A massive, multi-state FBI sting last weekend netted millions of dollars worth in drugs, counterfeit cigarettes and high-quality, fake $100 bills. Slate senior editor Andy Bowers explains why the so-called "super notes" are causing such concern.
ALEX CHADWICK, host: Earlier this week, we heard the amazing story of an undercover FBI sting      that could have come straight out of Hollywood.  The six-year      investigation ended Sunday when FBI agents posing as an engaged couple      lured eight alleged Chinese organized crime leaders to New Jersey for a      fake wedding.  The suspects are charged with cigarette smuggling and with      counterfeiting US currency.  Here's Assistant Attorney General John      Richter speaking at a news conference.</s>Mr. JOHN RICHTER (Assistant US Attorney General): We seized more than $4      million of highly deceptive currency, what some call loosely super notes.      It's the largest seizure of its kind.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: And that got the Explainer team at the online magazine Slate      wondering:  What exactly is a super note?  Here with the answer is Andy      Bowers.</s>ANDY BOWERS (Slate): Super notes are counterfeit hundred-dollar bills of      very high quality.  Government agents say that most funny money falls      into three categories.  The first two, made using offset lithography or      high-tech digital scanners and printers, are relatively easy to spot      because they lack the raised ink feel of genuine bills.  Super notes are      more deceptive.  They're printed on cotton fiber paper using the same      expensive intaglio printing presses used by the government.  An intaglio      press creates tiny ridges on a piece of paper by forcing it into the      ink-filled groves of an engraved plate at very high pressure.  That's      what gives dollars and super notes their characteristic feel.</s>ANDY BOWERS (Slate): Government agents first discovered super notes in 1990.  A very      experienced overseas cash handler identified one as a forgery by the feel      of the paper, even though it was printed on an intaglio press.  The fake      was as good as any the Secret Service had ever seen.  It even contained      the right proportion of embedded red and blue fibers that the Treasury      Department uses as a security feature.  The first super note became known      as Parent Note, or (PN), 14342. The term super note originated outside      the Secret Service.  It refers to all high-quality counterfeits that can      be linked back to (PN) 14342 with forensic evidence.  The Secret Service      won't reveal how they link modern-day counterfeits to (PN) 14342.</s>ANDY BOWERS (Slate): Super note production requires uncommon equipment and skilled engineers.      At first, investigators thought they originated in Lebanon.  Another      theory from the 1990s held that Iran produced them on equipment purchased      by the shah two decades earlier and then shipped the bills to Lebanon via      Syria.  The real source of the bills has not been found, but a member of      the Congressional Research Service reported that the government of North      Korea produces millions of dollars a year with intaglio presses.  In the      meantime, the US government ordered an extensive redesign of US currency      in 1996, but, yes, super note versions of the new hundred-dollar bills      have been discovered, as well.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Thank you, Andy.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Andy Bowers is senior editor at the online magazine Slate, and that      Explainer was actually compiled by Daniel Engber.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: NPR's DAY TO DAY continues.  I'm Alex Chadwick.