Opinion ID: 654592
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The RICO Pattern Element

Text: 103 Gotti also challenges the district court's instruction concerning the RICO pattern element. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(c). The RICO pattern element requires that defendants commit at least two acts of racketeering that: (1) are related, and (2) amount to or pose a threat of continued criminal activity. SeeH.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 492 U.S. 229, 239, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 2900, 106 L.Ed.2d 195 (1989). Gotti principally contends that the district court erred in instructing the jury on the relatedness requirement of the statute. 104 In describing the relatedness requirement, the district court instructed the jury as follows: 105 Before you can find a pattern of racketeering activity, you would have to find that the Government proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the two racketeering acts were interrelated, that is, that they were related to each other as well as related to the enterprise and that they posed a threat of continuing criminal activity. 106 Two racketeering acts that are not directly related to each other may nevertheless be related indirectly because each is related to the RICO enterprise. 107 The relationship between the RICO enterprise and the predicate racketeering acts may be established by evidence that the defendant you are considering was enabled to commit the racketeering acts solely by virtue of his position in the enterprise or involvement in or control over its affairs or by evidence that the predicate racketeering acts are related to the activities of that enterprise. 108 Gotti argues that the district court should have instructed the jury that it could not find the defendants guilty if it found that the racketeering acts charged in the indictment were committed exclusively for the individual's own purpose, not to further the goals of the Gambino Family. He points out that other circuits require that the racketeering acts further the affairs of the enterprise, not just relate to the enterprise. See, e.g.,United States v. Erwin, 793 F.2d 656, 671 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 991, 107 S.Ct. 589, 93 L.Ed.2d 590 (1986); Bank of America National Trust & Savings Association v. Touche Ross & Co., 782 F.2d 966 (11th Cir.1986). 109 Gotti admits, however, that this Court does not impose such an in the furtherance of requirement. Rather, we have held that the relatedness requirement can be satisfied by proof that: (1) the defendant was enabled to commit the offense solely by virtue of his position in the enterprise; or (2) the offense was related to the activities of the enterprise. SeeUnited States v. Robilotto, 828 F.2d 940, 947-48 (2d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1011, 108 S.Ct. 711, 98 L.Ed.2d 662 (1988); United States v. LeRoy, 687 F.2d 610, 617 (2d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1174, 103 S.Ct. 823, 74 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1983). Thus, under the law of this Circuit, it is not determinative that the defendant committed the crime to further his own agenda, if indeed he was only able to commit the crime by virtue of his position within the enterprise. The district court instructed the jury accordingly. 110 Gotti also argues that the district court erred in instructing on relatedness by failing to state that the predicate racketeering acts must be related both to each other and to the enterprise. Again, however, that is not the law of this Circuit. We have held that the relatedness requirement is satisfied even if the predicate acts are not directly related to each other so long as both are related to the RICO enterprise in such a way that they become indirectly connected to each other. SeeUnited States v. Minicone, 960 F.2d 1099, 1106 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1511, 117 L.Ed.2d 648 (1992); United States v. Indelicato, 865 F.2d 1370, 1383 (2d Cir.1989) (in banc). The district court instructed accordingly.