John Mica: “again the plot thickens here, and I want to continue reading from this investigative piece in today's New York Times.…”

“again the plot thickens here, and I want to continue reading from this investigative piece in today's New York Times. ``Customs officials said they remain skeptical of what the agents heard, including the traffickers' claim that Mr. Carrillo Fuentes's death in 1997 had actually been faked. But in December 1997, Javier Ramirez invited Mr. Alcala to Colombia for an elaborately staged meeting that seemed to raise that partnership to a new level.'' This meeting here with these folks. Let me continue. ``At a heavily guarded hacienda overlooking Bogota, an operative acting as Javier Ramirez's Colombian boss, Carlos, said he and his partners had $500 million to launder,'' half a billion dollars to launder. ``They wanted to know whether the Mexican bankers used by Mr. Alcala's boss, Juan Jose Castellanos Alvarez Tostado, could help. `` `Alvarez called us right back,' Mr. Gately recalled. `He said, `Let me send you my very best people, and we will get it done.' '' ``On March 6, 1998,'' just about a year ago, ``Mr. Alcala arrived with several businessmen at the tastefully furnished offices of Emerald Empire in a Los Angeles suburb. This time the businessmen offered a deal of their own. ``One of the men, David Loera, said he knew `a general,' who had $150 million in Mexico City to invest. Would Mr. Ramirez--who had told the traffickers he owned part of a Nevada casino used to launder money-- care to help?…”