The Albanian mafia operating casinos for the Sinaloa Cartel

From the bright lights of gambling machines to luxury restaurants to suspected money laundering for the Sinaloa Cartel: the Trump administration last week dealt another blow to the heart of the finances of the criminal organization being fought over by the heirs of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. The U.S. Treasury Department has blocked the business empire of the Hysa family, originally from Albania, and a dozen Mexico-based gambling establishments for allegedly laundering money for the cartel. A recent report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) details a complex network that included shell companies, multimillion-dollar transfers abroad, and payments to the cartel through these gambling establishments.

What seemed like a business success story involving bars, casinos, upscale restaurants, energy companies and clothing retailers has turned out to be a nightmare. The Hysa family and 20 of its companies are now in the crosshairs of the United States amid Trump’s financial crusade against Mexican cartels. “The Hysa Organized Crime Group (HOCG), which includes family members Luftar Hysa, Arben Hysa, Ramiz Hysa, Fatos Hysa and Fabjon Hysa, has used its influence through its investments in, or control over, various Mexico-based businesses — including gambling establishments and restaurants — to launder the proceeds of narcotics trafficking. The HOCG is believed to operate with the consent of the Sinaloa Cartel, which maintains criminal control over much of the territory where the group conducts its activities,” said the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in a statement. Due to these suspicions, the Trump administration has financially blocked six members of the Hysa family, their Mexican associate Gilberto López, and some 20 of the group’s companies in Mexico, Canada and Poland.

According to the U.S. investigation, Luftar Hysa, 57, is a key figure in the organization, frequently traveling between Mexico and Canada. Another crucial player in the smuggling of large sums of cash, according to the Treasury, is Arben Hysa, owner and director of several companies within the group. U.S. authorities indicate that “Luftar and Arben have utilized a Europe-based entity to enrich themselves from laundering illicit funds belonging to suspected narcotraffickers.” Following the investigations, the Treasury announced it would freeze all assets held in the U.S. by these individuals and companies and prohibited U.S. citizens from conducting transactions with these entities.

This isn’t the first time the shadow of drug trafficking has loomed over the Hysa family’s businesses. Although the family operates largely out of the public eye, in September 2022, Luftar Hysa published statements in several media outlets defending himself against reports that claimed he had ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, and specifically to El Mayo. At that time, Luftar denied any involvement in illicit activities. The businessman and engineer asserted that when he emigrated to Mexico in 2004, he was simply seeking to escape the crisis gripping his country: “I, Luftar Ali Hysa, never convicted, never prosecuted, never arrested, declare that I have never had any problems with the law in my life. All my problems in life have been with injustice,” he declared.

Three years ago, Luftar Hysa staunchly defended the legal nature of his businesses and those of his family. The casino entrepreneur recounted a life of struggle, exodus, and discrimination. “The day I left Albania, my sole objective was to escape the poverty of this country for myself and my family, and to seek new opportunities for advancement. I have always proudly defended my nationality. With equal pride, I want to mention today that, in the companies my brother and I have created, we employ more than 1,500 people in Mexico alone,” he stated at the time.

This businessman also recounted his journey from Albania to South Africa and Peru before arriving in Mexico in 2004. “It’s not the first time I’ve been attacked; it’s the competition attacking me. These are vile words. I don’t know Ismael El Mayo; I’ve never seen him. My only gifts are charisma and business acumen,” the entrepreneur stated to the Albanian media three years ago.

But the Hysa family is once again in the dock for alleged ties to drug trafficking. The United States states unequivocally states that the Hysa clan has developed a complex system combining casinos, restaurants and other front companies to launder money originating from the Sinaloa Cartel. According to the OFAC, this system strengthened the organization led until a few years ago by El Chapo. The Treasury Department notes that, along with Luftar, Fatos, Arben, and Fabjon Hysa, they collaborated with a U.S. citizen to launder money, including the transfer of large sums of cash from Mexico to the United States.

Among the companies under Hysa’s control that have been financially sanctioned by the U.S. are Bliri; Cucina Del Porto; Diversiones Los Mochis; El Arte de Cocinas y Beber; Entretenimiento Villahermosa; Entretenimiento y Espectáculos; Grupo Internacional Canhysamex; H Hidrocarburos Hysa Forwarders; LH Pro-Gaming; Procesadora de Alimentos Hs; Rosetta Gaming; and Hysa Holdings, among others. Its network of blocked companies extends across Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Baja California.

The Mexican-Albanian connection

Suspicions about the presence and operations of drug cartels in various states, as well as money laundering through casinos and real estate investments, are not new. In 2023, the journalist Jesusa Cervantes, in her report “Baja California and its Casinos: A Paradise for Laundering Dirty Money,” mentioned that the company Procesadora de Alimentos HS, one of those sanctioned by the OFAC, received authorization from the then-mayor of Rosarito, Hilda Araceli Brown, for the sale, storage, and consumption of alcoholic beverages at a restaurant called Ochuna. This establishment operates inside the Casino Midas in the same city and is one of the gambling establishments accused by the U.S. of money laundering.

Brown, who now serves as a federal lawmaker for Morena, Mexico’s ruling party, was also sanctioned by the OFAC last September for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, along with six other individuals and 22 companies. The lawmaker is accused of collecting extortion payments for this criminal organization in Baja California, as well as helping to cover up its operations during her tenure as mayor between 2021 and 2024.

However, a distinctive element in this plot is the alleged presence of Albanian criminal groups in Mexico. According to Víctor Sánchez, a public security specialist and professor at the University of Coahuila, the links between the Albanian network and the Sinaloa Cartel were forged, according to various security sources, through El Mayo.

Sánchez explains that Albanian mafias primarily operate in Europe’s largest ports, such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Gioia Tauro, Valencia and Algeciras, among other major centers. He says they have begun laundering much of their drug trafficking profits through real estate ventures, including the construction of apartments, buildings, offices and tourist resorts.

“For Mexican organizations, developing alliances with these clans ended up being a lucrative business, because not only were they some of their main buyers for transporting drugs to Europe, but they also helped them with money laundering in markets where it was much more difficult to trace,” explains the security specialist.

The scholar also states, regarding the accusations against the Hysa family, that precisely because Albanian organizations operate through family groups, there are elements to suggest that these individuals based in Mexico could be part of a larger criminal network, in which they are related to other clans of Albanian origin.

Sánchez explains that there are recurring patterns within this scheme. Organized crime investing in casinos is nothing new. “It happens all over the world,” he clarifies, because it yields far greater sums than are actually reported. For example, the two million dollars uncovered by OFAC, which Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch also addressed. “These are very difficult operations to audit,” he adds.

What has happened in Europe in places where drug traffickers have laundered money is also reflected in Mexican territories where they have established themselves. “Territories where the Sinaloa Cartel has settled have experienced certain tourism booms. These have developed in recent years in Baja California, Baja California Sur, and Sonora, where new hotels, nightclubs, restaurants, and spas have been built,” the specialist concludes.

Casinos’ modus operandi

FinCEN has targeted 10 gambling establishments based in Mexico due to money laundering concerns. In a document included in the OFAC complaint, they detail how the Midas, Emine, Mirage, Palermo and Skampa casinos, located in states such as Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California, and Tabasco, allegedly facilitated the laundering of more than $2 million in illicit payments for the Sinaloa Cartel between 2017 and 2024.

The U.S. sanctions came a day after Mexico’s Finance Ministry announced the freezing of bank accounts belonging to 13 casinos in the country. The investigations uncovered cash transactions, international money transfers, and the use of unregulated digital platforms.

FinCEN specifies that senior executives at the Midas Casino in Mazatlán made monthly payments to this criminal organization as part of an agreement with a high-ranking official. It also notes that the Emine casino in San Luis Río Colorado; the Palermo casino in Nogales, both in Sonora; the Skampa Casino in Ensenada, Baja California; and the Mirage casino in Culiacán, Sinaloa, are under the supervision of the same Midas executives, who also made payments to the Sinaloa Cartel as part of an agreement with other branches of the same company in Agua Prieta (Sonora); Guamúchil, Los Mochis, and Mazatlán (Sinaloa); Rosarito (Baja California); and the Skampa Casino in Villahermosa (Tabasco).

The report states that gambling establishment managers received detailed instructions from the Sinaloa Cartel on how to avoid detection by financial institutions’ anti-money laundering controls. The criminal organization stipulated that, at most, two deposits should be made into designated bank accounts, with amounts not exceeding 90,000 pesos or the equivalent of $4,354. The instruction was to avoid making the deposits on consecutive days to prevent the accounts from being frozen. The other option instructed by the criminal organization was to allow a high-ranking official to withdraw the funds in person at the Midas Casino in Mazatlán.

As evidence of these concealment efforts, casino management received instructions on how to make payments to the Sinaloa Cartel, along with more than 30 bank accounts in the name of companies based in Mexico to make cash deposits, the document states.

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