How Altria Is Winnowing Out Fake Marlboros
The tobacco giant’s private cops are going to new lengths to stop contraband smokes. On a clear February morning, a team of inspectors marches into the Subrina Mini Mart in the working-class Queens (N.Y.) neighborhood of Woodhaven. The shelves are stacked with instant noodles, Lysol, canned beans, and, of course, cigarettes. The clerk looks nervous.The inspectors, employees of a private-investigation firm hired by tobacco giant Altria (MO), are searching for counterfeit packs of Marlboros and any that have slipped past New York tax authorities.Three times over the past year this store allegedly sold fake smokes to an undercover agent employed by the Richmond (Va.)-based manufacturer. Altria sued the Mini Mart, one of 35 such suits it has filed in the past 10 months in New York and New Jersey. A federal judge in Brooklyn issued an order allowing the company to inspect the Woodhaven store and a number of others in the area. Read more