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State Police Investigator John Aquilina carries a box of bootleg audio CDs out of the S&N; Deli on the corner of 18th Street and Pierce Avenue in Niagara Falls Thursday. (James Neiss)
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Feds raid 7 stores
By Rick Pfeiffer
Friday, July 16, 2026
Teams of local police and federal agents fanned out across the city Thursday afternoon, in a series of raids on local convenience stores.
The raids were triggered by reports the stores were trafficking in bootleg compact discs and DVDs.
Tipped by representatives from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), detectives conducted an extensive undercover investigation into the complaints about the counterfeit discs.
“We were familiar with some of the problems (the recording industry has) been facing with counterfeit audio and video,” Chief Mark Driess, of the Niagara County Drug Task Force, said. “We also had some (informants) on the street who had been telling us about it.”
Niagara County Sheriff’s Department investigators and Falls police detectives spent several months running down leads and making undercover buys of the bootleg audio and video discs at a number of neighborhood delis and elsewhere.
“We even had a guy who was selling them out of the trunk of his car,” Driess said. “We were look ing for him today and we’re still looking for him.”
Based on the results of the undercover investigation, Falls police, sheriff’s deputies, state police investigators and agents from the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, executed seven search warrants on convenience stores ranging from the South End to the East Side.
“It doesn’t appear that there was any type of network (to sell the bootleg discs) between the stores,” Falls police Detective Lt. Robert Rosati said. “It’s apparently just another way for them to make money.”
Most music and video discs are copyrighted and can’t be duplicated without the permission of the disc producer or the artists performing on the discs. The RIAA contends “millions of dollars are lost each year” from bootleg recordings.
The convenience store raids netted a large quantity of counterfeit audio and video discs and other items.
“It was a pretty fruitful effort,” Rosati said. “We got a bunch of CDs, some marijuana, untaxed cigarettes and an unregistered handgun.”
Several of the stores’ clerks were arrested and given tickets to appear in City Court on Monday. Police were not able to release the names of those arrested or the charges they face.
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Reader Comments
Jenks (7/19/2004)
I agree, please spend our tax dollars better....solve some of the murders
The Gaza Strip (7/19/2004)
The suthorities are not searching for illegal Cds/DVDs this is all a setup to see if theres terrorist in the area. These are little guys at Corner Stores who are just trying to make a little profit..the real guys are the ones distributing them.
TINA B (7/19/2004)
MY HOUSE WAS ROBBED OVER A YEAR AGO..FIND MY STUFF. NEVER MINE A FEW BOOT LEGG DVD'S AND CD'S.
Carol (7/19/2004)
Bring the feds in to deter violence. Leave the music alone.
MO (7/18/2004)
This may not seem like the highest priority to some, but this may only be the tip of the iceberg - perhaps the Feds/State/County/City can break into this unfamiliar territory and foreign culture to identify funding sources of terrorist groups, sleeper cells or other criminal conspiracy activities that are on-going or are planned. It's a start. Let's see where it leads.
Janelle (7/18/2004)
I agree with the above two readers. Go after the drug dealers.
stan64 (7/18/2004)
Excellent job by our local authorities. Not only does this help to get the bootleg music off the streets but helps to gather a lot
of intellegence in other areas including drugs and other crimes.
(7/17/2004)
It's pretty sad that police enforcement is geared to focus on CD's and DVD's when there is much more serious crimes that need to be addressed such as some of the unsolved murders in Niagara Falls.
daisy (7/16/2004)
GET THE DRUGS OFF THE STREETS, DONT WORRY ABOUT THE MUSIC.
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