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Dirty Gold tells the incredible story of “the three amigos”– Miami businessmen who smuggled billions of dollars in gold from South America.
I spoke recently with the book’s authors, an award-winning team of current and former reporters from the
Miami Herald.
As the
Miami Herald’s federal courts reporter, I (Jay Weaver) came across sensational criminal stories with money laundering angles all the time. But nothing compared to the gold-smuggling network between South America and Miami.
When the $3.6 billion NTR Metals money laundering case was filed in Miami federal court in 2017, I was struck not only by the dollar signs but also the vast gold-smuggling operation behind it. Then, upon further reporting, I learned that South American drug traffickers dominated the illegal gold trade in the Amazon region. Once I established that foundation, I knew this was not your garden-variety money laundering story.