Drug Money Laundering, How it Works, According to a Former Undercover Agent

Robert Mazur

In a Video for Business Insider

A government agent investigating drug money laundering, Mazur went undercover for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service intelligence division, and the Customs Service.

In a video for Business Insider, Robert Mazur tells the full story of his time as a government agent investigating drug money laundering. Mazur went undercover for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service intelligence division, and the Customs Service.

In Operation C-Chase, Mazur successfully infiltrated the Medellín cartel by posing as a wealthy, mob-connected businessman named Robert Musella. He established connections with Pablo Escobar's lawyer Gonzalo Mora and Escobar's trafficker Roberto Alcaino. At the height of its power, the cartel is estimated to have supplied over 80% of all cocaine shipped to the US, around 15 tons a day. 

In Operation Promo, Mazur posed as an Italian American businessman named Robert Baldasare to expose money-laundering networks associated with the Cali cartel.

The Cali cartel is estimated to have produced 80% of the world's cocaine supply. It was controlled by Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, Pacho Herrera, and José Santacruz Londoño.

Mazur is the author of ‘The Infiltrator,’ which became a New York Times bestseller and spawned a 2016 film of the same title, starring Bryan Cranston (as Mazur), John Leguizamo, and Diane Kruger.

Robert Mazur, the special agent behind ‘The Infiltrator.’ Today, Mazur speaks and consults on the issues of money laundering, drug trafficking, and corruption around the world through his company, KYC Solutions.