By Curt Prendergast | Arizona Daily Star
The river of cash flowing through casinos can attract drug traffickers looking to launder their profits, but authorities in Southern Arizona and across the country are stepping up efforts to keep dirty money from mixing with clean.
In one recent case, a Tucson man is suspected of laundering nearly $250,000 in drug-sale proceeds at the Desert Diamond Casino on South Nogales Highway. Over 17 trips from February to August, the man — whom the Star is not naming because police have not charged him with a crime — put as much as $35,000 at a time into gaming machines.
On Sept. 24, Drug Enforcement Administration agents executed a search warrant at the man’s west-side residence that netted an undisclosed amount of cash, numerous casino receipts, a stash of suspected heroin and a firearm.
