From: The Dispatch
OCEAN CITY — Basel Ramadan, ringleader of a vast, multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring indicted along with 15 others after raids on their resort area properties in May 2013, was sentenced on Wednesday to a broad range of four to 12 years and will be forced to forfeit $1.2 million in ill-gotten gains, according to the New York Attorney General’s Office.
In late September, Ramadan, a West Ocean City resident, was found guilty on all 198 counts including enterprise corruption, money laundering and numerous tax crimes. Ramadan was accused of running a multi-state, multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling scheme that originated at a wholesaler in Virginia, passed through the defendant’s businesses and residences in Ocean City, West Ocean City and Delaware and ultimately flooded over a million cartons of untaxed cigarettes into New York City and upstate New York.
