N.Y. Supermarket Sues Over Untaxed Cigarettes

New York City, Newsday reported that New York City supermarket chain Gristedes Supermarkets filed a lawsuit against two Long Island Indian nations and senior tribal officials, alleging they were participating in an illegal black market that sold untaxed cigarettes to non-Indians. The grocer said it lost more than $20 million because smoke shops on the Unkechaug and Shinnecock reservations sold untaxed cigarettes at reduced prices, undercutting sales of non-Indian businesses in the metropolitan area, the report said. The suit described the smoke shops as black market suppliers "through their knowing and intentional complicity," funding gangs, organized crime and international terrorists such as Hezbollah, the newspaper reported.