Naperville man among 32 charged in drug laundering bust

A Naperville man is among 32 defendants charged with laundering more than $100 million in drug proceeds for Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Authorities say Emmanuel Diaz, 28, was among the individuals who purchased gold, resold it to companies in Florida and California and then transferred the profits to Mexico.

Jaime Cabadas-Barajas, 30, of Chicago also faces money laundering charges in DuPage County.

Among the 32 were 22 Illinois residents. The others are from Mexico, Kentucky, Georgia and Texas.

The arrests culminated a 3½-year investigation into money laundering and drug trafficking involving the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies including the Cook and DuPage County sheriff's offices and the Buffalo Grove Police Department.

Prosecutors say the activities of ringleaders and Mexican nationals Diego Pienda-Sanchez, 30, and Carlos Parra-Pedroza, 31, used a "network of individuals in Chicago, Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles" to launder the funds. That meant using the money from drug sales to purchase scrap and fine gold from local businesses, ship the gold to refineries which then "transmitted the cash value of the gold to Parra-Pedroza and their co-conspirators in Mexico."

The federal complaint notes several occasions when Parra-Pedroza told an informant that an unnamed Mexican associate cut off a man's fingers to make him own up to losing the cartel's money.

If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, prosecutors said.