Firearms and Over 200 Bottles of Vodka Found by Police in Apparent Bootlegging Operation on Tribal Lands
Tribal and local authorities confiscated firearms, $1,000 and 201 bottles of vodka at an alleged bootlegging operation. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Dakota News Now reported that authorities confiscated firearms, $500 in small bills and $500 in coins at what they believed to be a bootlegging facility in Mission, South Dakota. Mission is a city on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Reservation.
Law enforcement within Mission and the Rosebud Sioux Tribal police seized 201 bottles of vodka at the purported bootlegging operation. Both a tribal and non-tribal member were charged with bootlegging.
Officers provided a search warrant when they suspected the individual living at the facility was operating in the illicit alcohol trade.
Dakota News reported that Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement is in talks with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Prosecutors Offices and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Council about banning the non-tribal member from tribal lands.
The illicit alcohol market is fairly robust, whether it involves modern-day “bootleggers” transporting liquor unlawfully across state lines without paying taxes, spirits scams, or individuals illegally manufacturing spirits of their own.
Modern bootlegging is still a concern in America, though it looks fairly different from the images of mobsters and Tommy guns that dominated the 1920s.
The National News reported in 2018 that many individuals turn to bootlegging to avoid state liquor taxes. The outlet shared that when states like Massachusetts began taxing booze in 2009, people would illegally cross into other states with lower tax rates like New Hampshire, buy liquor there and resell it.
A Breakdown of Liquor Laws on Reservations
The National Alcohol Beverage Control Association cited that the end of alcohol prohibition for Native Americans took place in 1953. Yet the Federal Government mandated that Native American tribes adhere to state laws on tribal lands, which has led to some tension throughout the years.
A law dating back to 1834 prohibited tribes from distilling spirits, and the archaic, draconian law was overturned in 2018 in a rare bipartisan move. To help tribes set up their distilling operations, the spirits brand Heritage Distilling Company launched a partnership with the Tonto Apache Tribe in August and opened a distillery on the reservation.
The spirits brand claimed it intended to help tribes across the country open new distilleries and gain equal representation in the liquor industry.
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