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City: Massive Operation in Indian Reservation Cigarette Sales
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 29, 2008
Modified Oct 29, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 29, 2008
Modified Oct 29, 2008
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Last month the city filed a federal lawsuit against eight of the biggest cigarette dealers on the 50-acre Poospatuck reservation in Mastic, Long Island, where 11.3 million cartons of untaxed cigarettes where sold last year alone. Mayor Bloomberg argues that the sales deprive the city of $195 million in annual tax revenue, and city lawyers are seeking an injunction to stop the defendants immediately, the Times reports. Harry Wallace, chief of the Poospatuck tribe, says, "It’s just interfering and trying to interfere with the lawful retail trade on our land." But the lawsuit alleges that many of the cigarette proprietors are not even members of the tribe, and that each of the 279 residents of the reservation (including children) would have to smoke 19,200 cigarettes a day to account for the millions of cigarettes sold there in 2007.
Tagged
cigarette sales
cigarettes
indian reservations
lawsuit
mayor bloomberg
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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