2 Indian Companies Indicted for Smuggling Chemicals Used in Fentanyl

[LeftInTX]

10. It's so common there's a funny movie about it: Meet the Patels

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Patels

There is even a joke about Patels and motels! But the meme became reality.

A Patel Motel Cartel?
Look a bit closer and the picture is even more arresting: about 70 percent of all Indian motel owners -- or a third of all motel owners in America -- are called Patel, a surname that indicates they are members of a Gujarati Hindu subcaste. ''There's a thing our parents tell everyone, so don't yawn if you've heard it already,'' says Mit Amin, an urbane 39-year-old who owns the Beverly Hills Inn, a chic bed-and-breakfast in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. ''In some American small towns they think 'Patel' is an Indian word for 'motel.' Can you blame them? As for me, I'm glad I'm called Amin. Wouldn't you want to be called Brown if the rest of the world was called Smith?''

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/04/magazine/a-patel-motel-cartel.html

https://www.patelmotelstory.com/

How Patels Built Their Hotel Empire
https://hollywoodprogressive.com/literature/how-patels-built-their-hotel-empire

Jokes aside, the name is a common as Smith or Jones in the NW Indian state of Gujarat.