The precious sweets landed safely enough in California, and were trucked about 30 miles across Los Angeles County to a temporary storage facility in South El Monte, run by a company called Japan Crate Acquisition. Mr. Black, who runs a freight brokering company called Freight Rate Central in Sarasota, Fla., is part of an invisible army of professionals who coordinate and marshal the fleets of trucks that crisscross the country carrying everything from chickens to smartphones. He posted the job on a trucking board that is something like a Craigslist for freight. Someone named Tristan with HCH Trucking accepted the job (though he was using a Gmail account), and said he would have the shipment picked up shortly. On Aug. 9, Tristan wrote in an email, “Hey man, The first one is loaded and rolling, the second one we’ll pick it up tomorrow first thing in the morning.”

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Persons: Shane Black, . Black, Bokksu, Black, Tristan, HCH Trucking, ” Organizations: South El Monte, Japan Locations: California, Los Angeles County, South El, Pacific, Carlstadt, N.J, Sarasota , Fla