THE LAUNDRY GUY ON DISCOVERY PLUS FULL

By and large, this was a very readable one man's story of a very unusual situation. I'm a bit skeptical about how useful his experiences during the seventies and eighties can be to law enforcement today considering how much has changed, but I'm no expert on the subject. He is a bit more insightful about his own motivations, openly stating that a large part of what caused his later change of heart was a desire for revenge. He himself lived with a policewoman for years and, although by the end he makes it clear that she must have had her suspicions about his frequent trips to the Caribbean, we never understand what could have possessed her to turn a blind eye to activities which could easily have destroyed her career and probably her freedom if they came to light. Rijock rarely provides any psychological insight to help the reader understand motivations, other than to say that people were going through a bad divorce, custody battle, or whatever. People wander into his life and seemingly just as easily wander out again.

THE LAUNDRY GUY ON DISCOVERY PLUS FULL

He goes on to offer a summary of his methods- how he got suitcases full of money out of the country, how he set up shell companies to launder the money and introduce it back into the US- and then tells us how it all imploded.Īlthough they are all real people (so I presume), most of Rijock's characters don't really come to life. Rijock seems to have accepted the suggestion with alacrity and no moral qualms whatsoever. It's not long before someone realized that, as a lawyer, Rijock could be very useful in laundering money. Rijock introduces us to an eccentric cast of characters on the Miami party circuit, all of whom were involved in the drug trade in some way, even if only as consumers. It's not inaccurate to say he 'fell' into it, since everything depended on being in a particular place at a particular time- specifically, Miami in the 70s. He gets caught, goes to jail, gets out, and redeems himself by helping law enforcement catch money launderers like he once was.Īn interesting first-person account of how one man fell into a certain lifestyle. Vietnam Vet returns home to a country that doesn't appreciate him, becomes a lawyer, goes through a bad divorce, and becomes a money launderer for drug traffickers.

Loyalty only goes so far especially in the criminal underworld. Moral of the story (other than don’t be a criminal), you can’t trust anyone. Especially at the end of the story where he does a bit of a wrap up on what happened to everyone. Ken doesn’t really go into details of his associates so there isn’t any real depth to them so it can be hard to link which one is which. One of the things I found difficult about this story is that you hear a lot of names of Ken’s associates which can sometimes be hard to keep up with. I would have been interested in learning more behind his motivations on why he thought this was such a good idea. One of the more alarming parts of the story is that he accepted the money laundering gig without any moral dilemmas. Like after reading this book, I thought I could be a criminal (honestly I would probably be rubbish at it), as he just made it sound so easy. Ken agreed to go undercover for the FBI and he now works with the government and banks to help them track down new money launderers.Ī very interesting read written in a very easy to read style. He was the middleman between the Colombians and the Mafia by helping them bring in cocaine and marijuana to the USA.Įventually, one of Ken’s clients testified against him which saw him incarcerated. Ken ended up being responsible for cleaning over 200 million dollars of dirty cash. Every week, Ken would fly to a tax haven in the Caribbean carrying hundred of thousands of dollars. As a casual drug taker, Ken’s crew realise that being a lawyer can help them launder money for drug traffickers. Ken Rijock is a Vietnam Vet turned lawyer in Miami in the 1980s.

The laundry guy on discovery plus