Saturday, January 28, 2006

Fifth & Main Secret Service Raid Explained?

Not long ago, a posse of black vehicles from the Secret Service showed up at 5th and Main. No one was talking, but the obvious reason for the raid seemed to be counterfeiting. That possibility now seems more likely after today's LA Times article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bogus29jan29,0,4609366.story?coll=la-home-headlines

$400 Lap Dance Trips Up Counterfeiting Ring

By H.G. Reza Times Staff Writer 10:12 PM PST, January 28, 2006

It was a three-hour lap dance and a stripper with a nose for money that finally led to the counterfeiters' undoing. Fifteen people have been indicted in the ongoing investigation. And Secret Service agents have discovered that Southern California street gangs teamed with a Mexican counterfeit ring and a drug cartel to bring phony $100 bills into the United States - $7.5 million worth since last January alone...

While the ring was headquartered in Santa Ana, Mexican street gangs throughout Southern California were passing the counterfeit bills... and may have been doing this at one or more of the businesses and organizations located on or near the NE corner 5th and Main that are operated by gang members or who by those protect gang members.

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