By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Sure, the beautiful bonding between father and son is admirable. But there are limits to how admirable it is when it involves the world of crime.
ATF agents on Wednesday busted Guang Ming Wang, 58, and his son Feishan Wang, 30, in Flushing, N.Y., following a nine-month undercover investigation in which the men allegedly bought $846,000 in untaxed cigarettes and sold agents 103,950 N.Y. State/City tax stamps for the cigarettes for $4,000. The stamps are put on packs of cigarette to make them look legit.
The arrest highlighted the growing problem with criminals and store owners buying and selling untaxed cigarettes in high-taxed cigarette states like N.Y.
In recent years terrorist organizations and organized crime have gotten into the high-profit black market.Store owners who buy the untaxed cigarettes make far greater profits than the honest merchants who pay much more for taxed smokes.
The ATF said the two men allegedly conspired to cheat the state of $1.8 million in tax revenue.
“In these hard economic times, selling untaxed cigarettes are putting our law abiding merchants at a hugh disadvantage,” said Ronald B. Turk, head of the ATF in New York said in a prepared statement. “The legal tax revenue collected on tobacco products goes towards improving our schools, our highways and our quality of living.”
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