NYPD Busts More Times Square Characters

Captain America, Naked Black Cowboy among those arrested for gouging tourists
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 28, 2014 10:50 AM CDT
NYPD Busts More Times Square Characters
In this April 9, 2013, file photo, a woman prepares to pay characters in New York's Times Square after she photographed a young girl with them.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

You’re supposed to be helping the NYPD, Spider-Man and friends—not giving them grief. Junior Bishop, aka Spidey, was arrested this weekend in Times Square on charges involving drug possession and slugging a cop in the face, but he was soon joined by Captain America, the Naked Black Cowboy, Toy Story’s Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl, and another Spider-Man. They were all busted Saturday night for charging tourists exorbitant prices for meet-and-greet pics and/or disorderly conduct, reports the New York Post. "They’re like little terrorists preying on all the tourists," a law enforcement source says.

A recent New York Times article delved into how the Big Apple has been cracking down on the city’s aggressive panhandlers, which even include men dressed as Buddhist monks and women as Taoist nuns. The nonprofit Times Square Alliance is calling for more stringent licensing for street characters it calls "violent and aggressive" with "troubling criminal records," says CBS New York. Some of the costumed racketeers bemoan the cops’ interference: A man dressed as Batman nemesis Bane tells the Post that officers "are on top of us all the time, telling people to not give us tips, which is not fair." But people on the street seem to be relieved the NYPD is taking care of business. "You don’t want someone who’s just come from jail to take a picture with your kid," one mom says. (More Times Square stories.)

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