THE MOB MUSEUM PRESENTS “FOLLOW THE MONEY: THE UNSUNG INTELLIGENCE UNIT THAT PUT AWAY SOME OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS MOBSTERS,” THURSDAY, APRIL 16
T-Men Exhibit Debuts on Museum’s Third Floor
LAS VEGAS (March 2015) – Who put some of the most notorious mobsters behind bars? Many people don’t realize it was, in fact, the IRS. On Thursday, April 16 at 8 p.m., The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, presents its next installment in the Courtroom Conversations series, “Follow the Money: The Unsung Intelligence Unit That Brought Down the Mob.”
This event coincides with the debut of an exhibit titled “Follow the Money,” which will occupy the east side of the Museum’s third floor hallway and open to the public on Friday, April 17. It will include a number of T-Men artifacts including letters, photographs, documents and iconic items showcasing the work of these tireless agents of the Treasury Department. “Follow the Money” will be a permanent addition to The Mob Museum’s exhibits.
Known as T-Men, U.S. Treasury Department agents working for the Special Intelligence Unit, under the leadership of Director Elmer Irey, quietly built tax evasion charges against mobsters such as Al Capone, Nucky Johnson, Waxey Gordon and Dutch Schultz, as well as public official Huey Long and businessman Moses Annenberg. While the G-Men captured the public’s and pop culture’s imagination during the early and middle of the 20th century, the T-Men were responsible for putting some of the biggest mobsters and corrupt politicians behind bars.
Among the other most important T-Men cases were those involving Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast; the Charles Lindbergh baby kidnapping; Chicago mobsters Frank Nitti, Johnny Torrio, Ralph Capone and Murray Humphreys; and St. Paul mobster Leon Gleckman.
A panel of experts will reveal an insider’s perspective on how Irey’s team succeeded in busting numerous mobsters and others in the public eye. The panel will include Rich Weber, national head of IRS Criminal, Washington, D.C.; Tom Moriarty, special investigator with the Department of Justice United States Attorney’s Office;; and Paul Camacho, former IRS criminal investigator, Las Vegas. Geoff Schumacher, director of content, The Mob Museum, will moderate the panel.
About Richard Weber
As chief of IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), Richard Weber heads the Internal Revenue Service Division responsible for investigating criminal violations of the tax code and related financial crimes. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Weber oversees a worldwide staff of nearly 3,500 CI employees, including approximately 2,500 special agents, who are responsible for investigating crimes involving tax, money laundering, public corruption, cyber, ID theft, narcotics and terrorist-financing.
Before joining IRS CI, Weber was the deputy chief of the Investigation Division and chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. In this position, he was responsible for managing prosecutors, investigators, analysts and paralegals handling investigations into securities and commodities fraud, large-scale mortgage and insurance fraud, Ponzi schemes, international money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, asset forfeiture and tax crimes.
Weber has previously served as chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section at the Department of Justice, and as an assistant United States attorney in the eastern district of New York. Weber conducted numerous major money laundering investigations and prosecutions, including some of the largest forfeitures ever entered against financial institutions for sanctions violations.
Weber is a two-time recipient of the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award, the highest honor for Justice Department lawyers.
About Thomas C. Moriarty
Since 2003, Moriarty has been assigned as the special investigator for the United States Attorney’s Office in Chicago. Moriarty’s duties are to investigate complex criminal financial crimes including money laundering, terror financing and asset forfeiture cases. Prior to this, for over 25 years, he was a special agent with the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS. He has been assigned to the Organized Crime Program his entire career. Moriarty was also the organized crime special agent assigned to the United States Attorney’s Office and has been the lead investigative agent on numerous O.C. investigations. He was the lead case agent on the most successful O.C. case ever prosecuted in Northern Illinois.
A cadre instructor who has taught more than 1,000 federal and local law enforcement personnel both locally and at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, at the FBI academy and Northwestern University, Moriarty has also taught hundreds of business professional about financial investigations.
During his career he has received many awards including IRS Criminal Investigation “Special Agent of the Year”, finalist for Federal Law Enforcement Agent of the Year, Chicago Crime Commission Federal Agent of the Year, Illinois State Crime Commission Federal Agent of the Year and was the subject interviewee on the NBC news magazine program “Dateline” about his activities in combating organized crime. He also has appeared on the Discovery Channel about his experiences with the Federal Witness Protection Program. Moriarty has a degree in finance and is a certified fraud examiner.
About Paul Camacho
Paul Camacho, special agent in charge for the Las Vegas Field Office of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (retired), was named to this position in May of 2009 and retired in 2014. He was responsible for planning, directing and evaluating activities of criminal investigation employees in Utah and Nevada. Under Camacho’s leadership the LVFO garnered unprecedented local and national media attention for its succession of high impact investigations.
Over the course of his career in IRS CI, Camacho oversaw a number of sophisticated financial investigations involving offshore abusive tax schemes, high dollar Ponzi and investment fraud, large-scale internet fraud, military contract fraud, mortgage fraud, organized crime groups, narcotics money laundering and political corruption. The aggregate dollar value of these crimes exceeds well over a billion dollars.
As the special agent in charge, Camacho led a partnership initiative with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Vice division to combat the pervasive illegal sex trade industry. These efforts yielded significant investigations into larger sex trade criminal enterprises. The IRS CI and Metro Vice partnership efforts have been featured extensively by local media special reports and a CNBC documentary which highlighted how IRS CI plays a significant role in dismantling criminal enterprises, much like IRS did long ago with Al Capone.
In coordination with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Camacho implemented a first-of-its-kind program to foster strong working relations with the Nevada casino industry. This collaboration has led to enhanced quality of information reported to all law enforcement through the bank secrecy act and the development of significant investigations. Through this partnership, Camacho and his team have become subject matter experts on how funds flow in and out of large-scale casinos and their anti-money laundering controls.
Camacho’s current passion is educating IRS employees and the public on the rich history of CI. He has spearheaded changes to the National Criminal Investigation Training Academy’s curriculum to include for the first time presentations on CI’s legacy as a means to instill pride and sense of purpose among new agents.
About The Mob Museum’s Courtroom Conversations
Courtroom Conversations help fulfill The Mob Museum’s mission to advance the public understanding of organized crime’s history and impact on American society. Previous Courtroom Conversations have included “Beating the Line,” with sports betting experts Peter Bernhard, Barry Lieberman, Art Manteris and Ted Sevransky; “Women in Gaming,” featuring Elaine Wynn, Jan Jones Blackhurst and Patricia Becker; and “Protectors of the State,” with former Nevada governors Bob List, Richard Bryan and Bob Miller. Future Courtroom Conversations include:
-“Jimmy Chagra,” a discussion of this larger-than-life character by former Mayor Oscar Goodman, the lawyer who defended him, and Jack Sheehan, the journalist who interviewed him, set for May 28; and
– “What Happened to Jimmy Hoffa,” a look back at the tumultuous life of Hoffa and the leading theories behind his mysterious disappearance 40 years ago, will take place June 24.
Tickets for “Follow the Money” are available online here. The cost is $25; Museum Members receive a 10 percent discount. For more information, go to www.TheMobMuseum.org or call (702) 229-2734.