Tatsu - The Threat

Chapter 17 - The Proposal

John Samson called a meeting with Freddie Jackson, Jason Motola and Juan Armienta, influential mobsters across the US from LA to New York. The invitation summarized the proposal -- The Peaches and Figs Plan, a one-of-a-kind new business. They all accepted.

The day came when these four organized crime giants were all in the same room ready to hear an innovative idea. A business that formed in the head of an ambitious young man, but was tailored to perfection by an idealist -- a man who wanted to bring good change to the world.

With Mr. Walker's support, Brian was ready to convince these four billionaire criminals to invest in a ten-year plan to develop the most robust money laundering network in history and the largest black-market bank in the world. A bank that would centralize all the cash of the criminal realm to safeguard and clean its own dirty funds.

The idea was to build dozens of climate-controlled, mega storage facilities in key locations where illegal money was to be securely stowed and controlled. Each storage facility was to be connected to moving and freight companies that would operate legitimate businesses, business these mobsters already owned. The vehicles oporated by these companies would be used to transport money for transactions of all kinds of illicit business using sophisticated methodologies to secure the money at all stages of a transaction. And most importantly, maintain the anonymity and secrecy of the entire operation.

"Distinguished gentlemen. I know you don't know me, but I've had a great working relationship with Mr. Samson and my work for the last three years speaks for itself. I thank him for this meeting and I assure each of you that you made the right choice by coming here tonight."

Brian made a pause and looked at each of them directly, clearing his throat before proceeding. "Drug trafficking and smuggling is lucrative business, but enjoying the hard-earned money is a difficult task for any kingpin or aspiring mobster in these times. Percentage cuts from money launderers are steep and their processes are tedious and time consuming. A considerable portion of the profit is either being confiscated by the various law enforcement entities, robbed, lost or just plainly rotting because you have to hide it in uncontrolled places. And all of this is due to the strict monitoring of money transactions by the government and the banking systems. You can fool the FBI, DEA, ATF and CIA, but you will never fool the IRS!"

Juan Armienta shouted after taking a sip of his whiskey "Sit your ass down kid. I'm not interested in listening to a young pendejo like yourself. I heard what you did in Mexico. That was stupid!" He took another sip of whiskey, "The day you can wipe your own ass, then come talk business with us! I came to this meeting to hear what this Mr. Walker has to say."

Shifting his intimidating stare straight at John Samson, Juan Armienta said, "You better not be wasting my time John!"

Mr. Walker looked at Brian signaling him to calm down and allow him to take over. Brian wisely agreed and stepped down.

That night Mr. Walker presented two main services in the business proposal – money laundering and the stellar topic, underground banking services.

Mr. Walker went over the money laundering services first. He envisioned providing cash customers with two laundering options. Option One: parking their cash money in legitimate hedge funds through Mr. Walker's trusted network. Option Two: submitting to a swift laundering process directly through the Federal Reserve for a quick turnaround with a high price fee.

Each option had pros and cons which boiled down to the following: The longer cash was parked in hedge funds, the higher the return and lower the laundering fees. But, for a substantial laundering fee, in desperate cases, the Federal Reserve would be a viable alternate option. A laundering game that Mr. Walker understood from head to toe. This part of the business didn't seem innovative at all. The only attractive aspect was that Mr. Walker had plenty of connections because of this reputation and service at The Fed.