From the NYTs:
He emerged from the No. 2 subway at 125th Street wearing a bright orange shirt and aviator sunglasses, with a small backpack concealing his stock in trade — tax-free Newport cigarettes.
Like a Yankee Stadium hawker, but in voice closer to a stage whisper, he kept repeating his pitch: “Newports. Loosies. Shorts. Longs.”
His name is Paco, but on the streets of Harlem he is known simply as a “$5 man,” the nickname for a highly visible network of peddlers who sell bootleg cigarettes. His illegal traffic in Newports — $5 a pack or a single “loosie” cigarette for 50 cents — can bring him $100 or more a day.
Paco will not reveal his last name or the source of his Newports, the menthol brand widely popular in urban communities. But legal authorities say the trail of the $5 men leads to American Indian reservations in New York State, a path they contend is smoothed by the tacit cooperation of some cigarette makers and distributors.
Turtle Talk 