“We did a tremendous amount of coordination and information-sharing, which went both ways,” Szubin added. “The whole game change is, we’re working this collaboratively with the Mexicans, which is why I feel this is a moment of tremendous promise.”
Yet Flores Cacho remains at large and Numero Uno is open for business. While the bar still welcomes an upscale crowd, it no longer accepts American Express — because of the kingpin listing.
On a recent afternoon, several patrons said they had heard this was once “El Chapo’s cantina.”
“But it’s a mistake, no? Because the place is filled with people,” said Alejandro Chamarro, a bank employee who was enjoying a cold beer and a plate of pork tacos.
The Mexican government froze $100,000 in a cantina bank account, but the Alonso family that says it owns the place swears it has never heard of Flores Cacho. It hired a lawyer to fight the kingpin listing and says the U.S. government never showed it any proof that the cantina belonged to El Chapo’s people.
The Mexican government froze $900,000 in other assets allegedly controlled by Flores Cacho. But The Washington Post found that at least half of his businesses listed by the Treasury Department had shut their doors by the time Flores Cacho made the kingpin list.
“The kingpin list can be a very useful mechanism to go after drug traffickers, if — and this is a big if — we work cases together,” said a senior Mexican Treasury official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of security protocols.
Last year, Mexico’s attorney general opened 245 investigations into money laundering but resolved only 19 minor cases.
“We need to do much more on the Mexican side,” President Felipe Calderon said in a recent interview with The Post.
Empty desks
At a federal financial crimes unit here in Mexico City, rows of new desks are empty.
“To be able to prosecute money laundering, you need really smart people, knowing a lot about finance. At the same time they need to be very honest and very brave,” Calderon said. “So it’s not easy.”
Mexico has arrested more than 90,000 suspects on drug-related charges but only a handful of accountants, attorneys and business managers accused of laundering cartel profits.
“The black hole in Mexico is the prosecution system,” said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “There has been an inability to build solid legal cases on money laundering.”
Mexico’s attorney general, Arturo Chavez, whose office is responsible for prosecuting money-laundering cases, resigned last month, citing personal reasons. He was widely seen as an ineffective member of Calderon’s security cabinet, and U.S. officials who work with the prosecutor’s office say it is being reorganized again.
“There is tremendous pressure to start showing some results,” a Mexican banking official said.
Calderon’s term ends next year.
Researcher Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report.
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