The Enigma Rising

Carlos looked around to make sure that no one else could overhear and revealed, “We got hurt, that’s true. No, I didn’t bet the farm. And no, we didn’t prepay everything because I don’t ever gamble everything on a single roll of the dice. We have operating capital, but like I said, we need a new line of cargo to transport. The longer I think on currency transport to help launder money, the more I like it.

“I mean, think about it. We are dealing directly with the owner of the funds, moving it for them, and delivering it to a consumer who is going to launder it. We have just eliminated three levels of distribution that we had to put up with in the drug business.”

Juan agreed, “Unless we are handling counterfeit currency, in which case the drug model would be the same. You have the producer, the wholesaler, the distributor, and the retailer selling to the end user on the street.”

“I hadn’t even considered counterfeit currency, bro. Sometimes you amaze me, little brother. Let’s keep our options open on that line of business as well. Right now though, I want to go talk to the drug cartel that just got hit for the drugs we couldn’t get and were likely confiscated.”

“WHAT? They owe us money or the drugs. Why would you want to talk with them?”

Carlos smiled and patiently explained, “The drug federales are on to them, and time is running out. Who better to solicit business from than someone who is being stalked by the federales? They need to take their liquid assets and move because if they don’t the federales will close in, take everything, and put them in jail for a couple of centuries. We can help them move their currency and possibly them to a new operations area where they can restart their drug business.

“In fact, we should start soliciting all the drug cartels with this approach since it is easier to stalk and arrest if the prey is too static. Our business motto is mobility for peace of mind. The faster you move, the more times you move, the harder it is to find and catch you. We are enablers of this new business model. Besides, they owe us a chance to recoup our losses. What better way than hiring us again.”

Juan studied Carlos for a minute, then wondered, “Ok, it sounds good. But, if we are just money movers then someone else will come along, and we will have the same problem we have now, competitors. How do we move ahead of the continual newcomers that are bound to want a piece of our action?”

Carlos suggested, “We need to be more than just money movers. We need to have a laundry machine, relocation planning, and emergency transport options as part of our service offering. We are going to have to add some new connections, so I need you to run down some information.”

“Like what kind of information?”

“We need some contacts in some of the usual offshore banking organizations that are sympathetic to taking large cash deposits for a small percentage. We don’t need a huge inventory of places around the world, just a couple of reliable contacts preferably in our own back yard of the Caribbean.