Crime ring rips off health system

Flamboyant and ostentatious, they drive luxury cars, unwind in multi-million dollar mansions, flaunt designer clothes and flash dazzling jewels.
But behind the glitz lurks what law enforcement officials say is a brazen new breed of organized criminal - Eurasian mobsters who carry out brutal murders, stockpile assault rifles and launder cash around the globe.
And the burgeoning Eurasian crime syndicates are increasingly funding their international empires by siphoning billions of dollars from taxpayer-funded health and welfare programs across the United States.
"It's a huge problem, and Los Angeles is the hot spot for this type of crime," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Consuelo Woodhead, who oversees health care fraud prosecutions.
Daily News reporter Troy Anderson explores this problem in a three-part series that began Sunday.