# Laundering money **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 4, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laundering-money/841261 "2019-10-04T15:35:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laundering-money/841261/1 "2019-10-04T15:35:19Z")
In today’s column, Cecil says, “In one infamous smurfing case a ring of middle-aged women placed over $25 million of Florida drug money into assorted California banks.” I realize this was 10 years ago, but a cursory googling didn’t turn up any hits for this story (for me anyway). Link: [How would I go about laundering money? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2836/how-would-i-go-about-laundering-money/) Can someone help? ---
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laundering-money/841261/2 "2019-10-04T17:39:56Z")
Got it. This was the “Grandma Mafia” case, even though the women were in their 40s: > **['Grandma Mafia' ringleader faces life in prison - UPI Archives](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/04/Grandma-Mafia-ringleader-faces-life-in-prison/5628420868800/)** > > The convicted leader of the 'Grandma Mafia' drug smuggling ring -- an unlikely group of grandmothers and hardened drug dealers -- could be imprisoned for... FTR, that was $5m in drug money, and $20M in FBI-sting money. ---
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laundering-money/841261/3 "2019-10-04T17:46:01Z")
More: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/10/24/white-powder-attracts-prospectors-in-california-gold-rush-of-82/5488d953-cacb-41c1-a3f6-057a6624b0f5/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/10/24/white-powder-attracts-prospectors-in-california-gold-rush-of-82/5488d953-cacb-41c1-a3f6-057a6624b0f5/) > [@](#): > > … One major cocaine case set for trial later this year, known to attorneys as the “Grandma Mafia” case, involved “middle-aged, middle-class ladies, some of them grandmothers, who wanted to make a lot of money,” said Perry. > > One of them, 46-year-old Barbara Mouzin, had been working in a Florida clothing business when she allegedly became involved in currency exchange and then drug trafficking between the United States and Colombia, Perry said. In a telephone conversation taped by investigators, he said, a colleague of hers said the clothing business was doing so poorly that he was glad they had the sideline. > > Mouzin allegedly approached a banker in southern California and asked him to accept large amounts of cash without filing a currency transaction report, a classic form of money “laundering” that allows drug sellers to avoid detection by drug investigators and the Internal Revenue Service, Perry said. > > He said the banker contacted authorities and in the end Mouzin was dealing with government agents posing as launderers. In just eight months, Perry said, Mouzin allegedly handled $25 million, in deposits ranging up from $70,000. … ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laundering-money/841261/4 "2019-10-04T19:21:51Z")
> [@mjmlabs](#): > > Got it. This was the “Grandma Mafia” case, even though the women were in their 40s: > > ['Grandma Mafia' ringleader faces life in prison - UPI Archives](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/04/Grandma-Mafia-ringleader-faces-life-in-prison/5628420868800/) > > FTR, that was $5m in drug money, and $20M in FBI-sting money. Thank you, appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laundering-money/841261/5 "2019-10-05T00:07:59Z")
Upon further review…looks like all $25M was drug money; the FBI sting was a fake bank they got the perps to use for laundering, not Fed money they got the perps to accept and launder. We regret the error. Sent from my SM-S727VL using Tapatalk