Bags full of trouble

By Jack Levine and Zhang Yuwei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-03 09:14

A store at Chinatown in New York sells generic handbags. The back wall has a door that leads to another room selling fake designer handbags. Jack Levine

NEW YORK: In Manhattan's bustling Chinatown, they prowl along Canal Street and have become as common as windows adorned with ducks. In sotto voce the women can be heard constantly repeating a mantra that sounds vaguely like a Latin prayer. But the words are "Gucci, Chanel, Coach, Fendi".

An investigation by China Daily found that the counterfeit industry in New York and in LA's Santee Valley, is alive and well. Sellers are operating in new ways to avoid being closed down.

Street vendors hawking knock-off designer handbags have created such a big enterprise that New York City police, behind Mayor Michael Bloomberg, have been cracking down hard on the illegal trade in the past year.

Earlier this month, police arrested a vendor driving a van carrying millions of dollars in fake handbags and other goods.

Police reportedly found a stash that included 10,000 pieces of Tiffany-labeled jewelry, 3,000 purses with designer tags and 2,000 wallets.

Although Chinatown has long been a landmark that has attracted tourists to its many restaurants and markets, the main reason people now visit the area is to buy counterfeit luxury goods, according to surveys by tour guides for Chinatown Partnership, a group promoting tourism and business.

The government and industry experts say that most counterfeit products, such as handbags, watches and jewelry coming into the US originates in China.

Elijah Zuniga, a retired San Diego police officer and former agent for the California Department of Justice, believes China is the main source of all counterfeit goods.

Generally the goods are brought over with legitimate goods, or via an inspector who is bribed. They are then brought up from Mexico, where they can be legally shipped, and are then smuggled across the border. According to authorities, the scale of the operations is enormous.

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