Hooper filled them in on some background intelligence. “Three years ago, during the investigation of Xavier Jones, the law firm came up. They don’t do criminal law, and we suspected they were simply the tax attorneys for the lobbying firm involved in the money laundering. We did a cursory examination into their filings and nothing stood out.
“Then two years ago, their name popped up in another investigation of a known drug trafficker down in Stockton. Again, on the surface everything looked legit, but what we wanted to know was why this known drug trafficker was giving a donation to a non-profit environmental group. We looked into the group and, again, everything looked legit. They were filing the appropriate papers, the money seemed high, but still within normal contribution ranges for the charity. Yet Coresco & Hunt was the lawyer for the charity. That’s when we pulled Butler into a safe house, to help us go over the records. He’s not only smart about finances, he knows the people involved.
“We spent over a year just researching Coresco & Hunt,” Hooper continued, “but because they don’t have to reveal their client list, we had to do it the hard way. I had one analyst dedicated to pulling charitable reports, starting with charities based in California and Nevada. Out of thousands that we investigated—passively, because I didn’t want to spook Coresco—seven pay the law firm for services. We then dug around in those charities and many of their largest donors are known criminals. We know they’re laundering money, but we haven’t made the connection as to how these criminals are getting clean money back.”
“Money goes in and doesn’t come out?” Sam frowned. “It sounds like after two years you have next to nothing.”
“You’re right, but if homicide is a sprint—if you don’t catch the killer quickly, your chances diminish—white collar crime is a marathon. If you go fast at the beginning, the bad guy wins every time. Why were you at Coresco’s office? What was the connection? Just Gleason?”
Sam and John gave Hooper the run-down of their investigation. Sam said, “I couldn’t get past Shepherd, and she told me nothing. But she was lying. She’s good.”
“She is,” Hooper agreed. “And that you got in to talk to her means they’re worried about something—none of us have spoken to her in person, and I’ve tried.”
“Duncan’s apartment was broken into on Tuesday and his laptop stolen. We dusted the place, no usable prints, but we’re working on some trace evidence,” John said. “Then I found out Duncan’s estranged daughter who he was sending monthly checks to had a visit from someone purporting to be a Sac PD Detective. I talked to her on the phone, and she gave the fake cop the letters that Mack had sent her with the checks. I have no idea what was in those letters.”
“How much money?”
“Two thousand a month. He told her it was his military pension, but he doesn’t receive a military pension, and only gets a couple hundred a month through military disability. I asked Mr. Dooligan, and he said Duncan served three tours and was honorably discharged after shrapnel tore up his leg. He had a mild limp.”
Hooper made a note. “I’ll dig deeper into his financials. Was Duncan under investigation for anything?”
“No,” John said. “His boss said he used to have a gambling problem before he moved to Sacramento nine years ago, but didn’t think he had an issue anymore. We can’t find evidence of travel to casinos, but we just started looking. Dooley thinks he may have gone a few times, but nothing that gave him concern.”
“I have contacts with all the Indian casinos in the areas, plus the head of the White Collar division in Reno is on top of the situation there,” Hooper said. “Casinos are still the single most popular way to launder money by domestic criminals, which is why this charity scam makes me itchy. As soon as we get on top of one method, they come up with something we don’t have a law against or we don’t suspect.”
“And where does Austin Davis fit in with all this?” Sam asked.
“Six months ago we started getting some heavy players in Sacramento. When John and I took down Xavier Jones and his organization, a lot of the criminal money dried up. But it’s moved back in.”
“There was a void, bad guys filled it,” John mumbled.
Hooper nodded. “And Butler saw some heavy financial players from border cities, and we suspect Coresco is bringing big time drug money laundering into his operation. Originally, it was local. Now? We think they’re a hub. And Davis is their financial and legal guru. He made contact with Butler in prison a year ago, that’s when we decided to officially release him. We waited a bit of time. Davis is looking for Butler’s investor list. We only have suspicions why. We can’t let him get the list, because if he has the names and background information, he’ll be able to figure out that Butler has been working for us.”