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TOBACCO: Black Markets, Mafias, and Terrorists

By The PaperTrail Staff | July 02, 2009, 2:26 pm

image This week on the Center’s Public I podcast, Executive Director Bill Buzenberg talks to David Kaplan, the Center’s editorial director and head of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, about the global tobacco smuggling network and the billions of dollars in lost tax revenue that have resulted from the illicit industry.

The Center recently published a new batch of investigations into the underground tobacco trade, tracing its operations through Pakistan, Paraguay, Ukraine, and China, and highlighting its connections to terrorist groups worldwide.

Listen to the interview and check out the full stories.

You can view the rest of the Public I podcast series here or subscribe via iTunes.

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Next entry: ICIJ: Black Markets, Organized Crime Ravaging West Africa
Previous entry: MEDIA: The New Investigative News Network

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  1. Posted by: Ahmed on July 04, 2009, 4:38 pm

    Speaking of terrorists and mafias…..

    As it was in the Anthony Proviano Case - Belmont County Ohio I believe a “Suicide” is really a MURDER.

    Paul Edward Ault’s ‘ruled suicide’ on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 in Bellaire, Belmont County could well have been a murder.

    Landlord Ault
    [Don’t expect the “Official” records to show Ault as the owner – it could be MEA Properties or Rivertowne Lim. Inc. and if so – just try and find these companies ANYWHERE in the world]
    rented
    [917 Main St., Wheeling, WV (The Mary Elizabeth Apartments – most of the top two floors)]
    to members of a terrorist religious cult whose doctrines promote the ‘…elimination, of those that are not completely cooperative, DURING VIOLENT STORMS’
    and Mr. Ault died during a horrible thunderstorm not long after telling members of the cult that he was not interested in selling them the 917 property.
    The cult uses, by becoming members, established religious organizations as shields for their varied illegalities. 

    If any responsible parties care to investigate this matter, be forewarned – you will not find a more entrenched Good Old Boys (Dining well in the Tenderloin District) network than that in the Wheeling/Belmont County area.  Expect nothing but indifference, at best, and interference from the ‘local’ authorities.

    That is all I know and suspect in this matter.

    However I have little doubt that this will go into the ‘Got away with murder’ category because if Mr. Proviano’s parents had not been
    well-connected, in the Pittsburgh area, with plenty of money and a desire to fight for justice for their son’s murderer NOTHING would have been done.

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International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

The Center’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is a collaboration of some of the world’s leading investigative reporters. ICIJ extends globally the Center’s style of watchdog journalism, working with 100 reporters in 50 countries to produce long-term, transnational projects.

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