In a sweeping pre‑dawn operation that has stunned North Texas, FBI and ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents stormed a sprawling “Somali mansion” in an exclusive Dallas suburb, unmasking what officials describe as a $2.5 billion transnational trafficking cartel hiding in plain sight.

The palatial estate — famous on social media for luxury car shows and charity banquets — allegedly served as the nerve center of a network moving people, drugs and dirty money through Dallas to hubs across the United States, Europe and the Gulf.

Inside, agents say they found encrypted servers, burner phones, passports from multiple countries, and ledgers documenting years of payments routed through shell companies, crypto wallets and informal hawala channels. Hidden behind a paneled wall: a secure room stocked with high‑end weapons, designer luggage stuffed with cash, and detailed maps of smuggling routes along the southern border.

At the heart of the indictment is a well‑known Somali‑born businessman, long praised as a “community success story,” now accused of using cultural centers, trucking firms and travel agencies as fronts for a highly disciplined cartel. More than 80 suspects were arrested in coordinated raids across Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and Dubai.

Community leaders in the Somali diaspora condemned the alleged crimes and urged Americans not to confuse an entire community with a criminal elite that “sold out the very people they claimed to help.” Lawmakers, meanwhile, are demanding answers on how billions in illicit flows could pass through banks, airports and ports with so little scrutiny — and whether this is just one node in a much larger hidden empire.