The People Smuggling

Skimming wasn’t the only business in the Riviera Maya gang’s international criminal enterprise. As early as 2012, one member of Florian Tudor’s group was also allegedly involved in people smuggling from Romania into the U.S. Romanian prosecution documents claim the gang member would fly the would-be migrants, some ethnic Romas from the Craiova region, from Europe to Mexico. From there, they would cross into the U.S. to claim asylum. The gang also used at least some of these people as “pullers” to withdraw cash for them from ATMs using counterfeit cards.