If you thought you were getting your untaxed cigarettes from the Poospatuck tribal reservation this weekend, think again! A federal judge stopped the tribe's sale of untaxed cigarettes to those outside the tribe because NYC complained that people would of course buy untaxed cigarettes instead of taxed ones in the city and that the untaxed cigarette trade leads to bootlegging. The tribe has 30 days to appeal, and they vow to fight it. However, Mayor Bloomberg said, "The city will go after every dollar that is owed to city taxpayers." According to the NY Times, "City officials estimated that the sales deprived the city of $420 million from 2004 to 2008." more ›

On Monday Mayor Bloomberg announced a lawsuit against the Poospatuck Indian reservation on Long Island, in an attempt to stop the untaxed sale of 11.3 million cartons of cigarettes on the reservation per year. Today the Times has a great, long article about how the smokes travel from the wholesaler through the reservation and to the streets of New York, where "$5 Men" like "Paco" stand on corners and whisper, "Newports. Loosies. Shorts. Longs." Reporters at the reservation describe a booming business, where cigarette sales are made on a bustling main street and even out of residential trailers. One reporter saw a sign for Justin’s Smokes "on a tree outside a residential trailer. An occupant of the trailer ordered the reporter off the property, telling her it was not a cigarette shop. 'That’s just a sign on a tree,' the woman yelled." more ›