Charged Twice Over

Eight people ran a large illegal gambling business. A federal law makes it a crime to run a gambling business involving five or more people that runs for more than thirty days or takes in $2,000 in a single day. A jury convicted them of running that business, and also of conspiring to run it. They argued they could not be punished for both. Their point: a crime that by its nature needs several people acting together should not also count as a conspiracy among those same people.