Criminal Justice and RICO legislation in 1970

Criminal Justice

RICO

In 1970 the U.S. government passed a set of federal statutes referred to as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations laws which were meant to combat the influence of organized crime on legitimate businesses. RICO, made it unlawful to carry out or conspire to carry out a venture in which the activities affected interstate commerce by committing or agreeing to commit a pattern of racketeering activity (Rico Suave, 2004).

The RICO Act specifically makes it unlawful for any person, persons or organization to engage in any of the following activities:

Using any income derived from a pattern of racketeering activity to acquire an interest in a business

Acquiring or maintaining an interest in a business through a pattern of racketeering activity

Conducting the dealings of a business through a pattern of racketeering activity

Conspiring to commit any of these offenses (Cecil, 1991).

Organized crime or racketeering is conceptually defined as a pattern of racketeering activity committed by an individual or group either as part of a business or against a business. A pattern of racketeering activity is defined as committing at least two of the listed acts within a ten-year period (Cecil, 1991).

Throughout the 1970's, RICO was seldom used outside of the context of the Mafia. In the 1980's, however, it became popular for civil claims to be brought under the RCIO Act. These claims were brought by civil lawyers by any person injured in their business or property by reason of a RICO violation. Any person who succeeded in proving a civil RICO claim would automatically be awarded judgment in the amount of three times their actual damages and would be their costs and attorneys' fees. Everyone was trying to portray civil claims, regarding things like common law fraud, product defect, and breach of contract as criminal wrongdoing, so that could then allow the filing of a civil RICO action (Grell, n.d.). It was Congress' inclusion of mail and wire fraud as two crimes upon which a RICO claim could be brought that really broke open the amount of RICO cases being filed. Given the amount of activities that had historically been criminally prosecuted under the mail and wire fraud statutes, it was not difficult for creative civil attorneys to try and include practically any wrongdoing as mail or wire fraud (Grell, n.d.).

During the 1990's, the federal courts, with the guidance of the United States Supreme Court, put forth a concerted effort to limit the scope of RICO in regards to civil actions. As a result of this effort, civil litigants now have to jump through many hurdles before they can expect the financial boon that is available under RICO. This had made RICO one of the most complicated and unpredictable areas of the law. RICO is almost never applied to the Mafia anymore, but instead is applied to individuals, businesses, political protest groups, and terrorist organizations (Grell, n.d.).

The complexity of the act now centers around three key phrases that are included in the RICO statute. Enterprise, racketeer, and pattern of racketeering activity are the phrases that are important. Proponents of expanded use of RICO argue that the original intent of the statute was to include all types of white-collar crime, not just organized crime. The opposite side of this argument feels that this interpretation of RICO should be interpreted to only include organized crime. The overall feeling of recent RICO cases that have been heard before the Supreme Court have favored a liberal interpretation of the statutes and permit their expanded usage (Cecil, 1991). I agree with this liberal interpretation of the RICO act since there is not as much blatant organized crime as their used to be there needs to be a way to catch the subtle mafia involvement that may still be going on.

Racketeering is the process of operating an illegal business in order to make a profit. It is a large category of criminal acts that includes bribery, sexual exploitation of children, and illegal gambling, among many others. Racketeering is closely associated with organized crime, since both are carried out by groups (Chapter 96 -- Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, 2000).

Racketeering can encompass many criminal acts, including theft and fraud against businesses or individuals. The Government can also be the victim of racketeering activity. Some examples include counterfeiting money and trading in untaxed alcohol. Racketeering can also take on the form of providing illegal services, such as prostitution or drug trafficking. Racketeering can also involve legitimate businesses and labor unions, where it is called white-collar crime. Examples of this include extortion and money laundering (Chapter 96 -- Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, 2000).

The criminal organizations who engage in racketeering often have legitimate businesses that they use to cover for their rackets. Racketeering often involved the bribing, blackmailing, or extortion of public officials or civil servants. Legitimate business owners can also be manipulated in order to help criminal groups and their racketeering practices to look as though they are above the law (Chapter 96 -- Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, 2000).

Under RICO, any person or group who commits any two specified crimes within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Under the law, racketeering activity includes the following crimes:

Any violation of state statutes against gambling, murder, kidnapping, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical

Any act of bribery, counterfeiting, theft, embezzlement, fraud, dealing in obscene matter, obstruction of justice, slavery, racketeering, gambling, money laundering, and any commission of murder-for-hire

Embezzlement of union funds

Bankruptcy or securities fraud

Drug trafficking

Money laundering and related offenses

Bringing in, aiding or assisting aliens in entering the country if the action was for financial gain

Acts of terrorism.

Those who are found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced up to 20 years in prison. In addition, once convicted the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business that was gained through a pattern racketeering. Although some of the RICO predicate acts involve extortion and blackmail, one of the best applications of the RICO laws has been the ability to indict an individual for their behavior or actions in regards to witnesses and victims (Sandra, 2008).

When the U.S. Attorney decides to indict someone under the RICO Act, they have the option of seeking a pre-trial restraining order or injunction in order to temporarily seize a defendant's assets and prevent them from transferring any property. They may also require the defendant to put up a performance bond. These provisions have been placed into the law because the owners of corporations that were Mafia related often ran away with the assets. An injunction or performance bond often ensured that there would be something to seize in the event that a guilty verdict was handed down (Sandra, 2008).

In many cases, the threat of a RICO indictment forces defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges. They do this because the seizure of their assets makes it very difficult for them to pay a defense attorney. Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO related charge is considered very easy to prove in a court of law, because focuses on patterns of behavior instead of just criminal acts (Sandra, 2008).