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Eleven indicted on cigarette racketeering charges
February 4, 2003, 4:41 PM EST
DETROIT -- Eleven people accused of buying and selling contraband cigarettes in order to evade Michigan taxes have been indicted on racketeering charges, federal authorities announced Tuesday.
In separate documents, prosecutors allege some of those charged donated profits from the cigarette trafficking to the militant group Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization in Lebanon.
The indictment unsealed Tuesday charges each of the 11 with conspiracy to commit a pattern of racketeering activity, including contraband cigarette trafficking, possession of counterfeit cigarette tax stamps, credit card fraud, money laundering, arson and witness tampering.
The defendants are accused of buying cigarettes in North Carolina and the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in New York, then bringing them to Michigan to be resold, according to U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Cigarette taxes are $12.50 per carton in Michigan and 50 cents per carton in North Carolina. Cigarettes are not taxed on the reservation.
The defendants would at times use fraudulent credit cards to purchase the cigarettes and then use counterfeit stamps to make it appear that Michigan taxes had been paid, the indictment says.
February 4, 2003, 4:41 PM EST
DETROIT -- Eleven people accused of buying and selling contraband cigarettes in order to evade Michigan taxes have been indicted on racketeering charges, federal authorities announced Tuesday.
In separate documents, prosecutors allege some of those charged donated profits from the cigarette trafficking to the militant group Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization in Lebanon.
The indictment unsealed Tuesday charges each of the 11 with conspiracy to commit a pattern of racketeering activity, including contraband cigarette trafficking, possession of counterfeit cigarette tax stamps, credit card fraud, money laundering, arson and witness tampering.
The defendants are accused of buying cigarettes in North Carolina and the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in New York, then bringing them to Michigan to be resold, according to U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Cigarette taxes are $12.50 per carton in Michigan and 50 cents per carton in North Carolina. Cigarettes are not taxed on the reservation.
The defendants would at times use fraudulent credit cards to purchase the cigarettes and then use counterfeit stamps to make it appear that Michigan taxes had been paid, the indictment says.
What the hell did you idjits expect? Ban something, or tax it high enough that it might as well be banned, and you're going to attract criminals to smuggling like flies to honey.
Does 'The Roaring 20's' mean anything to you? Prohibition? Speakeasys? Al Capone? HELLOOOOOOOOOO....
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