The City of New York says several cigarette dealers on a Mastic Indian reservation are defying a court order that was supposed to have put them out of business.
Lawyers for the city asked a judge Thursday to find the merchants in contempt of court.
The development is the latest in a legal battle between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and smoke shops on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation.
A federal judge declared in August that the shops’ multimillion dollar business in untaxed cigarettes was illegal and had to stop.
Tribal representatives say the stores obeyed the order and shut down.
But the city says at least three owners are still secretly doing business.
The tribe’s chief says the allegation isn’t true.
Heating Up: Long Island’s Global Warming Vulnerability
It was 70 degrees in Central Park and Islip on Nov. 28, a temperature that shattered a 115-year-old record for New York City and trumping Long Island’s previous of 68 degrees for that date in 1995. The mercury hit 72 degrees in Newark the same day—tying a [...]
Bloods Attempted Takeover of a Long Island Indian Reservation Smoke Shop
It was Sunday, shortly before daybreak, last Labor Day eve when three gunshots pierced the peaceful morning quiet on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation in Mastic. One of the bullets struck a 23-year-old security guard in the abdomen, toppling him to the [...]
Off The Reservation: Jimmy’s Diner
Producing this week’s cover story on the Indian cigarette trade was a laborious affair that was reported over a period of several months. And since it is essentially one giant “Off the Reservation” column, I wanted to digress from my usual diatribe and [...]