In 2005, investigators noticed that millions of dollars of insurance claims have been piling up from minor car accidents taking place in the Russian and Filipino communities of San Diego. Most of the claims are for less than $6,000 but they add up? Are they all legitimate or is there an auto fraud ring operating in the San Diego area? And, if so, who is behind it? The investigators discover it’s the much to be feared Russian Mob. They’ve set up shop in San Diego and are operating under the radar while post 9/11 America’s law enforcement shifts its focus from organized crime to terrorism.
The story unfolded in around the Russian immigrant community in San Diego where the Russian language is still spoken by people in parks walking or playing chess, at stores, community centers and at an appliance repair shop.
We meet Tom Newell a claims adjuster from Farmer’s Insurance Southern California Special Investigations Unit (S.I.U.) who told us what led to the first inklings that something was wrong – a pattern was developing in San Diego with Pilipino and Russian immigrants getting into lots of small car accidents. All of the claims were for only about $6,000, but there were a lot of them. He contacts the Department of Insurance and finds out that other insurance companies had also noticed the pattern. The Department starts their investigation and asks Farmer’s to standby to help by issuing some “pretext” policies for them.
Investigation Widens:
Enter Tony Torres, the investigator who goes undercover on this case. Tony is an ex-Special Forces, ex-cop, Mexican-American, and now a crack investigator for the California Department of Insurance, Fraud Division. Tony, posing as Tony Miramontes, a petty crook, was introduced to Boris (we can’t reveal his real name for reasons that we’ll explain later), the suspected ringleader of the auto insurance fraud ring by an informant the division had developed. Boris owned an appliance repair shop and insurance fraud was his other “business”. Tony begins the story of how he gained Boris’ confidence and worked his way up to become a “Capper” in the ring.
After being introduced to Boris by the informant, Tony agrees to let his car be hit in a staged collision. Boris tells him he will get $1000 and some massages (at his doctor visits for his “injury” during the accident) for doing this. We re-enact the first staged accident Tony is involved in: The accidents generally took place in a dark vacant lot somewhere in the neighborhood where the gang operated. A gang member would stage the collision, parking one car and driving the other car into the empty car while the car owners/potential insurance claimants watched on the side. This was so no one would actually get hurt in the accident and so the amount of damage could be controlled. Then the claimants were told to drive the car home and call their insurance company in the morning.
The next morning, coached by Boris in what to say, Tony was instructed to call the insurance company and report the claim. Then Boris tells Tony that he will be contacted by a doctor later and he should make an appointment to see the doctor.
While he was undercover, Tony was involved in 11 staged accidents like this one. He tells us how he initially gained the trust of Boris. He told Boris he had lots of friends who would be interested in making money and soon became a “capper” in the scam – someone who finds other people willing to be claimants.
On the first accident, however, Tony hit a bit of a snag. When he was sent to the lawyer on the case to tell his story, instead of telling the lie he was told to tell, he said he didn’t know exactly what happened and that they should just ask Boris. He was trying to see if the lawyer would take the case, even when actually being told it was a scam. The lawyer refused to take the case. As soon as Tony left the lawyer’s office, he got an angry call from Boris, who demanded to see him immediately. Boris suspected Tony was a cop, because who else would say something so stupid to the lawyer? Tony replied that he just said that because he thought the lawyers were in on the scam. Boris began frisking Tony to see if he was wearing a wire (which Tony was wearing), but Tony grabbed Boris’ hand and started to shove it down his pants, challenging Boris that if his he’s going to search him, he should really do it. Boris backed down and didn’t discover the wire. He just gave Tony a lecture about how he had to play “the game” (as the gang called the scam) no matter who he was talking to.
As Tony got closer with Boris and his cohorts, he learned that they were pretty tough guys. At one point, someone stiffed Boris out of some money, and he was furious. He asked Tony to castrate the guy. Tony said, “But the guy will die.” Boris explained that he could show Tony how to do it so the guy wouldn’t bleed to death.
At another point, Tony was owed some money by Boris and, staying in character as an equally tough guy so he could maintain his position with the gang, he demanded his money right away. When Boris put him off, Tony threatened to cut off Boris’ finger if he wasn’t paid the next day.
Finally, after almost three years undercover, Tony and the Fraud Division felt they had enough evidence to go to the DA with the case.
Prosecution:
Tony and his team turn over their evidence to both the US Attorney and the San Diego DA’s office. The US Attorney is ready to prosecute, but the San Diego DA doesn’t want to. Why? Because Tony threatened to cut off Boris’ finger! Tony and the US Attorney tried to reason with the San Diego DA but to no avail. The US Attorney suggested that they present the case to the DA in Los Angeles’s Fraud Division, to an aggressive ADA there who has more experience with organized crime gangs, like this one. They contact Anthony Colimino, who is an expert on the Russian mob. He has jurisdiction because the insurance companies that were defrauded also have offices in Los Angeles.
Colimino dives into the case. He finds links to another group in Los Angeles that was actually holding classes on how to get away with insurance fraud. He uses his knowledge of the mob to make his case. A case that threatens their growing enterprises. Colimino finds out how threatened they are when a wheel on his SUV almost comes off while he’s driving to the office one morning. Someone had loosened the lug nuts. A warning he notes but doesn’t heed.
He presents his evidence to the US Attorney who indicts 13 defendants for mail fraud. Colimino and his team indicted another 54 defendants for various counts of insurance fraud. The defendants included claimants, attorneys, paralegals, doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists and, of course, Boris. When Boris was first brought into custody, Tony went in to confront him. Boris said, “I knew you were a cop.” Tony replied, “No, you didn’t.” And Boris admited, “No, I didn’t. You were good.”
All but two of the defendants pled guilty and cut a deal with the prosecution. Some got probation and fines, others went to jail. A chiropractor and physical therapist refused to plead guilty and went to trial. They were convicted and went to prison. But the Russian mob continues to grow in influence.
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