Money in a Bank Account, is better than Money anywhere else

Drug dealers in America discovered this right away. Drugs are sold for cash, usually $20 or $100 bills. They had boxes full of these bills, that were useless for them, because what they needed for their business, was a way to pay for solvents they needed to produce their drugs, back in South America.

These solvents, standard commercial products, were made by American companies, and were paid for by bank transfers, from the buyer's bank to the seller's bank. They would not accept payments from from strangers, loaded with boxes of cash.

This money had to be laundered, and converted into bank accounts. Southern Florida was soon home to many bank accounts of mysterious origin. The Feds tried to eliminate these accounts, but the banks complained - and as a result, most of these accounts remain. And Southern Florida (including Miami) has a boom economy.

Money laundering also goes in in Costa Rica, but not very much of it, because Costa Rica does not have that much money. I was doing my weekly shopping in a WalMart store in Cartago, when the woman ahead of me, paid for her groceries with a $100 bill. The clerk had to get approval for accepting this, but the approval was readily given. They didn't ask for her ID or anything, and she walked out with her groceries.

WalMart will give the $100 to their bank, and the bank will add that to their account. That is money-laundering!