Post by SPRSTK on Mar 20, 2013 8:26:38 GMT -9
Auction Puts Marijuana Ring Assets Up for Bid
The final chapter in the tale of the Raines and Shine marijuana ring began Thursday with an auction of assets seized from the drug smugglers.
The first thing auctioned off was a warehouse complex of about 27,000 square feet on East 64th Avenue, Raines and Shine Auto. That went for more than $2 million.
The assets belonged to a lucrative smuggling ring started by Anchorage real estate investors Thomas Cody and Joe Bryant, aided by co-conspirators Thomas Raines and Dennis Shine; both Raines and Shine are now in prison serving 30 year terms.
Officials have said Raines, the ringleader, often laundered drug money through his Anchorage welding and auto repair business, Raines and Shine Auto. The money was used to buy property in Alaska, Alabama and the Ukraine, and expensive items like a $225,000 Mustang race car, a Hummer with six TV’s inside it, a Corvette, a boat, an RV and weapons.
Shine confessed to killing Cody, and Bryant committed suicide following a raid on warehouses and the Raines and Shine Automotive Shop in April 2006.
The Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department conducted Thursday’s auction, which included vacant lots in a Hillcrest subdivision.
A variety of automobiles were previously sold to a Florida-based buyer including a Hummer with $150,000 stashed in an air bag.
According to the IRS, the unidentified buyer will be allowed to keep the money.
The Alaska State Troopers received a check for $1.5 million, the Alaska National Guard received $468,000 and the Anchorage Police Department received $362,000. For their assistance in the investigation that brought the drug ring down.
The final chapter in the tale of the Raines and Shine marijuana ring began Thursday with an auction of assets seized from the drug smugglers.
The first thing auctioned off was a warehouse complex of about 27,000 square feet on East 64th Avenue, Raines and Shine Auto. That went for more than $2 million.
The assets belonged to a lucrative smuggling ring started by Anchorage real estate investors Thomas Cody and Joe Bryant, aided by co-conspirators Thomas Raines and Dennis Shine; both Raines and Shine are now in prison serving 30 year terms.
Officials have said Raines, the ringleader, often laundered drug money through his Anchorage welding and auto repair business, Raines and Shine Auto. The money was used to buy property in Alaska, Alabama and the Ukraine, and expensive items like a $225,000 Mustang race car, a Hummer with six TV’s inside it, a Corvette, a boat, an RV and weapons.
Shine confessed to killing Cody, and Bryant committed suicide following a raid on warehouses and the Raines and Shine Automotive Shop in April 2006.
The Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department conducted Thursday’s auction, which included vacant lots in a Hillcrest subdivision.
A variety of automobiles were previously sold to a Florida-based buyer including a Hummer with $150,000 stashed in an air bag.
According to the IRS, the unidentified buyer will be allowed to keep the money.
The Alaska State Troopers received a check for $1.5 million, the Alaska National Guard received $468,000 and the Anchorage Police Department received $362,000. For their assistance in the investigation that brought the drug ring down.
