1 of many: A billion dollar tobacco smuggling operation got its start during a March 1992 meeting at the popular Como Restaurant in Niagara Falls' Little Italy according to a December '99 Canadian racketeering lawsuit filed against RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. casetext.com/case/atty-gen-… 
2 The meeting was between Les Thompson, a marketing exec form Ontario with RJ Reynolds Canadian division, and the Tavano brothers (Robert & Louis) who ran the US end of the operation from their warehouse in The Falls. buffalonews.com/1997/08/17/off…
3 The Tavano brothers and Larry Miller, ran a company called LBL importing just down the street from the Como on Pine Street bought Canadian cigarettes thru Foreign Trade Zones in the US to sell to the Indians to smuggle back into Canada. buffalonews.com/1999/12/22/can…
4 Louis Tavano, a cousin of Sonny Nicoletti Jr., was identified as an associate of Stephen Magaddino when indicted with Magaddino and 9 others on gambling and bookmaking charges in 1968. casetext.com/case/united-st…
5 In '94 Lou Tavano with 5 other Niagara Falls natives was sentenced for operating a large sports betting operation. The govt. couldn't prove the operation was run by the Buffalo mob but the group called Buffalo every morning. buffalonews.com/1994/01/04/6-f…
6 His brother Bobby Tavano, who at the time had been Republican Chairman and was serving as a Niagara Falls Council member on the tourism committee, was previously convicted of steeling insurance premiums and bribery. buffalonews.com/1997/09/28/cit…
7 The Tavano's partner in LBL Importing, Larry Miller, was a Las Vegas slot-machine salesman who owned a piece of a casino. cbsnews.com/news/tobaccos-…
8 The Toavano's relied on product from Elias Attea wholesale who was the main source of Canadian cigs shipped into the United States and then smuggled back into Canada through the St. Regis Reservation straddling the border in northern New York. buffalonews.com/1993/03/19/att…
9 Attea, also supplied "Smokin Joe" Anderson of the Tuscarora Reservation in Niagara County who started his own cig manufacturing business in '94 to avoid new state law on taxes. buffalonews.com/1997/03/31/man…
10. The LA Times described the smuggling steps: Step 1: Tobacco companies in Canada export cigarettes. Since the cigarettes supposedly will not be sold in Canada, they are not subject to tobacco taxes. The shipments go to free-trade zones in U.S. border areas...
11. Step 2: Distributors take possession of cigarettes and transport them to the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York, where they are sold to members of smuggling rings who store them in warehouses.
12. Step 3: Smugglers transport the cigarettes across the St. Lawrence River on small boats. Step 4: Contraband cigarettes are sold cheaply in bingo halls, stores and parking lots. latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
13. Seems most everything comes full circle: Louis Tavano Jr. and his brother Roger pled guilt to operating offshore betting thru Lou's companies Jacktrade and IRG. reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/j…
14. And Dominic Violi, who may be the underboss of the Buffalo Mob, was implicated in tobacco smuggling scheme in which the Agostino/Albanese clan of Montreal were sending him a portion of the 7.3 million in 2 year proceeds according to @DanielRenaud13 lapresse.ca/actualites/jus…
15 The steps are similar to the steps in the '90's operation. The smuggling still involves Buffalo. Though now drivers are traded and truck are taken through customs in Buffalo to be taken to the reservation in Montreal.sq.gouv.qc.ca/nouvelles/proj…
16. The new steps are as follows: A 3000 KM JOURNEY
1 -Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes: A trucker takes to the road with legal cargo. 2 -New York: The contents of the trailer are dropped off at the customer. 3 -North Carolina: We reload the trailer, but this time with contraband tobacco
1 -Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes: A trucker takes to the road with legal cargo. 2 -New York: The contents of the trailer are dropped off at the customer. 3 -North Carolina: We reload the trailer, but this time with contraband tobacco
17 . Step 4 - Buffalo: A few kilometers before arriving, the Quebec trucker exchanges his trailer with that of an Ontario counterpart who holds "regular" status at Buffalo customs. The Quebecer, who is more at risk of being questioned,...
19, ...crosses with a legally loaded trailer while the Ontarian brings tobacco to Canadian territory.
5 - Kahnawake: Final destination of the tobacco, where it will be prepared for the smuggling market in a factory. tvanouvelles.ca/2018/03/22/vas…
5 - Kahnawake: Final destination of the tobacco, where it will be prepared for the smuggling market in a factory. tvanouvelles.ca/2018/03/22/vas…
