WEBVTT - 3. Codename Cardmember 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.280 I was assigned working Eurasian organized crime, Russian organized crime. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.680 You know, one day your supervisor comes in and just says, hey, 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:15.239 you're the expert. Become an expert in organized crime. We 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.080 had to start a new squad and that was it, 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:19.120 and that was my entree. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.599 In January two thousand and two, FBI Special Agent Mark 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.560 Pinto had a lead that some Romanians were running a 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.640 credit card fraud operation in Las Vegas. They'd steal credit 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:35.559 cards and get cash advances, always moving from casino to 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:40.080 casino to avoid suspicion. A lot of stolen cards, a 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.040 lot of Romanian runners, a lot of casinos. In other words, 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:48.000 a lot of money in play. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.920 We didn't know who's who, We didn't know names. We 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.800 just had like a thunbnail sketch of what we thought 0:00:58.880 --> 0:00:59.400 was going on. 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:05.119 But Mark eventually got a big lead. He learned that 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.080 all the important players among the Romanians were gathering for 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:12.440 a private event at an Italian restaurant in Vegas. Mark 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:14.880 knew there was no way he could get into the restaurant, 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.280 and he didn't have an informant in the organization, so 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.520 he needed a clever way to collect the names of 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:27.199 the Romanians who were there. The solution an old FBI trick. 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:29.759 So i did the old homeless routine where I'm hanging 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:34.240 out where the kitchen cafe was cold concrete, you know, 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:36.120 and you're just sitting there. 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.520 Mark, dressed like a homeless guy, sat outside the restaurant 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.560 for several hours, radioing in license plates. 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.640 And they're riding down the lice plate information so we 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.120 get an idea of who's coming in, who's going out, 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:50.360 get an eye on them. 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.600 Eventually, he and his FBI colleagues had enough they called 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.000 it a night. An hour after they left, there was 0:01:58.000 --> 0:01:59.240 a shooting at the restaurant. 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:06.800 An argument ensued and random shots were fired and one 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:08.280 of the Romanians get hit. 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.280 A Romanian took a bullet and a leg, but the 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.119 guy refused to go to the hospital. 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:19.880 He winds up dying. So now it's sort of like, Hey, 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.880 we've got this credit card fraud case we're working, and 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.800 some dude just get shot in a credit card fraud case. 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:28.840 It's like, that's not supposed to happen. 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.920 Mark had no idea what was going on. He was 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.200 on the outside and he really needed a way in. 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.160 But the FBI had a new source, a guy with 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:47.919 inside information, a Romanian guy, a connected guy, a guy 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.240 who said he knew all the players in Las Vegas. 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.880 Guys said sure, in your country. As soon as you come, 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.680 any fourth of entry stays. You see something, you say something. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:04.520 I'm Trevor Aronson from Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts. This 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:40.880 is Alphabet Boys, Episode three, Code Name card Member. As 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.560 you probably know, Las Vegas has a long storied history 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.360 with organized crime. The mafia turned this patch of desert 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.800 into a city of casinos and showgirl theaters to entertain 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.080 the men building the nearby Hoover Dam, and from there, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:59.640 Las Vegas expanded into a global entertainment capital, all while 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.560 funneling millions back to organize crime families in other cities. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.000 Vegas has always been with the mafia, calls and open city. 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.920 It's a big place to make loads of money. Different 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.320 groups that might kill each other for infringing on territories 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.479 and say New York or Chicago, will work together in 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:24.360 a place like Vegas. It's a place where rivals can 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:25.520 become partners. 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.719 So it was like the old days in LCNA Coast 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.120 and Ustra where they come here where this is an 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:34.560 open city. 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.560 This is Mark pinto the FBI agent again. 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.320 And so you'll have some crossover for groups that don't 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.040 agree with each other. They were kind of working together 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.520 on the QT to commit crimes in Las Vegas because 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.520 it's so easy and you don't have to worry about 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.520 getting shot in the back, you know, because you're in 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:51.400 the wrong neighborhood. 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.240 Now, what you probably don't know about Vegas is that 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.839 when the old East Coast and Midwest crime families started 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:03.360 to klient in the eighties and nineties, the Eastern Europeans 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:09.839 moved in. Today, in Vegas you're more likely to find Russian, Armenian, 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:16.520 Bulgarian and Romanian criminal syndicates. But surprisingly Vegas, as an 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:20.880 open city, has remained. The money in Vegas is still 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:23.400 just too good. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:28.039 So someone from one group may come here and do 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.040 a little extortion. Someone from another group may do some 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.640 medicaid fraud. But you'll find that if they have some 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:39.920 common interests here in Las Vegas, that sort of sidesteps 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:44.640 they're loyalties in Los Angeles because the bosses don't know 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.400 what's going on, so it's an opportunity to make money, 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:49.920 kind of freelancy. 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.040 This became Marx beeat for the FBI the nexus of 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.640 these various Eastern European organized crime groups. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.840 And so you have these weird, weird mix and one 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.080 of the oddest mixes were the Romanian Armenian connection. 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.960 Mark had a hunch he suspected Romanian and Armenian organized 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.120 crime groups, despite being rivals in cities like New York 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.920 and Los Angeles, had partnered in Las Vegas to make 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.920 money using stolen credit cards. But Mark didn't have much 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.320 concrete information, and he didn't have anyone providing him with 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:30.080 eyes and ears on the inside. He needed an inn, 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.200 and that's when he first heard the name Flavio George Escu. 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:39.520 In August two thousand and one, Mark went to a 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:43.479 hotel where Mark's partner and another agent were meeting upstairs 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:44.120 with Flavio. 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:46.800 And I'm waiting down in the lobby and I get 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.400 a phone call and in the background, I hear the 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:55.400 primary agent in an animated discussion with Flavio, and all 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.360 my partner says is you need to get up here. 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:03.680 This animated thescussion arose from a basic misunderstanding at the 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:10.800 very beginning of Flavio's relationship with the FBI. Back in 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.800 June two thousand and one, Flavio first walked into the 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:19.480 FBI's Las Vegas office offering information about various crimes. The 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.840 FBI signed him up as a confidential human source, an informant. 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:30.400 Flavio insisted though, that he wasn't an informant, but instead 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.640 a friend of the bureau. As someone who grew up 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:39.600 under constant threat from police informants, this language was very 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:44.280 important to him. Now, the bureau hadn't figured out exactly 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:47.760 what to do with Flavio and his information, So a 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.880 couple of months after being signed up with the FBI, 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.320 Flavio had this first meeting at the hotel. 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.280 He wanted to be known as a friend of the bureau, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.760 which is fine by me, it doesn't matter, but we 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:03.280 still have all these regulations. 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.240 That's Robert Kleimer, the FBI agent in the room with Flavio. 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:09.720 You know, I was one of these agents that was 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:11.040 you know by the book. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:17.480 What happened was that Flavio had brought his friend a gift, and. 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.000 He brought I don't know, it's a few bottles of 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:25.280 wine as a gift, and one of the rules as 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:29.240 an FBI agent, you can't take gifts from your informants, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.960 and I was like, I can't, can't take it. And 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.240 I proceeded to tell him all the rules and this, 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.959 and then he didn't. That didn't bother him, and he's like, no, no, no. 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:44.480 By the time Mark made it from the lobby to 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.559 the hotel room door, the no no nos had turned 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.880 into a full throated shouting match between Flavio and Robert. 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:58.880 Flavio was insistent the FBI agents must accept the wine. 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:03.720 It's a gift from a friend. But Robert was just 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:10.199 as dogmatic. He couldn't accept the wine. That's against FBI rules. 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:16.800 Neither man would back down. Finally Mark entered the room. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.400 Mark Pinto's there and he's like, yeah, I can take it. 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.640 Mark grabbed the wine bottles. 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.520 They're probably still sitting in some evidence vault or something. 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:30.240 I don't know, probably aging really well. 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.520 Mark wasn't as by the books as Robert. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.320 I would do whatever needed to be done for the 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.560 good of the case that didn't violate the Constitution and 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:45.680 didn't provide false testimony against any of the bad guys 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.160 because you got to play about the rules. But it 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:57.360 doesn't mean that on occasion I didn't skirt some administrative policy. 0:09:56.040 --> 0:10:00.320 The FBI rule in this particular situation was in venting 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.880 the agents from doing the work in Marx's estimation, so 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.400 he ignored the rule, and now that the wine issue 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.600 was settled, Flavio and the FBI agents could talk. Mark, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.520 dressed in a suit, took a seat on the hotel 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:19.560 bed and listened. Flavio had brought someone with him to 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:21.560 meet with the FBI agents. 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:27.040 That other person that was there was a young Romanian 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.160 I believe was a waiter at a restaurant and he 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:34.200 was being forced into stealing credit cards. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.320 Flavio knew the FBI was trying to crack the stolen 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.080 credit card fraud ring. Then he heard about this waiter, 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.720 so Flavio was facilitating an information exchange. 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:53.320 Flavio was not involved in criminal activity at all, and 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:56.560 what he would do is he would just talk to 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:00.160 people in the Romaining community and hear their concerns and 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:04.040 provide that information. The main reason he did that is 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:08.880 because he knew that if anyone else provided that information, 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:13.600 they would be in danger, and that's unusual. You usually 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:15.000 don't run across people like that. 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:20.520 Flavio knew that Romanians providing information about organized crime in 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.719 Las Vegas faced not only threats to themselves in the 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.679 United States, but also threats to their family members still 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:28.520 back in Romania. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.719 If you think you're protected here, your sister's house will 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.280 be burned down, or the government will somehow seize the 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.360 land and you'll be screwed. And where can they go. 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.920 You're lucky if your house just gets burned down, because 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:42.800 they're making a point. 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.840 If you remember, when Flavio calls the CIA in twenty twelve, 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:54.240 the response he receives is cold and detached, uninterested, almost 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.679 But that's not how it went with the FBI. As 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:03.360 it came clear that Flavio could provide information relevant to 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.120 the credit card fraud ring, Mark became one of Flavio's 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:08.600 FBI handlers. 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.800 I don't believe he was ever paid except for expenses, 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.520 because he wouldn't accept money for he was a hard 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:20.000 worker and he really believed in keeping the United States 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.679 the way it was. It was such a great place. 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.520 FBI internal reports confirmed that Flavio never accepted money from 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:35.320 the FBI, which is very uncommon for an informant, or 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.120 to use Flavio's preferred language, a friend of the bureau. 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.520 The FBI has more than fifteen thousand registered informants, and 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.960 most of them are in the game for the money, 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.240 and informants can make a lot of money, in excess 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:56.360 of six figures a year. But Flavio, he wasn't in 0:12:56.400 --> 0:13:00.840 it for the money. Informants get paid for information friends, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:05.120 they do it as a favor. Flavio is working with 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.880 the FBI out of a patriotic duty, out of a desire, 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.960 in Flavio's view, to defend the country. One of the 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.240 earliest FBI reports about Flavio lists his code name. 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.319 I can still remember everyone by their code name because 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:22.920 you'd referred to them by their code name when you 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.320 had conversations with other investigators. 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:28.760 In the report, an FBI agent lists Flavio's code name 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.880 as Rolls Royce, no doubt, a reference to Flavio's business 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.640 of shipping high end cars from Las Vegas to Europe. 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.880 But Rolls Royce is scratched out, and above it in 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:44.679 handwriting is Flavio's final code name, a reference to the 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.800 Vegas credit card ring card Member. 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:53.040 My partner probably changed it when he started working with Flavio, 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:58.360 just so we could remember what code name goes with who. 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.120 And code name card member was ready to get to 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.959 work more after the break. 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.840 With the AHBA, when I connect contact them the first time, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.520 first time in my life, what I wanted In Vegas. 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:38.360 I'm having a phone conversation with Flavio George Escu, who's 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.200 in a federal prison following a failed arms deal with 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:46.360 some Colombians. I've asked Flavio what he remembers from over 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.320 a decade earlier, when he approached the FBI in Las 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:54.040 Vegas offering information about Romanian organized crime. 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.280 They asked me, why you come to us? Why you 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.800 need what you need? You need money, you need protection, 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.240 you need of what you need? Do you have any 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:06.760 charges you did something wrong? Because there's no people to 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.720 come to our office and stand up and say something. 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.080 I said, Sir, in your country, as soon as you 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:15.480 come any port of entries says you see something, you 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:18.320 say something. And I said, I'm going to be one 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.720 day American citizens. But does organized crime destroyed the financial 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.600 system in the United States and makes me to be 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.480 ashamed to say I am Romanian? That's why I came 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.920 to your office, sir, And they said okay. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:38.560 Flavio says he always wanted to live in America to 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.040 be an American ever since his father caught him listening 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.800 to Americans on the radio, and now that he was 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.920 in the United States, he hated to see fellow Romanians 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:55.040 committing crimes or abusing the system that was. As he says, 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:59.720 his entire motivation for working with the FBI and naive 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.240 believe that the post nine eleven slogan, if you see something, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:08.120 say something, we're words to live by. We're words that 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.400 we Americans took seriously. 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.720 I consider just this my country right now. They acceed 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.040 me over here. They gave me citizenship, they give me everything. 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.240 They said. You know, I have to pay my debt 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:20.440 back to the United. 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:24.960 States after a youth spent under a brutal dictatorship. Flavio 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:27.680 tends to see the world in black and white, good 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:32.400 and bad, and that view influenced his decision to cooperate 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:33.360 with the FBI. 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.520 This is always just my drive to you know, under 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:43.280 the US Romanians we taxt and myself, I participate in 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.840 a revolution in nineteen eighty nine. I was in the 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.280 street between the bullets and everything we take those sprout. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.280 We have a mindset to still on the side of 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.280 the government and save license, save the country and fight 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:56.160 for the country. 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.880 So, working with Mark Pinto, Flavio started helping the FBI 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.880 figure out how the Romanians ran their credit card fraud 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.440 ring and who inside the organization could be recruited as 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:15.080 other informants. Flavio acted as a kind of spymaster for 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:19.840 the FBI, putting together his own network of informants within 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:24.639 the Romanian community and then funneling the information he received 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:29.280 to Mark another federal agents, all while protecting the identities 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.040 of his Romanian contacts. 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:35.800 I know that he would reach out to certain people 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.119 and say, hey, what's the problem. I could help you, 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:43.320 And of course, being an investigator, you want where'd you 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.840 get that information? I want to talk to that person, 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.760 and then that's now a process of getting that person 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.840 to agree to take the risks that are going to 0:17:53.840 --> 0:18:00.480 be involved. And Flavio didn't like these young people taking 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:10.080 those risks. He'd rather be the go between. The problem 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:14.359 is he is not a criminal, and so he doesn't 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.600 talk like a criminal. He doesn't talk about the things 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.720 regular criminal guys would talk about, you know, about the 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.800 drinking and going to strip clubs and you know, lavishly 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:29.399 spending their ill gotten gains. He wasn't that guy. So 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:31.880 he was able to get some of the baseline information. 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.439 But basically he had his own group of informants, if 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:36.080 you will. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:37.640 That's it. 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:43.040 Mark's opinion is that Flavio didn't have an angle. Unlike 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.119 most informants. He didn't want money. 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.119 We didn't pay him for the information we paid for. 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:51.600 I believe some expenses when he traveled when we directed 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:53.560 him to travel and go somewhere and meet some people. 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.919 But that was it. But could Flavio have had an 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:03.959 angle other than money? Mark says no. Flavio says no. 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.560 But ultimately this is something that is impossible to fact check. 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:14.520 It's a question mark, maybe not one in big boldface type, 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:19.040 but it's there. Perhaps Flavio really was providing information to 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.800 the FBI out of a sense of patriotic duty, or 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:27.280 maybe Flavio had some other angle, an angle I can't 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:31.920 figure out, an angle Mark could never figure out. Because 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:38.640 let's be clear, what Flavio did, providing information for years 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:49.320 to the FBI for no benefit. That's unusual anyway, whatever 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:53.639 is motivation, Flavio was helping the FBI find informants and 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:55.840 building a list of names of the players involved in 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:58.840 the Las Vegas crime ring but he was also helping 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.040 the FBI figure out how the Romanians were stealing the 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:08.760 credit cards. It turns out that the whole operation was huge. 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:17.080 So one of the higher end gyms here you pay 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.960 to go in and or you have this outrageous membership, 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:24.480 they have those little key locks. You know the issue. 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:26.560 You are key, and what this guy would do is 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:28.920 you go in and he'd pay and he'd work out 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.840 and then he would send out one of the guys 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:36.280 or go outside to a van and he'd copy the key. 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.359 And you're like, that's a lot of work for one key, 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.119 but he would do it over the course of month 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.320 a year, so you'd have a copy of just about 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:47.880 every key that was in there. 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.000 After time, Once the Romanians had copies of keys for 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:56.520 all the lockers, they'd systematically steal credit cards from the wallets. Well, 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:59.240 the owners of those cards were working out in the gym. 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.560 This wasn't quick and dirty, grab and go theft either. 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.880 The Romanians had developed a sophisticated system. 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.360 That's what gets me. These guys work so hard at 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.560 doing this stuff. If they got a legitimate job, they'd 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.040 be rich. I mean, because they're willing to put in 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.159 the work they I mean, they work harder at not working, 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:23.280 you know what I mean. It would just crack me up. 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:25.000 But yeah, one of the guys here had a little 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:27.080 ban a key service, and that's what he would do. 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:28.159 He'd cut the keys. 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.480 Sometimes the thief would just write down the credit card 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:34.800 and driver's license information, and the credit card and ID 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:39.760 would be duplicated later using special equipment. Other Times he'd 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.680 take a card, but always the one in the back 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:46.159 of the wallet, the one you're least likely to notice 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:46.879 is missing. 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:50.199 Would they take that single credit card? If they're going 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.080 to physically steal the credit card, then put everything back, 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:55.480 don't take anything else. There could be ten thousand dollars 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:57.080 in the wallet. They're not going to take it because 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:57.920 it'll compromise it. 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.560 A lookout always, an attractive woman would be stationed on 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.239 the gym floor keeping an eye out for anyone who 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.760 might be headed back to the locker room too soon. 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:10.160 And if it looked like they were going to finish 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:13.280 working out, they might have a pretty young thing go 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:15.240 up to them and start chatting to help with them, 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.320 to distract them so they had enough time to get 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:22.200 a number of credit cards. This is throughout the whole country, 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:25.439 and gym's are the favorite because that's where you leave 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:27.520 your wallet. I mean, it's obvious. 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:34.320 The Romanians in Las Vegas had partnered with Armenians throughout 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.840 the country in cities from Seattle to Miami. The Armenians 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.720 would steal credit card information from someone in one city, 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:45.840 and within hours, the Romanians would print a fake credit 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:49.520 card and take that card to one of Vegas's casinos. 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:55.479 It was quite the operation, and Flavio's assistance to the 0:22:55.520 --> 0:23:00.840 FBI was invaluable in helping agents penetrate the credit card ring, 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:05.199 an operation that was bringing in obscene amounts of cash 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:09.680 using cards from across the country. That's up to the break. 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:43.240 He's a little bit of a strange guy. He's gregarious, 0:23:43.320 --> 0:23:46.600 he's a nice guy, but you kind of push away 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:48.320 from a little bit because he's just strange. You don't 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:49.080 know what he's after. 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:53.800 This is Mark Pinto. He's talking about Flavio George. 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:58.080 Escu and maybe his i'll just call it technique wasn't 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:02.240 refined enough, but it's his person. If he wore jeans, 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:06.440 they were obviously designer jeans. When he wore clothes, he 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:10.760 wore a lot of linen never needed to shave. His 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:12.000 hair is never tozzled. 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:16.120 Mark had a reputation for forming bonds with his informants, 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:20.840 becoming perhaps closer than his FBI supervisors would have preferred, 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:26.280 and he and Flavio became friendly with a common appreciation 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:28.160 for the finer things in life. 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:31.840 I'd take him to restaurants once a while, nice restaurants 0:24:31.840 --> 0:24:34.200 because he knew about good food. Because he said, Hey, 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:38.639 this place has really good foiguah. Now I don't have 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:40.880 any kids, so we had some money and then go, hey, 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:44.600 we're gonna I'll take you to foiguah. And it's funny 0:24:44.600 --> 0:24:47.040 because he's one of those guys that orders it then 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:49.480 sends it back to get overcooked, you know what I mean. 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:52.480 And that's kind of they sound like a snob, but 0:24:52.920 --> 0:24:56.040 I mean, that's disposable income. You do whatever you want 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:58.520 with it. But that was my entertainment and it just 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:00.680 cracked me up because he was that's the way he was. 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:03.399 He'd only eat organic chicken. He's one of those guys. 0:25:04.720 --> 0:25:07.960 Well. Working together in Las Vegas, Mark and Flavia formed 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:11.800 a bond, a kind of bond that isn't typical between 0:25:11.800 --> 0:25:18.280 an agent and informant. Friends. That's the term Flavio prefers, 0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:22.600 but I don't think that's right. They're more like colleagues, 0:25:23.119 --> 0:25:25.400 like equals. 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:28.600 He's just telling me to stop chewing tobacco. It's bad 0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:31.919 for your health. Stop chewing tobacco. I'm like, but I 0:25:31.920 --> 0:25:34.000 love tobacco and I'm going to be dead at fifty anyway, 0:25:34.080 --> 0:25:36.080 so what's it matter. Well, it turns out I'm not 0:25:36.119 --> 0:25:39.040 dead at fifty, and I stopped chewing tobacco, so that 0:25:39.160 --> 0:25:39.520 was it. 0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:43.320 Normally, there's a power imbalance in the relationship between an 0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:47.640 agent and his informant. The agent, usually cold and detached, 0:25:48.280 --> 0:25:52.520 holds the power. But Mark and Flavio trusted each other, 0:25:53.080 --> 0:25:56.480 so there was a kind of mutual respect, and that 0:25:57.520 --> 0:26:05.560 isn't common. Mark and Flavia would ultimately spend a couple 0:26:05.600 --> 0:26:08.280 of years working together to crack the credit card fraud ring, 0:26:09.080 --> 0:26:11.440 and what they discovered was that some of the credit 0:26:11.440 --> 0:26:15.280 cards that the Romanians stole came from Vegas, but most 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:19.800 were from far away from cities like Seattle, Los Angeles, 0:26:19.960 --> 0:26:24.639 New York, Miami, and that's where the Armenians came into play. 0:26:27.920 --> 0:26:31.720 The Armenians had a nationwide network of thief teams that 0:26:31.760 --> 0:26:35.160