Word: mohawks
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Between the worn-out trailers and the HUD homes on the St. Regis Mohawk reservation sits an incongruous stretch of newly built mansions. From his patrol car, Wesley Benedict, the tribal police chief, points out a red brick palazzo and a white gabled mansion. "Most of those are built with smuggling money," he says. Around the world, word has spread that if you want to come to the U.S., the easiest point of entry is this barren reservation that cuts across both sides of the New York-Canada border...
...border patrol. He points out a dozen regular drop-off points, like old marinas and abandoned houses. For several days last week, he was on the alert for Hussein Fayid, an accused Lebanese murderer and reputed Hizballah money mover. Authorities traced Fayid through Toronto. Just outside the Mohawk reservation, he slipped away...
...Mohawk reservation appeals to smugglers because its status as a tribal reserve makes it a no-go area for law enforcement officials. Even the military has declared it a "red zone" and has refused to fly over it since a medical helicopter was shot down on a nearby reservation years ago. At the edge of the 16,000-acre reservation, a sign boldly warns the FBI, state police and IRS to keep out. "It is a jurisdictional and geographic nightmare," says Ashlaw, who only enters the reservation escorted by the tribal police. This year the border patrol has made...
...police and federal authorities, the smuggling took off several years ago when Canada lowered its cigarette tax. Until then much of the reservation's cash came from buying cheap cigarettes in the States and selling them illegally in Canada. "You could make 600% on a case of cigarettes," says Mohawk Charlie Little Tree. "When that ended, people became the easiest commodity." Little Tree is now facing charges for smuggling aliens; his son is already serving time for the same offense...
...Randy curls the mustache into a sinister little shape, slicks his mohawk to one side and starts dancing to Elvis's "Return to Sender." He laughs and sticks the prop back in his pocket. Beth jumps up and runs down the steps to say goodbye to some preppy kids who are leaving for the day. She hugs them; they hug back, gingerly, avoiding the spikes on her vest...