MANHATTAN: MONEY-LAUNDERING SCHEME

Millions of dollars in drug money was laundered in the garment district,
said Mary Jo White, the United States attorney in Manhattan, who unsealed
indictments yesterday against 11 people. Gigolo Enterprises and Designers
Concepts, both on West 38th Street, were fronts for a gang made up mostly
of Lebanese immigrants who had lived in Colombia, Ms. White said. She said
the group received millions of dollars in cash stuffed in suitcases and
bags, then sent the money to associates in Colombia through a network of
companies and bank accounts in New York, Florida and Hong Kong. No one
answered the phone at the two businesses.