Louisiana Judges Charged with Public Corruption and RICO crimes

A federal grand jury has charged two Caddo Parish, Louisiana judges with taking bribes to give light sentences.^[1] District Judges Michael Walker and Vernon Claville, along with bondsmen Robert Bradford and Larry Williams, all of Shreveport, were indicted on multiple RICO violations.^[2]

Federal authorities began their investigation of Walker in 2003. Investigators were able to substantiate that Walker was fixing cases through a review of the sentences he imposed over a period of time in the Caddo drug court.^[3] Bradford and a cooperating witness are alleged to have acted as middlemen for Walker. ^[4]

FBI authorized wiretaps on cellular telephones aided authorities in investigation that was dubbbed code name "Broken Gavel."^[5] A series of calls intercepted in late February and early March detailed a plan of one man to gain Walker's favor with a state probation hold of his girlfriend.^[6]

RICO is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a U.S. law that aims to curb organized crime and public corruption by prohibiting activities such as racketeering, bribery, extortion and mail, wire and bank fraud.

RICO crimes are outlined under 18 U.S.C. § 1962, and under this section, there are three different crimes that can be committed, plus an additional conspiracy provision.

The first crime is detailed in §1962 as being unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal within the meaning of section 2, title 18, United States Code, to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. A purchase of securities on the open market for purposes of investment, and without the intention of controlling or participating in the control of the issuer, or of assisting another to do so, shall not be unlawful under this subsection if the securities of the issuer held by the purchaser, the members of his immediate family, and his or their accomplices in any pattern or racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt after such purchase do not amount in the aggregate to one percent of the outstanding securities of any one class, and do not confer, either in law or in fact, the power to elect one or more directors of the issuer.^[7]

It shall also be unlawful for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.^[8]

Furthermore it shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.^[9]

Lastly it shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section.^[10]

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^[1] AP Staff, 2 Louisiana judges indicted, Associated Press Newswire, October 11, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Vickie Welborn, Federal grand jury indicts two Caddo judges, Shreveport Times, October 11, 2007, available at http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071011/NEWS03/710110321/1062/NEWS03 (last visited October 11, 2007).
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] 18 U.S.C. § 1962 (a)(2007).
^[8] Id., at § 1962 (b)(2007).
^[9] Id., at § 1962(c)(2007).
^[10] Id., at § 1962(d)(2007).

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.

Jury Deliberates in Black Fraud Trial

The jury has begun deliberating in the fraud and racketeeting trial of former media mogul Conrad Black.^[1] The panel has been in court for three months of testimony, more than 40 witnesses about 30 hours of closing statements and the presentation of hundreds of documents in the trial of Black and three other Hollinger executives.^[2]

The jury will be considering all 43 of the charges, which include mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering and tax fraud; there are 13 counts against Black, 11 against each of former Hollinger International executives Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson and eight against former company lawyer Mark Kipnis.^[3]

The key issue in this case rests on non-compete payments from sales of Hollinger newspapers which were made in exchange for promises not to compete in the same markets where the papers circulated.^[4] Such agreements are not unusual in the publishing industry, but prosecutors say the money should have gone to Hollinger's shareholders, not the executives.^[5]

As they deliberate, the mostly female jury was instructed that it must decide whether prosecutors have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Black and the others intentionally lied to enrich themselves at the expense of Hollinger International shareholders.^[6]

Obstruction of Justice
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1519, any person who falsifies documents with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation of any matter within the jurisdiction of a department of the United State can be fined, imprisoned for 20 years, or both.

Racketeering
Racketeering is generally covered by 18 U.S.C. § 1951 wherein it states that interference with commerce by threats or violence is a crime that occurs when a person, in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

Racketeering charges should be differentiated from RICO charges. Racketeering is the interference of commerce through threats of violence.^[7] RICO charges,^[8] on the other hand, concern organized crime and systematic racketeering activity infiltration into legitimate organizations. However, because the statutes are written loosely enough to be applied to drug traffickers, it would not surprise us to find out that the individuals in question in this case had been charged under the RICO statutes, rather than solely under the racketeering statutes.

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^[1] Romina Maurino, In the jury’s hands, The Canadian Press, June 28, 2007, available at http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/851159.html (last visited June 28, 2007)
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.; AP Staff, A look at the Conrad Black trial, Associated Press Newswire, June 27, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] See 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951 et seq.; see also Id. § 1961(a) (“racketeering activity” defined).
^[8] Id. §§ 1961 et seq.