (drug) cartels, or very close to the top,” FBI spokesman Fred Reagan said Saturday.

Vivas is alleged to have organized and controlled the money-laundering operation in which about half a billion dollars in cocaine proceeds were funneled to the Medellin cartel in Colombia through bogus gold transactions initiated by two Los Angeles jewelry businesses, Hayman said.

His extradition “marks yet another turning point for international community participation (in the effort) to end the tyranny of the drug empires,” said Thomas R. Parker, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

American officials have experienced difficulty in persuading South American regimes to relinquish fugitives wanted on drug-related charges, Parker said. The United States and Uruguay have had an extradition treaty since 1984, according to the State Department.

Vivas was arrested by the Uruguay National Police on Feb. 22 in Punte Del Este, the same day that hundreds of personnel from various law enforcement agencies swept through the Los Angeles Jewelry Mart, seizing 640 pounds of cocaine and arresting more than 30 people allegedly involved in the scheme.

If convicted on charges of conspiracy to aid and abet narcotics trafficking, the defendants could face life imprisonment. The maximum sentence for each count of money laundering is 20 years in prison, with fines as high as $25 million.

Hayman said Ronel Refining, a Miami corporation also indicted in the case, has pleaded guilty to the charges. The gold bullion company, which allegedly transferred drug proceeds from the Los Angeles jewelers to South America, has agreed to cease operations and pay the U.S. government at least $750,000 in fines, Hayman said.

None of the defendants’ attorneys could be reached for comment Saturday.

The government also has filed civil complaints aimed at seizing $80 million in property owned by the defendants, including a $17-million, 10-story building at 411 W. 7th St.

Hayman said he will ask the federal magistrate on Monday to hold Vivas without bail because of his alleged role in the case. Complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles allege that Vivas acquired Cambio Italia, a currency exchange business house in Uruguay sometime after 1985, and used it to transfer drug proceeds through a chain of money-laundering businesses leading to the Colombian drug lords.

The money had to be laundered because it takes too long and is too dangerous to ship to South America, Hayman said.

The government contends that the chain began with jewelers in Los Angeles, who allegedly collected carton after carton of drug money packed like bricks and shipped by armored car from a web of contacts in Los Angeles, New York City and Houston. The money was allegedly funneled through two Los Angeles firms--Andonian Brothers Inc. and Ropex Corp.

In several back rooms of Los Angeles’ downtown jewelry district, authorities said, the flow of drug money was so overwhelming that the cash--which the merchants falsely reported as legitimate jewelry profits--had to be counted on sophisticated high-speed machines. It was then transported by couriers to various Los Angeles banks.

The illicit money next was wired to Ronel Refining in Miami, ostensibly to purchase gold, Hayman said. But the gold was never bought, Hayman said. Instead, the money was immediately wired to contacts in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Panama City, Panama, and eventually was used to export more cocaine into the United States.