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
