By James DeWeese
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and recording industry officials, who held a news conference outside the brick house at 49-54 175th Place, called the bust one of the area's largest in recent memory.
When police raided the house, they discovered 10 computers with more than 100 high-speed CD and DVD burners capable of burning a disc in about a minute, a shrink-wrap machine to package CDs and about 15,000 CDs both finished and blanks, Brown said.
Musical titles included N.E.R.D., Guns N Roses, Usher, The Vines and Justin Guarini.
“They only do the hits and that's where the industry gets hurt,” said Jerry Robbins, an investigator for the Recording Industry of America.
Police also found pornographic DVDs, computer video games and $50,000 worth of fake Louis Vitton handbags and luggage, the criminal complaint said.
Five men and one woman ranging in age from 19 to 29 were arrested in the sting, Brown said. All six — Zuo Ren Wang, Dao Hua Huang, Shi Ming Xu, Jian Hai Qu, Xiao Kai Qu and Suk Eun Souk — have been charged with second-degree trademark counterfeiting, criminal possession of forgery devices and failure to disclose the origin of a recordings.
They face up to four years in prison if convicted. But Brown said he did not think the punishment fit the crime. “I'd like to see the penalties raised,” Brown said.
The arrests came after a month-long investigation involving undercover surveillance and purchases by RIAA investigators of illegally copied CDs, Brown said. He added that law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate up and down the supply chain.
A high-speed factory such as the Fresh Meadows house “is capable of fleecing the recording industry of millions of dollars in revenues,” Brown said.
The American recording industry estimates that it loses between $400 million and $500 million every year because of counterfeit CDs.
Brown pointed out that the sale of illegal CDs can cost the state and local government big money in lost sales taxes. He said the Fresh Meadows operation meant the loss of some $10.4 million in sales tax.
Counterfeit CDs from operations such as the Fresh Meadows bust wind up being sold by street corner vendors, retailers and flea markets. They are sold on the street for between $4 and $5 each, Brown said.
Industry officials contend that counterfeiting is hurting American attempts at consolidating a knowledge-based economy.
“If we're not manufacturing anymore and we're moving to an economy of creating ideas — and we are — if we don't protect that, then it's all over,” said David Benjamin, senior vice president of Universal Music Group's anti-piracy division. Universal is one of the world's largest music companies with about 30 percent of the music market share.
“It is not a crime that is victimless,” Benjamin said. “We are all victims.”
Neighbors Norma and Miguel Jarrin said in Spanish that the occupants of the 175th Place home had been there for about a year. “We didn't know anything,” Miguel Jarrin said.
A woman who lived around the corner who declined to give her name said that a Con Edison truck had gone to the house three days before the arrests to check out a power outage, but the residents would not allow the technicians in.
The defendants are next scheduled to appear in State Supreme Court on April 13, a DA spokesman said.
Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
