It will change the rules for those involved in violent armed robberies; it will not only allow for harsher penalties for those convicted, but bring along the tools and manpower of the FBI and the U.S. attorney to go after them.
"This squad is going to go after people that are committing repeat offenses, gangs, and criminal enterprises that are funding their operations through armed robberies," FBI Special Agent J.J. Klaver said.
The Hobbs Act was established in 1946 to prosecute and severely punish the activities of organized crime and those involved in labor racketeering. But over the years, the courts have interpreted the act broadly to apply it to acts of armed robbery; traditionally, that's a crime prosecuted under state law. Unfortunately, state law has not been able to effectively deal with repeat offenders.
"If they're the target of this squad and they're prosecuted and convicted federally, they're going to face significant sentences, and they're going to do those sentences," Klaver said.
One example is Bilial Shabazz and Christopher Young who were sentenced to 30 and 20 years, respectively, for robbing a Walmart at gunpoint on Roosevelt Boulevard.
The glaring example, however, is that of Angel Torres who was sentenced to 262 years in federal prison for a string of 10 armed robberies.
"These sentences are significant. These sentences are not a typo," Klaver said.
The new task force will be comprised of federal agents, detectives, and officers from the Philadelphia Police.
One of the major crimes of interest will be the significant rise in pharmacy robberies, like the one on Wednesday in Philadelphia's Juniata section.
"It's a squad that we're going to be setting up that is going to be devoted to nothing but working these armed robberies at commercial businesses," Klaver said.
The Hobbs Act Task Force will be working from FBI headquarters. It will be fully funded and supervised by the FBI and will work with the U.S. Attorney's Office to successfully prosecute and get violent repeat armed robbers off the streets for a long time.
