"The Colombian drug lords called it "La Mina" - the Mine - and it did, indeed, hold hidden riches. Operating out of the jewelry districts of Los Angeles and New York, La Mina moved more than $1.2 billion in illegal drug profits through U.S. banks and businesses for the Medellin cartel, making it the biggest drug-money-laundering operation in history. In Washed in Gold, investigative reporter Ann Woolner tells the gripping story of how DEA investigators in Atlanta first persuaded a mid-level drug dealer to cooperate with them, and then followed him into a case so big that the DEA and other law enforcement agencies at first refused to believe it.". "Drawing on the firsthand-accounts of prosecutors, investigators, informants, and eyewitnesses, Washed in Gold takes us behind the scenes of the investigation that eventually shut down the cocaine cartel's most important financial operation. Woolner also leads us through the shadowy world of money laundering and, in fascinating detail, shows us exactly how it is done - from the back rooms of U.S. jewelry stores where money was piled high to American and Panamanian banks where money laundering flourished. She takes us into tense meetings with drug barons Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa. And she shows us how the fierce competition among law enforcement agencies threatened the case: As the investigation grew, so did the tension among the FBI and DEA agents in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Miami." "Capturing all the suspense of a high-level drug investigation, Washed in Gold is a fast-paced tale of greed, corruption, dedication - and luck."--BOOK JACKET.