By John M. Annese, Staten Island Advance
The pain of rising cigarette prices has meant profit for some entrepreneurs on Staten Island willing to break the law to make a buck.
As a recent police sweep at St. George Ferry Terminal highlighted earlier this month, shady merchants have taken to selling loose cigarettes and cheap packs of smokes — all without the bother and extra cost of a state tax stamp.
New tax laws from last June have spiked the price of cigarettes to anywhere from $11 to $14 a pack, but bootleggers are charging $5 for a pack of Newports and, in some cases, 75 cents for a “loosie” — a single smoke.
