¶ … successful action against WIRETAP for civil RICO, what do they need to prove?

A civil RICO claim must prove that Steve was unlawful in his conduct by participating, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. The four primary elements of civil RICO are that the (1) conduct (2) of an enterprise (3) shows a pattern (4) of racketeering activity. The (1) conduct is the action of an outside employee who has discretion in WIRETAP affairs, by name of Steve (according to the law, the enterprise's liability may extend to lower-level employees under the direction of upper management) who is forwarding any BUG e-mail he received to WIRETAP, including hacked email not legitimately directed to Steve. (2) the enterprise is WIRETAP, where Steve is a paid employee, and as his conduct took place over extended time it sets a (3) pattern of illegal activity.

Moreover, everyone working WIRETAP need not be cognizant of Steve's activity. The RICO law was designed to punish only the persons who run an enterprise illegally and not the enterprise itself. (4) Racketeering is defined as a "pattern" activity exhibiting factors such as a frequent nature, number, and variety of planned actions, one that has a long duration or time span involved, a number of victims, a number of separate transactions involving unlawful conduct; and a presence of distinct injuries. Steve's actions clearly are racketeering. ("Overview of Civil RICO," 2006, 'lectric Law Library)

Question B

What type(s) of damages could BUG receive?

In he early 1980s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the profits from racketeering were subject to forfeitures, thus BUG could receive the profits that resulted from WIRETAP's information gleaned through illegal racketeering. Civil RICO cases often result in broad interpretations by the lower courts, and often have costly settlements, such as in the case of the tobacco companies conspiring to cover up information about cigarette's carcinogenic damages. (MacLean, 2005)

Works Cited

MacLean, Pamela a. (Sept 9, 2005) "Will the Supreme Court Unleash Civil RICO?" The National Law Journal. Retrieved 16 Sept 2006 at http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1126083917943

Overview of Civil RICO." (2006) 'Lectric Law Library. Retrieved 16 Sept 2006 at http://www.lectlaw.com/files/lit08.htm