Are you saying that Marty is only dealing with a wholesaler? That the street dealers aren't actually part of Del's operation, he just sells in bulk and once he does the low level guys handle it how they want?

This post was edited by Kayeto on Sep 5 2017 01:59pm

Generally how it works for guys like Del, is something like this.

You've got your top cartel guys who just count money and who never really have anything to do with product

Below them they've got their head guys who only deal in MASSIVE quantities - This is the level Del most likely is

Below them they've got their own lieutenants who also deal in massive quantities - usually having a wide area of influence, whole states/multiple states or large cities - Del could also be this level

Below them they've just normal street level bosses who everything in certain areas go through - per city type guys - Could be a few per city, each with their own network of runners.

Below them they've got their runners who deal in ounces/lbs on occasions to certain people - Can be hundreds of these guys in a major city. These are the guys I bought from on occasions, they were straight cartel, they wouldn't accept bills smaller than 20s and as I said, they didn't give change.

And that's about as low as they go. Anyone dealing with 1s/5s/10s or w/e, is street guys who buy bulk from cartel and then nickel and dime shit to get high on their own supply and then they reup from the cartel runners for a cheaper price. It's on these low level guys who have no affiliation with the cartel to convert their money to 20s/50s or 100s, as the cartel won't accept a bullshit nig roll (sorry for the term, just what it's called on the street).

Marty is dealing with only super high up suppliers/enforcers and I'm sure they have giant stacks of 20s or 50s they could also send him, but why not use 100s in the show for dramatic effect? Also, it's a hell of a lot easier to transport millions of dollars in hundreds, vs millions of dollars in lower denominations.

At each level they've got people who work for them of course, even just the runner guys, never came alone, they always had 1-3 enforcers with them, always one visibly armed, usually with a shotgun, and you know the other two as well as the actual runner are strapped. The higher level, the more people under them being enforcers, accountants or w/e. It's actually insane how these cartels run shit, you should do some real research into it if you wanna read some fascinating shit. I've got firsthand experience with just the lowest levels and those guys were fucking terrifying, I can't even imagine dealing with anyone higher up.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on Sep 5 2017 02:21pm

In the first episode, Marty suggested the Del's missing money must have come from the low level street dealers. This means there are 2 possibilities:

1) Marty was joking, both he and Del know that couldn't have been the case
2) Marty believed that the money handled by the low level guys does find its way into what he was laundering

If, as you say, Del just trades bulk drugs for stacks of 100's and gives those stacks to Marty, then "missing money" from the low level guys couldn't have created a discrepancy in Marty's books.

or maybe there's another possibility here I'm not thinking of

This post was edited by Kayeto on Sep 5 2017 02:57pm

^ Marty was just trying to stay alive and would have said anything at that point. He knew damn well there wasn't "missing" money from the low level guys, as that's shit counted as soon as they go to reup. You can't just walk in and hand your higher ups a bag of money and say, okay, now give me a huge bag of drugs without making sure the money is actually there. Also, as I said, low level guys when dealing with the cartel is people who sell ounces or lbs only, nothing smaller, and they do not accept small bills. For purposes of shipping money to Marty, and it possibly being a one time only type of deal, they just sent him hundreds. It could have been 20s or 50s, but once again, it's just more difficult to ship 20s or 50s because smaller denomination = more bills = more weight = more difficult to conceal etc...

Just not sure what you're having a problem with here. It just bothers you that it's 100s? Once again, it's also a show and they could just be using for dramatic purposes, but it's not at all unbelievable that they would have just stacks of hundreds, because they do. Look at any of the footage of Escobar's money being found, that shit was all 100s or 50s, packaged just like you see it here in this show.


You just don't hand cartel guys shitty money in 1s, 5s or 10s, they'll tell you to go fuck yourself and they'll block your calls. I've had friends that made that mistake before and they couldn't ever find another mexican to buy from, and that shit fucking hurts if you're in the game since it's the easiest way to get the cheapest, best product on the market by going through those guys. I've even heard of them turning down 20s/50s that were in bad condition and either pulling weight out of the bag because they didn't want to take a shitty bill, or demanding that the buyer go hit an ATM and bring them better condition bills. That never happened to me since I always brought good condition bills, but they just don't fuck with that shit and they don't have to.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on Sep 5 2017 03:13pm

I guess my main question is: Where and how do they get the 100s? If what you are saying is that the low level guys give them to Del Rio in exchange for bulk drugs, then where do the low level guys get them? How do they convert their 5/10/20s into 100s? Do they deposit their unlaundered 20s into a bank and the later withdraw the stacks of 100s?

Like... dude, I've already explain all of this multiple times.

Lowest bill the lowest cartel guy takes is a 20. It's on people non cartel affiliated to get that shit to 20s+. They have stacks upon stacks of 20s/50s/and 100s, they sent marty a stack of 100s. They could have sent him 20s or 50s, but it's just easier to ship 100s. Finally, it's a show and it could have just been because 100s are more dramatic, but as I've said before, it's not at all unbelievable that they would use all 100s for something like this.


Edit - It's not like Breaking Bad where there are guys on the street who have direct contact with the top guy (Fring). There are soooo many fucking levels to this shit before it gets to the top and even the lowest fucking cartel guys still don't just do small as dime/20 bag street transactions. Prices have changed a lot, but an ounce was like $400-$500 when I did shit. The purity has risen a lot and it's now like $100 a gram on the fucking street, meaning cartel probably sells out ounces at $1500-$2000 depending on your connection. That's as low as they go with this shit and it's all on regular dealers, people like you or me or whoever that just wanna sling drugs who buy from the lowest cartel guys to convert their money to acceptable currency so that the lowest cartel guys will take it. This all from personal experience. I'm not sure if every city is like this, but I had dozens of interactions with cartel guys and this is always how it went.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on Sep 5 2017 03:24pm

You explained why Del DOESN'T have small bills. But you haven't said why low level dealers DO have 100s to give Del. Those are 2 different things.

This post was edited by Kayeto on Sep 5 2017 03:23pm

Okay, I'm going to try one last time here.

Step 1: If you're a normal person like me and you want to buy a lot of drugs or sell drugs, it's the best to get them from the cartel, you go and buy from the lowest guys possible, runners for a low level guy
When you buy from the runners the minmum purchase in my day was like $400. They would not take bills in bad condition and they would not take bills smaller than a 20
People who are buying from them can pay in 20s, 50s or 100s, it just depends on what you converted your roll to. Once again, this is on NON CARTEL affiliated people to convert to higher bills.

Step 2: Those runners deliver to their boss who gives them a new bag. This is still a low level/expendable guy, could be dozens of them in a city or just a handful. Those bills get rolled up nicely and sent to a higher up to reup their supply and then distributed to their runners, these runners usually carry a couple of lbs. So I assume they're buying a couple hundred lbs at a time. Now they've got stacks of thousands or tens of thousands in 20s/50s/100s.

Step 3: Now that the higher up has it, guy who runs an entire state or has 2-3 other guys like him for a large area, they take the money and I assume at this level it's put on pallets and wrapped up to keep it from getting eaten by fucking rats. It's sorted in pallets by denomination

Step 4: Then it gets moved up to an even higher level and counted by just knowing the denomination they weigh it on a giant scale to make sure it's all there.

Step 5: Then they do god knows what with it. they've got trucks full of pallets in denominations of 20s, 50s and 100s and they do w/e the fuck they do with it
It's at this level that they sent a stack of 100s to marty to be washed I assume. It could have been 20s or 50s, but they sent 100s. It really shouldn't matter.

I honestly can't be anymore clear about this.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on Sep 5 2017 03:43pm

You keep explaining a thing that is not what I'm asking about. For clarity, let's take a look at the life of a $100 bill:

[Gets printed by the BEP] --> [ BEP distributes it to a bank ] --> [ ??? ] --> [ A dealer gives to Del in exchange for bulk drugs ] --> [Del gives it to Marty to wash]

The question is: How do 100s get entered into the chain? Does a street dealer walk into a bank and make a withdrawal saying "I'd like $5,000 in hundreds please". If so, how did that bank account get $5,000 in it?



Don't the non-100's need to get washed as well?

Yes.... they do. People who buy (You, me, johnny drug dealer) from the cartel buy with either 20s, 50s or 100s... they sort them by denomination, they just happened to send Marty 100s, they could have sent him either 20s or 50s. I have explained EXACTLY what you're asking at least five times in this thread, you're just for whatever reason not getting it. I pulled my money out of an atm. I don't have any clue how other non affiliated drug dealers convert their bills. I know a lot of them are stupid and take that shit right into a bank and that's why they get popped lol.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on Sep 5 2017 04:02pm