SMUGGLING: Shades of Eliot Ness!

Shades of Eliot Ness!

In the heyday of Prohibition, Americans looked northward for booze, as truckloads of illicit liquor poured from Canada into a thirsty U.S. These days the high-proof smuggling traffic is operating in reverse, as Canadians try to get around their country's steep taxes on hooch. A 1 3/4-liter bottle of Smirnoff vodka sells for as much as $26.50 in Canada, with taxes accounting for nearly $22 of the price. A similar size bottle can be had for only $16 across the border in New York. "There's little stigma attached to smuggling liquor," says William McKissock, a senior Canada Customs antismuggling officer. "It's...

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