The $1 Billion Car Theft Pipeline - How Money Laundering Went Automotive

World of Crime breaks down the tech, the supply chain, and the smuggling techniques used to sell million-dollar cars to rich kids in West Africa and terrorists in the Sahara.

In April 2025, the NYPD raided a parking garage at 870 Jennings Street in the Bronx and found what they described as a “showroom.” Inside were row after row of gleaming cars. In pride of place, a 2025 Rolls-Royce Cullinan valued at $475,000. Next to it were Range Rovers and Mercedes G-Class cars.

In total, 72 stolen cars valued at a total $6.6 million were all sitting in a climate-controlled garage in the middle of the Bronx, waiting to be inspected by cash buyers from West Africa. The operation, dubbed “Operation High Rollers,” was a breakthrough in realizing the full scale of the America-to-Africa stolen car supply chain.

But the US was not alone.