U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres reintroduces BODEGA Act

With the introduction of recent legislation, U.S. Rep Ritchie Torres has taken action to make bodegas across the country safer and more prepared for crime.

On Thursday, March 6, Torres introduced the BODEGA Act into the 119th Congress, a nationwide program which will yield the use of federal funds to cover the cost of panic buttons, surveillance equipment and installation for bodegas throughout the country, according to Torres.

An acronym for “Bodega Owner Defense Enhancement Grant Assistance,” the BODEGA Act uses funds from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, according to Torres’ website.

Torres was motivated to create this bill due to the reported number of violent incidents in bodegas across the country. With installed panic buttons, bodega owners can directly contact the NYPD if violent crimes take place at their establishment. 

Torres, who introduced the bill into the 118th U.S. Congress in July, told The Press bodegas are vulnerable targets to these kinds of incidents, which includes shootings, stabbings and robberies, due to the neighborhoods in which they are located, along with the night hours the establishments operate and limited staff.

“Bodegas are the smallest of small businesses — and they might not be able to pay for security cameras and other surveillance equipment,” he said.

The congressman recounted his most frightening experience as an elected official in relation to bodega violence the case of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz. The 15-year-old who was killed on June 20, 2018 at a bodega at the intersection of Bathgate Avenue and East 183rd Street, was a member of the NYPD Explorers program and wanted to be a detective, according to media reports.

The attack on the adolescent took place after he sought refuge in a bodega from the Trinitarios, a Dominican gang who murdered the teenager with a machete.

It was later revealed the death occurred in a case of mistaken identity after a Facebook video depicted an individual who looked like Guzman-Feliz having sex with a woman who was related to members of the gang, according to a New York Post article published in June 2018.

Torres also cited an incident which took place at A&D Deli Grocery in Fordham Heights last June, when a bodega worker, Oralia Perez, 41, was hit in the head with a sledgehammer.

Perez was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital following the incident after she suffered a fractured eye and deep cuts across her face which required 20 stitches.

The incident occurred after two customers, a couple who had allegedly stolen items from the location previously, demanded a refund for a hookah.

Torres added this bill would enable these businesses to secure and better protect themselves from violence.

For the past seven years, Fernando Radhames Rodriguez has been president of the United Bodegas of America, an association of nationwide bodega owners that provides assistance to its members through a variety of financial, administrative and business training services.

“We are always in need of more police officers in our area to be more active in these areas,” Radhames Rodriguez said, who currently owns four Bronx bodegas on Crotona Avenue, Boston Road and Tinton Avenue along with another in Hunts Point, has been in the bodega industry for 40 years.

Rodriguez explained when police are contacted following a violent incident through his locations, they will either take too long to respond to the scene or tell the bodega that the emergency is not valid.

The NYPD’s examples of valid emergencies include fire emergencies, vehicle accidents, hostage situations, people threatening to jump off buildings or bridges, people trapped in elevators, inmate escapes, riot control and high security inmate transport, according to NYC.gov.

“We’re not calling the police for little things — in fact, sometimes, we don’t even report the big things because we know the police won’t show up or they won’t take it seriously,” Rodriguez said

Felony assaults committed by repeat offenders in NYC have risen nearly 150 percent in the last six years, according to Torres.

However, several bodegas located in Kingsbridge and North Riverdale, expressed skepticism about the new bill’s level of effectiveness.

“No, I don’t see how it contributes to making stores safer,” an employee at Bailey Deli and Grocery in Kingsbridge said.

Other establishments in Kingsbridge as well as North Riverdale either wished not to comment on the bill or told The Press a follow-up response would take place at a later time.

Torres’ BODEGA Act amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, signed into law by then-President Lyndon Johnson to reduce crime while increasing the effectiveness, fairness and coordination of law enforcement and criminal justice systems, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Programs’ website.

The word “bodega” originated in Spain in the 1840s to describe a wine cellar, a warehouse, or the hull of a ship, according to Untapped New York.

The first bodegas in New York City were established beginning in the 1920s, primarily by Puerto Rican immigrants who established business models in neighborhoods including East Harlem, Williamsburg and Greenpoint. However, the word “bodega” originally referred to a small neighborhood grocery store in Cuba, before Puerto Ricans brought the concept to NYC.

The city’s Department of Health (NYC DOH) defines a “bodega” as a small grocery store that sells milk, meat or eggs and has a maximum of two cash registers.

But the crime is not relegated only to bodegas. In September, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Worker Safety Act (RWSA), a law which was passed to improve safety protections for store employees at retailers.

As part of the law, RWSA required major chains to add panic buttons to all their store locations throughout the state.