MAJOR CRACKDOWN ON VIDEO COUNTERFEITERS RESULTS IN SEIZURE OF OVER 20.000 BOOTLEG VIDEO CASSETTES AND 1,000 VCRS; EIGHT LOCATIONS RAIDED; 11 ARRESTED; INVESTIGATION CONTINUING

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown and New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir today announced that seven multi-million dollar video counterfeiting and distribution locations operating in Queens and the Bronx have been closed down with the arrest of 11 individuals and the seizure of thousands of counterfeit videos of feature films and the equipment used to make them.

District Attorney Brown and Police Commissioner Safir said that a combined force of 60 detectives from the New York City Police Department's Intelligence Division, the Queens District Attorney's Office Squad and the Queens District Attorney's Detective Bureau, assisted by investigators from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) carried out raids today at seven locations in Queens and a video store called "188 Flavors" in the Bronx. Armed with search warrants signed by Criminal Court Judge Darrell L. Gavrin, detectives seized over 20,000 copies of first-run feature films like "Zorro," "Six Days, Seven Nights," "Dr. Dolittle," "Godzilla," "Out of Sight," "The Truman Show," "Mulan," "The X Files," "Deep Impact," and others. They also seized upwards of 1,000 video cassette recorders allegedly operated 24 hours a day to duplicate the movies, $32,000 in cash and thousands of blank video cassettes, cassette sleeves, plastic shrink wrap, labels and other packaging equipment. Also seized were electrical strip outlets, wires and computers, computer records and other business records, as well as a number of high-tech CD duplicators.

District Attorney Brown said, "Every year hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are duped into buying substandard and inferior counterfeit videos. Some people have suspicions about their origins but buy them anyway thinking they are a bargain while others believe they've bought the real thing and are totally hoodwinked. Aside from ripping off the public, criminal enterprises like those raided today cost the motion picture industry an estimated $2.5 billion worldwide each year in potential revenue and legitimate video dealers suffer enormous losses as a result of the unfair competition of those engaging in the sale and rental of pirated products. And, in addition, both the City and the State lose millions of dollars in sales tax revenue."

Police Commissioner Safir said, "This successful investigation, including the 11 arrests and the seizure of hundreds of thousands of dollars of pirated contraband, is the result of the City's commitment to shutting down illegal counterfeit operations which are the mainstay of organized crime. These arrests have effectively dismanted a large illegal network which preyed upon and profited at the expense of all New Yorkers."

District Attorney Brown said that the investigation leading to today's arrests began earlier this year when MPAA anti-piracy investigators identified the locations of the eight premises raided today. Investigators subsequently conducted surveillance at the locations, which included several residential garages and basements in private houses in Jamaica, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park and observed hundreds of video cassette recorders in operation as well as stockpiles of cardboard sleeves with smudgy photographs and other indicia of the movie bootlegging business. In addition, detectives made a series of undercover purchases at the locations.

The locations raided are at: 107-58 126th St., South Jamaica; 135-36 Kew Gardens Road, Kew Gardens; 132-02 Jamaica Avenue, Richmond Hill; 107-27 135th Street, South Jamaica; and 111-39 122nd Street, Ozone Park. The three other locations raided today are at: 50-06 94th Street, Corona; 18-22 26th Road, Astoria; and 166 E.188th Street, Bronx. Those arrested have been charged with trademark counterfeiting and criminal possession of a forged instrument. They face up to four years in prison upon conviction.

The arrests were carried out by Sgt. John Mullaly and Det. Bernard Gifford and members of the NYPD's Intelligence Division under the command of Insp. Daniel Oates, together with members of the District Attorney's Office Squad under the command of Capt. Harold J. Knorr and detectives from the Queens District Attorney's Detective Bureau under the command of Chief Edward T. Brady and Deputy Chief Lawrence J. Festa.

The investigation was under the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael J. Mansfield and John R. Mechmann, Chief and Deputy Chief, respectively, of District Attorney Brown's Economic Crimes Bureau, Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Robert D. Alexander and William Shannon, who is Director of Anti-Piracy Operations for the MPAA. Investigator John Lewis and Investigator Alerson Jacquez of the MPAA under Sr. Investigators Peter English and George Hankin and investigators from the Recording Industry Association of America were also involved in the investigation.

The cases will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Linda C. LaGreca and Rosemarie Buccheri of District Attorney Brown's Economic Crimes Bureau.

It is to be noted that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.