Miami is unlike any other place in the USA, with stories like this, which go unnoticed by the national media:
Billions in drug dealers’ illegal Amazon gold ‘laundered’ through Miami refinery, feds say.
In brief, a Colombian guy named Juan P. Granda, working as director of operations NTR Metals, allegedly – with two other guys – was buying gold from illegal mines in Peru’s Amazonian rain forest, refining it, selling it, and then wiring the funds back to drug traffickers.
Things get complicated and at least seven countries are involved: Granda was born in Ecuador, is a U.S, citizen, the gold was coming from Peru, but was routed through Bolivia, and
At least one of the companies sending the gold to NTR was financed by a man identified as P.F. in the complaint. According to sources, he is “Peter Ferrari,” whose real name is Pedro Perez Miranda.
Ferrari was acquitted of narcotics money laundering in Peru. But he was later arrested on charges of illegal gold mining and laundering more than $500 million worth of gold.
After the Peruvian crackdown, smuggled gold was transported to Bolivia before it was shipped to NTR in Miami, the complaint said. Last year, Ecuadorean authorities made arrests involving about $400 million in gold from Peru bound for refineries in Miami, including NTR Metals, according to the complaint.
Federal agents said customs records show that NTR also participated in “highly suspicious gold imports” from Colombia, Chile, Guyana and the Caribbean.
