Attention New York tourists: Canal Street is closed. Or a least part of it is. For the moment.

After the police conducted a $1m raid Tuesday morning, Mayor Mike Bloomberg posed with a ‘CLOSED’” sign among the trays of fake watches and piles of counterfeit handbags. The bust involved 32 separate storefronts, all owned by the same estate and located in a triangular city block newly dubbed the ‘Counterfeit Triangle,’ bounded by Canal, Walker, and Centre Streets. The counterfeit trade, according to the press release, is ‘standing in the way of the revitalization of Chinatown,” and the mayor intends to make renting to counterfeit retailers “a losing business proposition.’

Via Counterfeit Chic

*EDIT*
There are some jems in the comments section under the New York Times Article

For those wondering how these astronomical losses are calculated, it involves the math and logic of a 5-year-old:
1) Estimate how many people bought the fake Vuitton bag for $50;
2) Assume that every single person who bought a fake bag for $50 would have bought a $1500 bag if the fake bags weren’t available;
3) Ignore the howls of laughter at the absurd logic and multiply (number of sales) x $1500;
4) Hold press conference.
— Posted by Peter

In almost everything to do with New York City, I try to follow the money. And my guess is if you follow the money in this case, you’ll end up in the office of a property developer…probably one of the handful of aristocratic families that rule New York City, and who are desperate to gain land in lower Manhattan that is still eligible for Liberty bonds.
— Posted by David L.