Opinion ID: 667660
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Predicate Acts Chargeable to Fonte

Text: 5 To qualify as a predicate act for purposes of federal RICO, an act must be a racketeering activity as defined by state law. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(1)(A). Larceny is not a racketeering activity, but robbery is. Under Florida law, robbery is a taking by force, violence, assault, or putting in fear. Fla.Stat. ch. 812.13 (1992). 4 No force is involved in a larceny. The Florida Supreme Court has said that, because the threat of police action alone does not constitute force, a taking contemporaneous with such a threat is no robbery. Montsdoca v. State, 84 Fla. 82, 93 So. 157 (1922); Dixon v. State, 506 So.2d 55, 57 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1987). Fonte argues the two predicate acts with which he was charged merely involved threats of police action and were larcenies. So, he claims his conviction should be reversed. 5 6 During the events underlying acts 7(c) and 10, Fonte or his co-conspirators restrained with handcuffs their victims and detained the victims in the back of police cars. These physical acts against persons go beyond just an express or implied threat of arrest or other police action. Dixon, 506 So.2d at 57 (threat to reveal wrong doing is not force or intimidation for robbery). These acts are sufficient to satisfy the force element of robbery. See Montsdoca, 93 So. at 159. Defendants did use physical force to steal drugs and demonstrated their desire to create fear to get the dealers to part with their goods. The acts were properly considered predicate acts for purposes of RICO. Fonte's conviction is affirmed. 6