3 May 18-24, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ FLORIDA THE CARTEL CONNECTION FEDS CHARGE ALLEGED CARTEL ASSOCIATE WITH LAUNDERING MILLIONS THROUGH CRYPTOCURRENCY. BY ALEX DELUCA F ollowing a three-year investiga- tion, the feds have brought a case against an alleged associate of one of Mexico’s most violent drug car- tels, claiming he conspired to use cryptocurrency to convert nearly $7 million in drug-trafficking operations stretching from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) task force claims that Mexican citizen Francisco Asiain Bahena spearheaded dozens of bulk cash drops in eight U.S. cities and at- tempted to import methamphetamine into the country. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, drug trafficking, and importing a controlled substance. The sprawling investigation helped the feds glean information on large-scale traffick- ing of heroin, fentanyl, and meth, according to DHS. The agency says the probe led law enforcement to intercept $2.47 million in drug money, including cash transported in hidden compartments in “trap” vehicles. According to the federal task force, Bahena was alleged to be affiliated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel or Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, AKA CJNG, which is known for its meth and cocaine trafficking, use of extreme violence, and reported inci- dents of pressuring new members into canni- balizing their enemies. The cartel operates not only in the west-central Mexican state of Jalisco and its capital city of Guadalajara but also in Guanajuato and Michoacán. The cartel is estimated to have more than 5,000 mem- bers worldwide — including in the U.S. “The CJNG has earned a reputation for ruthlessness, piling up bodies wherever they’ve expanded, often by enlisting local syndicates to join their cause of trafficking enormous amounts of cocaine, meth, heroin, and fentanyl,” reads a 2021 Vice News article on the cartel. Bahena’s case traces back to March 2020, when law enforcement received information from an informant facing federal drug charges. According to a DHS affidavit, agents learned that Bahena was converting millions of dollars worth of drug trafficking proceeds into bit- coin. Since July 2020, undercover officers in Alabama, New York, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida conducted 50 bulk currency pickups from Bahena’s associates, at Bahena’s direction, totaling $6.97 million, according to the DHS affidavit. Agents converted the money into cryptocurrencies through certified undercover accounts and “traced the funds as they were transferred to other conspirators,” DHS says. The feds bolstered their probe by deploy- ing an undercover U.S. agent who portrayed himself as a South Florida money launderer with experience receiving drug proceeds and converting the funds to bitcoin. He developed a “social relationship” with Bahena and met with him on six occasions around the country. In May 2021, Bahena traveled to Broward County and met with the undercover officer at a facility that, unbeknownst to Bahena, was maintained and surveilled by police. Bahena and the agent discussed having the officer build hidden compartments (AKA “traps”) in a vehi- cle one of Bahena’s associates used to smuggle drug money, the affidavit alleges. They also al- legedly discussed importing drugs from Mex- ico into the U.S. using a tractor-trailer. Bahena and his associates were unwit- tingly tracked around the U.S. by GPS devices the feds placed on two vehicles allegedly used to transport millions of dollars in drug pro- ceeds. During the investigation, law enforce- ment stopped the vehicles as they entered Broward County and seized more than $500,000 in cash. In January 2022, Bahena and several family members traveled to Chicago to meet with the undercover officer and another undercover agent. During a dinner meeting, Bahena and the undercover officer discussed various locations in Texas where Bahena could arrange drug deliveries to be transported throughout the country, according to the affidavit. DHS alleges that late last year, on two oc- casions, Bahena arranged the delivery of more than 20 pounds of meth to a location provided by the undercover officer in ex- change for $56,000. Drug cartels in Mexico have increasingly turned to cryptocurrency to launder money and sell drugs, according to a report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime last year. The report specifically men- tioned the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as one of the organizations that had increasingly used bitcoin purchases to avoid money-laun- dering controls. According to the report, Mexican cartels are believed to launder roughly $25 billion a year. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Francisco Asiain Bahena spearheaded dozens of bulk cash drops and attempted to import methamphetamine into the country. Photo by Hannalore Foerster/Getty Images ▼ MIAMI IS THIS A PRANK? MAYOR SUAREZ PRESENTS KEYS TO THE CITY TO YOUTUBE PRANKSTERS. BY ALEX DELUCA A fter more than a decade of inspiring frat bros across America, the Nelk Boys have been granted a high honor from the City of Miami for their, um... contributions to society. On Saturday, as questions swirled about whether Mayor Francis Suarez would once again attend exclusive Miami Race Week shin- digs (and if so, on whose dime), the mayor gifted the group of YouTube pranksters honor- ary keys to the city. The mayor and Nelk Boys head honcho Kyle Forgeard shared a handful of Instagram photos and videos posing at city hall while the boys flaunted their newly obtained oversize silver keys. “Holy!! Got surprised with a key to the city from Mayor @francisssuarez,” Forgeard wrote in an Instagram post alongside several fire and astonished-face emojis. Since 2010, the Canadian and American friends have risen to fame on YouTube, garnering nearly 8 million subscribers and more than 1.4 billion views. NELK is an acronym for the first names of the group’s original members: Nick, El- liot, Lucas, and Kyle, only one of whom (Kyle) is currently a full-time member of the collective. The Nelk Boys are perhaps best known for trademarking the slang term “FULL SEND” (which Forgeard defines as “any activity you do, give it your absolute best”) and pulling elaborate pranks, which have often led to trouble with the law. Group members have been arrested repeatedly over the years on charges of disorderly conduct and dis- turbing the peace; last year they were kicked off a Caribbean cruise for heckling the ship’s captain and entertainers at an onboard comedy show. “Every video, we’re swearing, we’re doing some stuff that could be questionable or illegal, we’re making sexual references or drug references,” Forgeard told the New York Times in 2021. In 2020, the Nelk Boys’ YouTube channel was demonetized after the group urged fans to gather and party during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021, the group quickly pivoted to a new way of raking in dollars, launching a hard seltzer brand called Happy Dad. They reportedly rake in tens of millions of dollars per year through the seltzer and a line of branded merchandise. The group launched a podcast in September 2021 called “FULL SEND,” which has since featured a number of guests including the likes of Andrew Tate, OJ Simpson, Ben Shap- iro, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump, whose epi- sode was quickly taken down by YouTube for misinformation. Suarez’s decision to award the YouTubers with keys to the city was met with mixed reactions. “Love this,” Miami entrepreneur Dave Grut- man replied to Suarez’s Instagram video of the mayor with the Nelk Boys. “What is the merit of these people to get the key to the city?” one person asked. A third commented, “Such a shitty look on a political figure LMAO.” Suarez’s office didn’t immediately respond to New Times’ request for comment. Miami has a long history of giving entertain- ers keys to the city. In 2006, Shakira was awarded a key to the city after playing five shows at the former Amer- ican Airlines Arena during one tour. In 2013, for- mer Mayor Matti Bower gave pop singer Adam Lambert a key to the city for “being brave enough to be openly gay on American Idol.” In 2020, Suarez presented keys to actors Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and in 2021, he gave a key to UFC star Conor McGregor. [email protected] “EVERY VIDEO, WE’RE SWEARING, WE’RE DOING SOME STUFF THAT COULD BE QUESTIONABLE OR ILLEGAL.” BAHENA ARRANGED THE DELIVERY OF MORE THAN 20 POUNDS OF METH IN EXCHANGE FOR $56,000.
