Money laundering classically has three stages called placement, layering and integration. Traditional crime—drug smuggling, protection rackets, illegal gambling—generates wodges of cash. If a known face starts shelling out readies for the good things in life, people get suspicious. Which can result in arrest, conviction, jail and—worst of all—forfeiture of funds. So the money has to be “placed,” usually through cash intensive businesses like hairdressers, kebab shops and retail banks.
