Have you ever heard of the Hobbs Act? Me neither. But now I have.<\/p>\n
There’s a guy who’s been robbing fruit stands, taco stands and other commercial establishments on the Upper West Side.<\/p>\n
The cops caught him. But instead of charging him with state criminal laws, they charged him with a federal law, the Hobbs Act.<\/p>\n
I thank West Side Rag for this info<\/a>. They, in turn, thank Cornell U’s Legal Info Institute:<\/p>\n The Hobbs Act is a federal law that targets any individual who \u201c\u2026obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section\u2026.\u201d according to Cornell University\u2019s Legal Information Institute<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The guy didn’t get bail. And won’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever heard of the Hobbs Act? Me neither. But now I have. There’s a guy who’s been robbing fruit stands, taco stands and other commercial establishments on the Upper West Side. The cops caught him. But instead of … Continue reading