Federal Trial Opens for 12 Charged With 50 Florida Tourist Robberies

Twelve young men charged in a string of airport area robberies that sent a chill through Florida’s tourism industry in the early 1990s went on trial Wednesday on federal charges of interfering with international commerce.

Prosecutors said the defendants worked as a gang for more than a decade, preying on vulnerable foreign tourists, especially women and the elderly.

The men were indicted in 1996 in an investigation of more than 200 tourist robberies. They face federal charges related to about 50 of the holdups: operating a criminal enterprise and violating interstate and international commerce laws.

Prosecutors in Florida said the law on interfering with commerce has rarely been used against street robberies.

The defendants have already been convicted in state court of robbery and related crimes. The federal charges would allow sentencing under tougher U.S. guidelines that require inmates to serve 85% of their sentences.

The defendants, 11 of whom are black, have complained that the use of racketeering and international commerce laws is racist and unfair.

They could get 20 years to life if convicted; several have already been sentenced to five to 10 years for their convictions in state court.

Prosecutors said the gang figured that foreign victims would have trouble communicating with police and would be less likely to return for a trial.

The government is flying in witnesses from such countries as Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Brazil and Panama to testify.