Arrest the buyers!

If those annoying midwest tourists, who think this is a "NY experience", were arrested, this illegal operation would end in a heart beat.

They would never do that, they are the ones bringing in the money!

don't worry about the counterfeiters, i just saw a bunch of them near canal street yesterday. it is pretty obvious who are the shills, just look at the middle age asians with people who look pretty much like tourists. often they have in their hands a color photocopy of the bags. so, get cracking.

bootlegs dont fund terrorist activities.

bootleg cigs dont fund terrorist activities.

drug sales dont fund terrorist activities.

its just a BS scare tactic,

US FOREIGN POLICY causes terrorism.

just like the music & film industry says they steal revenue and jobs. but no matter how uptight and moral i might be im not shelling out $12 a ticket to see Speed Racer, or $3000 for a Rolex.

While i might entertain 6 bootlegs for $20 and pick 3 stinkers for a laugh, i dont feel the need to stroke my ego with a fake rolex.

this is a frequent move by the city and happens every year or so. with the advent of the internets shopping, nobody needs to go to canal st if they want a cheap knockoff product. I suspect bloombergs mission is gentrification and repurposing the bldgs.

A precious gem from a recent Nytimes article

March 16, 2009,

The Moral Costs of Counterfeiting

By JENNIFER 8. LEE

A professor at Duke and M.I.T. has done studies on how counterfeit goods influence people in other aspects of their lives. Among his findings: People who were told they were wearing “fake” designer sunglasses were significantly more likely to cheat on tests than ones told they were wearing “real” ones.

He presented his report, “Faking It: The Psychology of Dishonesty and Counterfeits,” at Harper’s Bazaar’s annual anticounterfeiting summit on Monday.

I only go to Canal Street to buy at the discount hardware stores.

there isn't any fashion business left in the city.

they're gone overseas even the guy looking for factories overseas lost his job, so yes, I do know someone in the garment industry and retail.

and it wasn't because of fake LV or guccis.

Most design and sales are still done in NYC.

even the sales people were cut because the support logistics people were also laid off. the industry is non existent. design people can work out of an apartment if they want to, who needs a showroom anymore? you only need a warehouse.

What many people don't know is that the proceeds from knockoff bags, watches and clothing gets funneled back to fund terrorist organizations, the drug trade and human trafficking. The labor used to make these is always underpaid and made to work in the most dehumanizing conditions. One article I read found children as young as 5 years old in Thailand sitting on the floor stitching bags together by hand. Their legs had been broken and tied together so that they didn't heal, just because they asked to go outside and play.

And everything you buy from China from your "responsible" corporation was made that way.

That's bullshit! You can say that about everything that you buy that's made in china. You know poor kids in china made that sweater you bought at the legitimate gap. don't fall for Louis Vuitton's LMVH corporate propaganda. it's corporate terrorism. they market sex and elitism through their ads to create a want for goods you don't need and then when other people make a reasonable fascimile of said item at a reasonable price they bring in the legal howitzers to obliterate them. I've been aroung gucci, LV, and movado ever since I was a kid and always thought that shit was ugly as hell. Now that I'm an adult I still think it's ugly as hell. The emperor has no clothes and he wants you to pay millions for it.

I guess you don't have any friends in the fashion or retail businesses. Nor do you benefit from the services provided by the government in part with sales taxes generated by legitimate businesses.

Do Gucci and LV lose as much as they say they do? No. But they do lose something. I know people who can afford the real thing but go for the knockoffs because they're cheap. I also know people who can't afford the real thing and buy the knockoffs instead of buying a lower priced brand from a legitimate store. In both cases, usually there are no taxes paid, and real stores that pay legit wages and benefits lose sales, and sales people lose commissions, and so on.

The craziest part is that while Gucci or LV have the "Made in Italy" label the contracted factories bring in tons of immigrants from Asia as cheap (sometimes illegal) labor to work there.

But this isn't about whether or not luxury brands are actually quality goods. This is about whether or not police resources would be better allocated to more pressing matters.

and I also heard they harvest organs and pack you in an ice filled bathtub.

Two weeks ago a saw a tourist paid $300 for a Rolex from a young guy standing on the corner of Canal and Broadway. I can only imagine how

much that kid makes a

week.

Doesn't take a genius to figure out they're clearing out the area for developers.

Like most of the commenters, I think counterfeiting should be celebrated and held up as a model for behavior and not subject to a crackdown. Therefore, I plan on flooding the Upper East Side with counterfeit brand name drugs that look exactly like the real thing. After all, why protect the drug company profits just for the sake of their brand names? I'm also going to start issuing counterfeit law degrees. And MBAs and law degrees. That guy doing your taxes might be one of my guys doing it for less. Same goes for teaching certificates, medical degrees, business registrations, license plates, building titles, parking placards, cop badges and the like. Let's just declare that all 'brands' and 'labels' are subject to an anything goes policy. That soda machine you put your money might contain Coke. Or something made from the Love Canal. If you make a stink about it, I'll just say you're on a 'witch hunt' like all the yuppie gentrifiers who care about the rule of law and the value of personal property. Let's make every street Canal Street.

Welcome to Gothamist, where The System is always wrong unless: a.)it involves giving out free services or currency or b.)Barack Obama did it.

Here are some examples:

1. Anarchists want to paint their own bike lane and redirect traffic on a whim? "Sure, that's cool."

2. Vandals want to destroy property with cans of spray paint? "Screw you for persecuting them, that's their ART, mannn."

3. The city is broke and closing homeless shelters. "Whooooa, that's bullshit."

4. The city finds $50 million to renovate a public pool used by upper middle class white people two months a year. "Whooooa, that's AWESOME."

5. Cops shut down a massive counterfeiting ring which takes millions of dollars out of the hands of legitimate businesses. "Heyy, don't the cops have better things to do?"

6. Cops shut down a major drug ring and a suspect dies after pulling a gun. "Shut down the racist NYPD!"

this whole counterfeit "witch hunt" is ridiculous, and unsuccessful. It is a brand what people want to buy, a visual expression of status. It will be a perfect environment for illegal activities when is high demand and no access to the objects of affection any other way.

Huh-uh. It's already happening. Haven't you seen the northeast corner of Canal & B'way? Sleepy's upstairs, Bank of America street level. A Holiday Inn just north of Canal.

Soho Broadway stores now creeping in south of Canal. And condos.