Opinion ID: 200612
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Criminal Conduct and Interstate Travel

Text: 40 To convict under the Travel Act, the government must show (1) interstate travel or the use of an interstate facility; (2) with the intent to promote, manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate an unlawful activity (here, violation of the Massachusetts extortion statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 25 (2003)); and (3) performance or attempted performance of acts in furtherance of the unlawful activity. Woodward, 149 F.3d at 65. 41 A reasonable jury could have found that Nishnianidze traveled from his home in Brooklyn, New York to Boston, Massachusetts in January 1999 and made interstate telephone calls in February 1999 intending to promote and facilitate extortion. Nishnianidze established contact with Finfer and Shea, came to their house and made a video of the family, and asked the couple for money for the biological mother. He continued to pressure the family after he returned to New York. There was ample evidence to support his conviction under the Travel Act.