Police seized roughly 100,000 bogus CDs and another 100,000 counterfeit cassettes during raids at seven New York City area warehouses, along with recording equipment

September 3, 1999
Web posted at: 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 GMT)

From Correspondent Cynthia Tornquist

QUEENS, N.Y. (CNN) -- Suffolk County Police and the Queens district attorney's office said Friday that they cracked a music piracy operation and seized about $100 million worth of illegally duplicated compact discs and cassettes.

Police arrested Isaam Mansour and Jamal Kharoufah, described as the ringleaders of the operation. They will be prosecuted on charges of trademark counterfeiting and could face 15 years in prison if convicted.

Ten other suspects also were arrested.

"We have broken up ... a major counterfeiting ring that has been inflicting substantial losses in the recording industry," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

Police confiscated approximately 100,000 counterfeit CDs and 100,000 bogus cassettes, along with recording equipment in raids on seven New York area warehouses.

Authorities say the CDs were purchased at retail stores and illegally duplicated

Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears and Mariah Carey are among the many recording artists whose music was allegedly pirated in the operation. Approximately 90 percent of the counterfeit copies featured Latin music stars.

"We estimate we lose $300 million to $400 million per year in piracy," Frank Creighton, of the Recording Industry Association of America, said. "As far as this particular raid, obviously at $100 million potential loss in one year, that's almost one third total product loss to the industry."

Authorities say legitimate CDs were purchased at retail outlets and then illegally duplicated. The copies were sold to street vendors, who then passed them off to the public as the real thing.

The experts warn consumers that there are several ways to tell an original from a counterfeit copy. First, a very cheap price usually indicates a fake. Second, there is a color difference. Legitimate CDs are silver, while the bogus ones have a bluish-green hue.

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