A Portuguese emigrant to the US has been arrested in New Jersey and charged of having had an instrumental role in a money laundering scheme for the local mafia.
Abel Rodrigues from the Minho region in northern Portugal was charged with money laundering, operating an unlicensed cheque-cashing facility and fiddling his tax returns.
Rodrigues left Portugal for the land of opportunity and took full advantage of the money making scheme that used his family restaurant as front for a huge money laundering operation.
Using his Portucale restaurant as a front to help wash clean $400 million of mafia money over the last four years, Rodrigues had the help of his Brazilian wife who rather conveniently worked at the Tri-State Check Cashing Company.
The authorities claim that “many customers cashed cheques at Portucale Restaurant as Abel Rodrigues did not ask for any identification and did not file proper currency transaction reports for cheques exceeding $10,000, as required by federal law.”
The piles of cash that were exchanged for cheques originated from the mafia’s illegal activities, less 3% commission for the service.
Rodrigues reportedly collected nine million dollars over a 4-year period and kept 1%, handing over 2% to Domenick Pucillo who ran Tri-State Check Cashing.
The dodgy restaurant owner faces up to 20 years in a US jail.
