Oneida Nation buys cigarette factory

Story Created: Sep 17, 2009 at 9:13 AM EST

Story Updated: Sep 18, 2009 at 9:08 AM EST

VERONA, N.Y. (AP) - The Oneida Indian Nation says it will make
its own cigarettes.

The tribe has purchased a cigarette manufacturing plant in Erie County for $6.6 million.

The nation already runs the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, a dozen SavOn gas station-convenience stores, a gaming software company and five golf courses. It sells about $34 million of untaxed cigarettes a year at its stores.

Sovereign Tobacco produces Niagara and Bishop discount cigarette
brands that sell for $30 a carton, about half the cost of taxed, name-brand cigarettes sold in non-Indian outlets.

The cigarette plant in Angola employs about 28 people and sold 1.4 million cartons of cigarettes last year, distributing mostly to about 60 Native American outlets in upstate New York.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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