Source: http://psychroaches.blogspot.com/2016/06/rico-racketeer-influenced-and-corrupt.html
Timestamp: 2018-07-17 13:35:24
Document Index: 567987232

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1961', '§ 1961', '§ 1962', '§ 1962', '§ 1962', 'art 2']

Psychiatry, It's A Killing.: RICO, The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Long title An Act relating to the control of organized crime in the United States
Nicknames Organized Crime Control Act of 1970
Effective October 15, 1970
Statutes at Large 84 Stat. 922-3 aka 84 Stat. 941
Titles amended 18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure
U.S.C.sections created 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968
Introduced in the Senate as S. 30 by John L. McClellan(D–AR)
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is aUnited States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them in doing, closing a perceived loophole that allowed a person who instructed someone else to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because he did not actually commit the crime personally.[1]
RICO was enacted by section 901(a) of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Pub.L. 91–452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted October 15, 1970), and is codified at 18 U.S.C. ch. 96 as 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968. G. Robert Blakey, an adviser to theUnited States Senate Government Operations Committee, drafted the law under the close supervision of the committee's chairman, Senator John Little McClellan. It was enacted as Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, and signed into law by Richard M. Nixon. While its original use in the 1970s was to prosecute the Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime, its later application has been more widespread.
Under RICO, a person who has committed "at least two acts of racketeering activity" drawn from a list of 35 crimes—27federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering if such acts are related in one of four specified ways to an "enterprise". Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity."
When the U.S. Attorney decides to indict someone under RICO, he or she has the option of seeking a pre-trialrestraining order or injunction to temporarily seize a defendant's assets and prevent the transfer of potentially forfeitable property, as well as require the defendant to put up a performance bond. This provision was placed in the law because the owners of Mafia-related shell corporations often absconded with the assets. An injunction and/or performance bond ensures that there is something to seize in the event of a guilty verdict.
Initially, prosecutors were skeptical of using RICO, mainly because it was unproven. However, during the 1980s and 1990s, federal prosecutors used the law to bring charges against several Mafia figures. The first major success was theMafia Commission Trial, which resulted in several top leaders of New York City's Five Families getting what amounted to life sentences. By the turn of the century, RICO cases resulted in virtually all of the top leaders of the New York Mafia being sent to prison.
Any violation of state statutes against gambling, murder, kidnapping, extortion, arson, robbery, bribery, dealing inobscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in the Controlled Substances Act);
Any act of bribery, counterfeiting, theft, embezzlement, fraud, dealing in obscene matter, obstruction of justice,slavery, racketeering, gambling, money laundering, commission of murder-for-hire, and many other offenses covered under the Federal criminal code (Title 18);
Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) laws can be applied in an attempt to curb alleged abuses of the legal system by individuals or corporations who use the courts as a weapon to retaliate against whistle blowers, victims, or to silence another's speech. RICO could be alleged if it can be shown that lawyers and/or their clients conspired and collaborated to concoct fictitious legal complaints solely in retribution and retaliation for themselves having been brought before the courts.
In 1979 the United States Federal Government went after Sonny Barger and several members and associates of theOakland charter of the Hells Angels using RICO. In United States vs. Barger, the prosecution team attempted to demonstrate a pattern of behavior to convict Barger and other members of the club of RICO offenses related to guns and illegal drugs. The jury acquitted Barger on the RICO charges with a hung jury on the predicate acts: "There was no proof it was part of club policy, and as much as they tried, the government could not come up with any incriminating minutes from any of our meetings mentioning drugs and guns."[9][10]
Frank Tieri[edit]
About June 1984 the Key West Police Department located in the County of Monroe, Florida, was declared a criminal enterprise under the federal RICO statutes after a lengthy United States Department of Justice investigation. Several high-ranking officers of the department, including Deputy Police Chief Raymond Cassamayor, were arrested on federal charges of running a protection racket for illegal cocaine smugglers.[16] At trial, a witness testified he routinely delivered bags of cocaine to the Deputy Chief's office at City Hall.[17]
On 7 September 1988, Milken's employer, Drexel Burnham Lambert, was threatened with RICO charges respondat superior, the legal doctrine that corporations are responsible for their employees' crimes. Drexel avoided RICO charges by entering an Alford plea to lesser felonies of stock parking and stock manipulation. In a carefully worded plea, Drexel said it was "not in a position to dispute the allegations" made by the Government. If Drexel had been indicted under RICO statutes, it would have had to post a performance bond of up to $1 billion to avoid having its assets frozen. This would have taken precedence over all of the firm's other obligations—including the loans that provided 96 percent of its capital base. If the bond ever had to be paid, its shareholders would have been practically wiped out. Since banks will not extend credit to a firm indicted under RICO, an indictment would have likely put Drexel out of business.[19] By at least one estimate, a RICO indictment would have destroyed the firm within a month.[20] Years later, Drexel president and CEO Fred Joseph said that Drexel had no choice but to plead guilty because "a financial institution cannot survive a RICO indictment."[21]
In 2002, the former minority owners of the Montreal Expos baseball team filed charges under the RICO Act againstMajor League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria, claiming that Selig and Loria deliberately conspired to devalue the team for personal benefit in preparation for a move.[22] If found liable, Major League Baseball could have been responsible for up to $300 million in punitive damages. The case lasted two years, successfully stalling the Expos' move to Washington or contraction during that time. It was eventually sent to arbitrationwhere the arbiters ruled in favor of Major League Baseball,[23] permitting the move to Washington to take place.
On April 26, 2006, the Supreme Court heard Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Williams, No. 05-465, 547 U.S. 516 (2006), which concerned what sort of corporations fell under the scope of RICO. Mohawk Industries had allegedly hired illegal aliens, in violation of RICO. The court was asked to decide whether Mohawk Industries, along with recruiting agencies, constitutes an 'enterprise' that can be prosecuted under RICO, but in June of that year dismissed the case and remanded it to Court of Appeals.[25]
On August 20, 2006, in Tampa, Florida, most of the state leadership members of the street gang, the Latin Kings, were arrested in connection with RICO conspiracy charges to engage in racketeering and currently await trial. The operation, called "Broken Crown", targeted statewide leadership of the Latin Kings. The raid occurred at the Caribbean American Club. Along with Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Tampa Police Department, the State Attorney’s Office, the FBI,Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were involved in the operation. Included in the arrest were leader Gilberto Santana from Brooklyn NY, Captain Luis Hernandez from Miami FL, Affiliate Celina Hernandez, Affiliate Michael Rocca, Affiliate Jessica Ramirez, Affiliate Reinaldo Arroyo, Affiliate Samual Alvarado, Omari Tolbert, Edwin DeLeon, and many others, totaling 39.
In the mid 1990s, prosecuting attorneys Gregory O’Connell and Charles Rose used RICO charges to bring down theLucchese family within an 18-month period. Dismantling the Lucchese family had a profound financial impact on previously Mafia held businesses such as construction, garment, and garbage hauling. Here they dominated and extorted money through taxes, dues, and fees. An example of this extortion was through the garbage business. Hauling of garbage from the World Trade Center cost the building owners $1.2 million per year to be removed when the Mafia monopolized the business, as compared to $150,000 per year when competitive bids could be sought.[26]
A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Pennsylvania handed down a 48-count indictment against former Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella.[27] The judges were charged with RICO after allegedly committing acts of wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and honest services fraud. The judges were accused of taking kickbacks for housing juveniles, that the judges convicted of mostly petty crimes, at a private detention center. The incident was dubbed by many local and national newspapers as the "Kids for cash scandal".[28] On February 18, 2011, a federal jury found Michael Ciavarella guilty of racketeering because of his involvement in accepting illegal payments from Robert Mericle, the developer of PA Child Care, and Attorney Robert Powell, a co-owner of the facility. Ciavarella is facing 38 other counts in federal court.[29]
Fourteen defendants affiliated with FIFA were indicted under the RICO act on 47 counts for "racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants’ participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer." The defendants include many current and former high-ranking officers of FIFA and its affiliate CONCACAF. The defendants had allegedly used the enterprise as a front to collect millions of dollars in bribes which may have influenced Russia and Qatar's winning bids to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups respectively.[34]
In 2015, the Drummond Company sued attorneys Terrence P. Collingsworth and William R. Scherer, the advocacy group International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates), and Dutch businessman Albert van Bilderbeek, one of the owners ofLlanos Oil, accusing them of violating RICO by alleging that Drummond had worked alongside Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia to murder labor union leaders within proximity of their Colombian coal mines, which Drummond denies.[35]
However, other countries have laws that enable the government to seize property with unlawful origins. Mexico and Colombia both have specific laws that define the participation in criminal organizations as a separate crime,[36] and separate laws that allow the seizure of goods related with these crimes.[37] This latter provides a specific chapter titled "International Cooperation", which instructs Mexican authorities to cooperate with foreign authorities with respect to organized crime assets within Mexico, and provides the framework by which Mexican authorities may politely request the cooperation of foreign authorities with respect to assets located outside of Mexico, in terms of any international instruments they may be party to.
Jump up^ 18 U.S. Code § 1962(c); see also Criminal RICO Prosecutors Manual, elaborating that "A Defendant May Be Liable for a RICO Conspiracy Offense Even if the Defendant Did Not Participate In the Operation or Management of the Enterprise"
^ Jump up to:a b Sanders, Alain; Painton, Priscilla (August 21, 1989)."Law: Showdown At Gucci". Time. RetrievedSeptember 30, 2009.
Jump up^ Olsen,, William P. The Anti-Corruption Handbook: How to Protect Your Business in the Global Marketplace. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Jump up^ 18 USC § 1962.
Jump up^ "As the Supreme Court noted in National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler, 510 U.S. 249, 259 n.5 (1994), one commentator has used "the terms 'prize,' 'instrument,' 'victim,' and 'perpetrator' to describe the four separate roles the enterprise may play in § 1962." (citingG. Robert Blakey, The RICO Civil Fraud Action in Context: Reflections on Bennett v. Berg, 58 Notre Dame L. Rev. 237, 307-25 (1982). See page 32 of RICO State by State: A Guide to Litigation under the State Racketeering Statutes, John E. Floyd, Section of Antitrust Law, American Bar Association, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 97-70903, ISBN 1-57073-396-1
Jump up^ Van Over, Gil. "Can You Be Subject to a RICO Claim?". Dealer Magazine. Archived from the originalon October 14, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
Jump up^ Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division."Introduction: RICO State by State: A Guide to Litigation Under the State Racketeering Statutes, Second Edition". American Bar Association. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
Jump up^ Carlson, K (1993). "Prosecuting Criminal Enterprises".National Criminal Justice Reference Series (United States: Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report): 12. RetrievedDecember 28, 2009.
Jump up^ Barger, Ralph 'Sonny'; Zimmerman, Keith; Zimmerman, Kent (2000). Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and The Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club.[full citation needed]
Jump up^ "Organized Crime Research". Klaus von Lampe. 2000. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
Jump up^ Weigel, David. "But Why Isn't Bernard Law in Jail? (Part 2)". Slate.com. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
Jump up^ Mitered in the Mob? Archived April 25, 2009, at theWayback Machine.
Jump up^http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/03/pennsylvania-diocese-racketeering-lawsuit-sexual-abuse-clergy
Jump up^ "707 F.2d 862: United States vs. Dozier". law.justia.com. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
Jump up^ "Inmate Locator". Federal Bureau of Prisons. RetrievedJune 18, 2013.
Jump up^ "Key West Police Department Called a 'Criminal Enterprise'". The New York Times. July 1, 1984. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
Jump up^ Klingener, Nancy (May 22, 2005). "From wrecking to smuggling to development, corruption, investigations have long history". Key West Citizen. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved September 30,2009.
Jump up^ Gerber, Jurg; Jensen, Eric L. (2007). Encyclopedia of White-collar Crime. Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN 9780313335242. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
Jump up^ Stone, Dan G. (1990). April Fools: An Insider's Account of the Rise and Collapse of Drexel Burnham. New York City: Donald I. Fine. ISBN 1-55611-228-9.
Jump up^ Stewart, James B (1992). Den of Thieves (reprint ed.). Simon and Schuster. p. 517. ISBN 0-671-79227-X.
Jump up^ Kornbluth, Jesse (1992). Highly Confident: The Crime and Punishment of Michael Milken. New York City: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-10937-3.
Jump up^ Chass, Murray (July 17, 2002). "Baseball: A Group's Racketeering Suit Brings Baseball to Full Bristle". The New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
Jump up^ "Ruling clears way for move to D.C.". ESPN.com.Associated Press. January 15, 2004. RetrievedSeptember 30, 2009.
Jump up^ Weinstein, Henry (July 13, 2001). "Use of RICO Law in Rampart Cases Weakened". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
Jump up^ "Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Williams, Shirley, et al."(PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. RetrievedMay 27, 2008.
Jump up^ Volkman, Ernest (1998). Gangbusters: The Destruction of America's Last Mafia Dynasty. 53 Shore Road, Winchester, MA 01890: Faber and Faber, Inc. ISBN 0-571-19942-9.
Jump up^ "Indictment: United States v. Conahan and Ciavarella"(PDF). September 9, 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
Jump up^ Morgan-Besecker, Terrie (September 10, 2009). "Ex-judges hit with 48 counts". Times Leader. RetrievedSeptember 11, 2009.
Jump up^ "Jury finds Ciavarella guilty on first of 39 counts".Times Leader. February 18, 2011. Retrieved February 18,2011.
Jump up^ "Scott Rothstein Charging Document". Scribd.com. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
Jump up^ http://www.sun-sentinel.com/media/acrobat/2009-12/50820067.pdf
Jump up^ Weaver, Jay (June 9, 2010). "Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein gets 50-year sentence". Miami Herald. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
Jump up^ Bracamontes, Ramon. "Public corruption: Feds allege bribery, kickbacks". El Paso Times. Retrieved April 24,2012.
Jump up^ "Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption".United States Department of Justice. May 27, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
Jump up^ Kent Faulk, Drummond sues those claiming coal company involved in Colombian deaths, The Birmingham News, April 8, 2015
Jump up^ Ley Federal contra la Delincuencia Organizada, 28 October 1996 (in Spanish)
Jump up^ Ley de Extinción de Dominio, 30 April 2009 (in Spanish)
This page was last modified on 17 June 2016, at 14:59.
Labels: Racketeering, RICO Act