DAMN SON! CIGARETTE BOOTLEGGERS GET CAUGHT! LOOSIE'S IS ABOUT TO GO UP IN THE HOOD!

A dozen cigarette smugglers have been arrested for cheating the city and state out of $270,000 in taxes as part of a crackdown on underground smoke sales led by the Queens District Attorney's Office.

The three-month initiative uncovered a pipeline of untaxed cigarettes stretching from Korea and Uzbekistan, passing through Kennedy Airport and onto street corners and bodegas throughout the city.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown stood behind a table stacked with some 4,000 cartons of underground smokes to announce the formation of a unit dedicated to snuffing out a multi-million dollar underground industry.

"It cheats taxpayers who must dip into their pockets to pay higher taxes," Brown said. "And it cheats the government by fueling an underground economy which does not pay much-needed state and city taxes."

Some 22,000 untaxed cigars and $400,000 in money and property was also seized during Operation Smokeout.

Among those nabbed was Bobirjon Shakirov, 36, who arrived at JFK from Uzbekistan on April 3 with 170 cartons of cigarettes in his luggage. Prosecutors say the haul amounted to $11,000 in lost tax revenues.

Also arrested was Giuseppe Sciulara, 47, of Middle Village, Queens. Prosecutors found some 1,000 cartons of various brands were in his home and garage as well as $45,000 in cash and a loaded .25-caliber handgun.

The cigarettes all bore tax stamps from Virginia, where cigarette taxes are cheaper than New York.


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