By Walt Hickey Converters Federal law enforcement executed a series of raids across the country that they said targeted a nationwide theft ring for catalytic converters, the valuable car part that has been targeted by thieves seeking to flip them for the valuable platinum, palladium and rhodium within. The raids occurred in nine states and have led to 21 arrests so far across 32 search warrants and millions in seizures. In the California case, authorities alleged that the conspirators netted $38 million by fencing converters stolen by local thieves to a New Jersey firm that broke them down into valuable metals that were in turn flipped to a metal refinery for