History of counterfeiting in Mexico

Banco de México
History of counterfeiting in Mexico
Banco de México
CONTENIDO
History of counterfeiting in Mexico .................................................................................................... 1
Enrico Sampietro ............................................................................................................................. 2
The founding of the Banco de México Department of Special Investigations ................................ 3
Banco de México
History of counterfeiting in Mexico
History of counterfeiting in Mexico
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Banco de México
Enrico Sampietro
Héctor Donadieu, alias “Enrico Sampietro,” is remembered as one of the best counterfeiters in
history. During the 1930s and 1940s, he dedicated himself to counterfeiting domestic and foreign
banknotes of extraordinary quality, thanks to his artistic skills. Enrico Sampietro was imprisoned
for 13 years at Lecumberri prison. There, he continued to dedicate himself to banknote
counterfeiting.
This counterfeiter was supported by the Jesuit priest José Aurelio Jiménez, leader of an
underground organization called "The Doctrine of the Faith" which justified banknote
counterfeiting in order to do damage to what it considered the heretical and anticlerical state.
To identify the first counterfeiting of banknotes issued by Banco de México, one must go back to
October 1934, when the circulation of a considerable quantity of fake 20-dollar banknotes was
detected in Mexico City. After a series of investigations, the internationally known, extraordinarily
talented counterfeiter Alfredo Héctor Donadieu, alias “Enrico Sampietro,” was detained.
Pencil drawings done by Enrico Sampietro
Sampietro was sentenced to eight years in the Lecumberri prison, from which he joined a group of
cristeros who offered him help in exchange for counterfeiting in support of their cause. That was
how on July 20, 1938, he escaped prison. His whereabouts were unknown for several years.
In mid-1941, the first counterfeiting of Banco de México banknotes in the 50-peso denomination
was registered. In an investigation led by Dr. Alfonso Quiroz Cuarón, it was shown that, because of
the counterfeit method, the author had to be Enrico Sampietro. The technique was the same he
had used to counterfeit dollars in Cuba
History of counterfeiting in Mexico
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Banco de México
Sampietro also counterfeited banknotes in denominations of 20 and 100 pesos. Finally, he was
arrested again and confessed that the counterfeits had been made by the cristero group led by
José Aurelio Jiménez.
After completing this 13-year prison term, Sampietro was deported to France, his country of
origin.
The founding of the Banco de México Department of Special Investigations
In 1941, lawyer Eduardo Villaseñor, the Director of Banco de México, recognized the central bank's
need for a specialized office dedicated to counterfeiting prevention and false currency circulation
in response to an increase in fraudulent domestic and foreign currency. By that time, Dr. Alfonso
Quiroz Cuarón, a criminologist of national and international repute, was invited to direct Banco de
México´s Department of Special Investigations, consolidating the investigation of domestic and
foreign paper money counterfeiting.
Later, Don Carlos Novoa, successor to Villaseñor, expanded the Department of Special
Investigations and supplied it with the best available equipment. After that, the Department of
Special Investigations, led by Director Rodrigo Gómez, rose in importance when it was given
authority to serve as representative to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)
in Mexico regarding counterfeiting crimes, false currency circulation, and other banking-related
matters. In March 1955, this department was officially named to establish cooperation between
Mexico and INTERPOL, although today, the entity formally investigating counterfeiting crimes and
false currency circulation and serving as the representative to INTERPOL is the Federal Attorney
General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR).
History of counterfeiting in Mexico
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Banco de México
Nowadays, authenticating currency and systematizing information to support the authorities in
charge of investigating counterfeiting are activities performed by the Security Directorate
(Dirección de Seguridad), in close collaboration with the law enforcement authorities
History of counterfeiting in Mexico
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Banco de México
Fecha
History of counterfeiting in Mexico
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