From: QNS
Little Neck father and two sons busted for smuggling and selling untaxed cigarettes into NYC
According to the charges, Nicholas Galafano purchased more than 37,000 cartons of cigarettes from a co-defendant, Nasi Jafri, 43, of Chantilly, Virginia. Jafri bought the untaxed cigarettes from big box stores in Virginia and Maryland, then drove them to New York and delivered them to Galafano, who then sold the cartons to father-and-son store owners in Brooklyn: Ahmad Abualrub, 61, and Hassan Abualrub, 18, of Brighton Beach.
Prosecutors said that Galafano and his partner in multiple business ventures — Beatrice Villafane, 46, of Hempstead, Long Island — then worked to launder the revenue they received from the sale of untaxed cigarettes. They deposited more than a million dollars in proceeds into bank accounts.
