RICO Statute Used For More Than Just Mobsters

RICO or the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, is a law usually associated with the trials and convictions of mobsters such as John Gotti, Sr., it is the primary statutory weapon used by federal prosecutors against organized crime.^[1]

Enacted in 1970, RICO provides criminal and civil remedies against persons who commit a variety of statutory and common-law crimes.^[2] The RICO statute lists specific state and federal felonies such as murder, kidnapping, gambling, extortion, robbery, bribery and dealing in narcotics or other dangerous drugs called “predicate acts” under its definition of racketeering activity.^[3]

Prosecution under the statute requires at least two predicate acts within a 10-year period, according to the reference.^[4]

Calling RICO “the most potent tool against organized crime ever created by Congress,” Lee Coppola, a former assistant United States Attorney and the current dean of the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University, said RICO has teeth, and can send criminals to jail for a long time.^[5]

“RICO allows you to reach back into the past and prosecute crimes that otherwise would've been eliminated because of the statue of limitations…..if you can tie these crimes into a racketeering conspiracy, then RICO takes effect….the federal government realized there was an organized crime enterprise throughout the United States,” Coppola said.^[6] Previously, the organization was ignored by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who feared the spread of organized crime corruption to the FBI and preferred to garner laurels hunting down high-profile bank robbers such as John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, he added.^[7] “RICO was an attempt to undermine organized crime families in the northeast cities and other cities in the United States,” Coppola said.^[8]

It's an effective tool, allowing the justice system to prosecute criminals for a wide range of crimes — from burglary to assault and murder — committed in support of a criminal enterprise, he said. Even if a person was convicted of a crime under state law, they can be prosecuted for the same crime under the RICO statute — the double jeopardy rule doesn't apply, he added.^[9]

“As long as they can find crimes within 10 years, they can be prosecuted again…..prior to RICO, criminals were willing to do the time for the crimes they committed.” The severe penalties criminals faced under RICO broke the Mafia code of silence, Coppola said. “The time they'd have to serve was far greater,” he said, adding that RICO has been used in civil cases and against corporations.^[10]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has previously blogged about racketeering conspiracy, here.

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^[1] McNabb Associates Website, Federal Crimes, available at http://www.federalcrimes.com/RICOcrimes.htm (last visited August 6, 2007).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Wikipedia.com, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act Page, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act (last visited August 6, 2007)
^[4] McNabb, supra note 1.
^[5] Raymond Drumsta, RICO law a useful tool in prosecuting older crimes, The Ithaca Journal, August 6, 2007, available at http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070806/NEWS01/708060335/1002 (last visited August 6, 2007).
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] Id.
^[10] Id.