How Agents Infiltrated The Asian Mob

(CBS)  In October 2004, a freighter bound from China pulled into a port in Newark, N.J. A 40-foot container was pulled off and cracked open by federal agents. Beneath false-bottom boxes filled with plastic toys, the feds found hundreds of thousands of dollars in $100 bills.

It was nearly-flawless counterfeit cash known as "Supernotes," traced to the government of North Korea, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.

"The people working on the notes were very shocked - at the quality of the counterfeit notes," said FBI Former Assistant Director Lewis D. Schiliro.

The seizure was part of an operation code-named "Royal Charm." Playing a key role was the rather odd couple: Louie and Z.

They'd been working undercover in Atlantic City for six years - FBI agents posing as high-rolling Italian mobsters could get anything through customs.

"If you have the money, if you have the credibility, you - it doesn't matter. You could buy virtually anything," Louie said.

Today Asian organized crime deals in everything from human cargo to Ecstasy to fake Viagra to weapons. It feeds America's insatiable appetite for knock-off designer goods you find in flea markets and back-alley shops across the country.

"Counterfeit Ralph Lauren. Counterfeit Nike. Rolex watches," Louie said.

And brand-name cigarettes - the biggest money maker. Manufactured for as little as $6 a carton in China...routinely smuggled in by the container-load and sold on the street for up to $70 a carton. It put millions into the pockets of Asian mob leaders.

In August 2005 the FBI decided it had enough evidence to move in. The dilemma: How to lure dozens of top Asian crime figures from as far away as China, to one place at one time.

"We're all trying to figure it out, you know," Louie said. "How are we gonna pull this off?"

Their solution proved brilliant. An invitation to the "mob wedding" of the year with Louie as the groom and a female agent as his bride. The lavish ceremony to be held aboard the luxury yacht "Royal Charm" along the Jersey Shore.

"We had limos, the agents dressed in tuxedos, picked them up at the casinos, and they were, you know, being told they were gonna go to the yacht, Royal Charm. But they had to make one more stop," Louie said. "And at that stop, they were all arrested."

Louie and Z have since retired from the FBI. They admit they miss the high life undercover, including "counterfeit" weddings that worked like a charm.