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Jump to full article: AP, 2008-05-01
Author: FRANK ELTMAN * Associated Press Writer
Intro: CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - The owner of an Indian reservation smoke shop that prosecutors claim is a major supplier of black market cigarettes was convicted of racketeering conspiracy Thursday, but acquitted of charges that he waged a campaign of arson and murder to protect his multimillion dollar business.
A federal jury sitting on Long Island deliberated off and on for a month before delivering the split verdict in the case of Mastic cigarette dealer Rodney Morrison. The marathon trial began in November.
The jury refused to convict Morrison of the most heinous charge, an allegation that he ordered the slaying of a one-time business protege who had opened a rival smoke shop. The victim, Sherwin Henry, 23, was shot to death on a Brooklyn rooftop in 2003.
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