Court Opinion

ID: 9478628
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:53:31.083159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:31.649609
License: Public Domain

MAHONEY, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I am in general agreement with Judge Kearse’s excellent opinion, and write separately only to state my disagreement with its assertion that “the concepts of relatedness and continuity are attributes of activity, not of a RICO enterprise....,” a point reiterated in several variations in the majority opinion.
The Supreme Court stated in United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981), that:
The [enterprise] is proved by evidence of an ongoing organization, formal or informal, and by evidence that the associates function as a continuing unit.
Id. at 583, 101 S.Ct. at 2528 (emphasis added). It would thus appear clear that continuity is an attribute of a RICO enterprise, as well as a RICO pattern. As to relatedness, there will presumably be a relationship (1) between the associates that function as a continuing unit, and (2) between the associates and the unit.
The majority’s essential point is that the discussion of relatedness and continuity in Sedima footnote 14 refers to the RICO pattern rather than the RICO enterprise. I agree, and think that is what we should say.