Opinion ID: 176991
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sufficient Evidence of RICO Enterprise

Text: To be liable under RICO, there must be operation of an enterprise. Shamah argues that the government failed to prove that he, a lowly police officer, played any role in directing the affairs of the Chicago Police Department, the charged enterprise. As an officer, he argues that he exercised no direction over the department because he had no authority to make command decisions, no supervisory powers over other officers, and no control over department-wide policies. He also argues that his actions could not rise to a level of criminal culpability because he was merely performing his assigned tasks as a police officer when he deployed his powers of arrest and seized contraband. The statutory language of § 1962(c) does not define what it means to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs. 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). In Reves v. Ernst & Young, the Supreme Court defined the meaning of participate and to conduct for § 1962(c), the substantive offense at issue here. 507 U.S. 170, 177-79, 113 S.Ct. 1163, 122 L.Ed.2d 525 (1993). The Court held that although liability was not limited to those in the upper management of an enterprise, it must be shown that the defendant participated in the operation or management of the enterprise's affairs. Id. at 184-85, 113 S.Ct. 1163; United States v. Cummings, 395 F.3d 392, 397 (7th Cir.2005). To show participation, the Court stated that the person charged must have had  some part in directing those affairs. Reves, 507 U.S. at 179, 113 S.Ct. 1163 (emphasis in original); see Goren v. New Vision Int'l, Inc., 156 F.3d 721, 727 (7th Cir.1998) (Mere participation in the activities of the enterprise is insufficient; the defendant must participate in the operation or management of the enterprise.). In arguing that a street officer cannot be an operator or manager of a police department, Shamah relies heavily on Cummings, where we reversed a RICO conspiracy conviction against a defendant who held a low-level position in the charged enterprise, the Illinois Department of Employment Security. 395 F.3d at 397-98. There, the defendant accepted bribes from an outsider to the enterprise and in return, provided the outsider with confidential information from an internal database. Shamah wrongly contends that Cummings turned on the rank of the employee. Instead, we based our conclusion on the lack of evidence that the defendant operated or managed any aspect of the enterprise, its database, or conspired with anyone who did. Id. at 398. The defendant's access to the enterprise's computer database was incidental to her role in the enterprise, she accessed it infrequently, and had no responsibility to maintain it. We also focused on the function of the enterprise, stating that it may have been a different case if the defendant was acting in a way that interfered with the agency's primary function of collecting premiums or paying benefits. Id. at 399. We did not rely on a job title or official role in the organization and indicated that evidence of some de facto control over the agency's affairs would have sufficed to show the defendant was an operator or manager. Id. at 398. We have previously stated that the prototypical RICO case is one where a person seizes control of an enterprise and uses it to commit criminal acts he could not do himself. Fitzgerald v. Chrysler, 116 F.3d 225, 227 (7th Cir.1997). Only a step away from the prototypical case is one where a criminal uses an enterprise to engage in criminal activities but is generally content to allow it to conduct its normal, lawful business. Id. That is the case we have here. And in a pre- Reves case, we rejected the argument that a police officer's lack of a supervisory position precluded his guilt under RICO. United States v. Ambrose, 740 F.2d 505, 512 (7th Cir.1984), abrogated on other grounds by United States v. Pino-Perez, 870 F.2d 1230 (7th Cir.1989). Our sister circuits have similarly looked to the core-enterprise affairs and the actions of the charged defendant in determining whether the defendant is an operator or manager. In United States v. Urban, for example, the Third Circuit emphasized that the key to showing operation or management was a nexus between the person and the affairs of the enterprise. 404 F.3d 754, 769-70 (3d Cir.2005). The First Circuit has described the operator or manager as someone who is plainly integral to carrying out the enterprise's activities. United States v. Shifman, 124 F.3d 31, 36 (1st Cir.1997). Shamah and his co-defendant Doroniuk were operators for the purposes of RICO. The heart of a police department's function is to enforce the law, and not to manage other officers or implement policies. As an officer, even a lowly one, Shamah had the power to control the department's affairs and direct its force. With a substantial amount of discretion, Shamah chose who to stop on the street, which cars to pull over, and when to obtain arrest and search warrants. Furthermore, he acted as a representative for the larger police department and the city when he spoke to citizens, created public inventory records, and testified to facts that served as the basis for warrants and indictments. As the public face of the department, Shamah was given a great deal of responsibility and trust in operating and directing its affairs. His manipulation of this power transformed legitimate police functions into arms of his illegal endeavors. He usurped the department's identity, and turned it into a criminal enterprise hiding behind a facade of justice. The government presented ample evidence that Shamah and Doroniuk were not acting as mere law-abiding police officers when they forced civilians to part with money and drugs, performed illegal arrests and stops, and planted evidence on civilians. Given his discretion and authority as a police officer, and the way in which he chose to direct his powers, Shamah operated or managed the integral duties of the police department's daily affairs. And the government presented sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that Shamah conducted the affairs of the enterprise. [1]