Opinion ID: 685145
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: RICO Persons

Text: 22 The RICO person in a civil or criminal RICO action is the defendant. Landry v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n Int'l, 901 F.2d 404, 425 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 895, 111 S.Ct. 244, 112 L.Ed.2d 203 (1990). The statute defines the RICO person as including any individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(3). This is a very broad definition. However, this Court has recognized that if we are to restrict RICO to the type of conduct that Congress intended to proscribe, 23 the RICO person must be one that either poses or has posed a continuous threat of engaging in acts of racketeering.... The continuous threat requirement may not be satisfied if no more is pled than that the person has engaged in a limited number of predicate racketeering acts. 24 Delta Truck, 855 F.2d at 242. 25 In this case, Crowe has alleged two RICO persons in his complaint--Henry and the firm. As to the firm, we note that Crowe has only alleged a limited number of predicate acts. The firm only appears a few times in this drama. Specifically, Crowe refers to the firm's involvement in drawing up court documents for the 1987 sale and the 1990 eviction and to the firm writing, from funds owned by Crowe but in the account of the firm, what Crowe contends was an unauthorized check for legal fees in the amount of $30,000. Even if all of these actions constituted predicate acts under RICO, which we do not now decide, we find them to be too isolated and sporadic to support a finding that the firm was a RICO person. These few acts, spread out over a four-year period, simply do not show the continuous threat of racketeering activity that RICO was designed to address. 26 As to Henry, however, we conclude that Crowe has succeeded in naming a sufficient RICO person. Henry is certainly an individual capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property and thus he meets the statutory definition. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(3). Moreover, for the reasons stated below, we find that Henry's actions, as alleged, also meet the continuity requirement.