From: NBC New York
“This smuggling ring raked in millions of dollars at the expense of New Yorkers,” Queens County District Attorney Richard Brown said
Queens County District Attorney Richard Brown with cigarette cartons seized as part of the bust.
A group of smugglers made millions of dollars in illegal profits by buying cheap cigarettes outside of New York and selling them in-state with counterfeit tax stamps, prosecutors said.
Nicholas Galafano, 56, of Queens, his sons Yaseen Galafano, 22, and Musa Galafano, 25, of Queens, Ahmad Abualrub, 61, of Brooklyn, his son Hassan Abualrub, 18, also of Brooklyn, Beatrice Villafane, 46, of Long Island, Nasir Jafri, 43, of Virginia and Lisa Penda, 33, of Long Island ran a “complex multi-state cigarette smuggling ring,” Queens County District Attorney Richard Brown said.
