Guy Cosentino: Taking charge in absence of action

No matter how you slice it, 1.5 million is a big number - but trying to imagine two tractor trailer loads of cigarettes that do not have the required state taxation stamps on them in the possession of the Cayuga County Sheriff#'s Office and close to 2 million more in Seneca County, stretches one's imagination. What brings this into perspective - in a time when New York state is grappling with a multi-billion dollar budget gap - is the estimated loss of state revenue from the cartons seized from search warrants executed at two Cayuga Nation stores by representatives of both the Cayuga and Seneca county sheriffs' offices on Tuesday. It is estimated at upward of half a million dollars.