vary widely, according to many trade and official 

 sources, organized crime has accounted for as much as 

 25 percent of the city's tobacco business. Cigarette boot- 

 legging and illegal mail-order sales from areas where 

 taxes were far less than New York became attractive to 

 the consumer. The Schenectady Gazette quoted a State 

 Taxation Department official as estimating a $7 million 

 yearly loss in state revenues due to illegal smuggling 

 traffic. In 1970 alone, the newspaper said, the cigarette 

 enforcement division of the Taxation and Finance De- 

 partment confiscated over a million packs and obtained 

 44 convictions. 



In April of 1971, the New York Times quoted Gov- 

 ernor Rockefeller who said: 



Widespread distribution of untaxed cigarettes 

 in New York hij criminal elements is threaten- 

 ing the existence of our legitimate cigarette 

 industry. . . . The impact of this illegal activity 

 is also felt in the loss of millions of dollars in 

 much needed public revenues. 

 The Times estimated that the state was losing $5.2 

 million yearly and the city $1.7 million a year. 



One government official, a Queens County district 

 attorney, told the Syracuse Post-Standard that organized 

 crime was "siphoning off $50 million a year" in revenues 

 that would have gone to the government. 



From this information, it is apparent that precisely 

 accurate consumption figures for tobacco products are 

 not available in New York State. 



