Rico Suave
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the
RICO Act or simply
RICO, is a
United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil
cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing
criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on
racketeering, and it allows the
leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they
ordered others to do
or assisted them, closing a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because he did not actually commit the crime personally.
RICO was enacted by section 901(a) of the
Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (
Pub.L. 91–452, 84
Stat. 922, enacted October 15, 1970). RICO is codified as Chapter 96 of
Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968. Under the close supervision of Senator John Little McClellan, the Chairman of the Committee for which he worked, G. Robert Blakey drafted the "RICO Act," Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, signed into law by Richard M. Nixon.[1]While its original use in the 1970s was to prosecute the
Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime, its later application has been more widespread.
Under RICO, a person who has committed "at least two acts of racketeering activity" drawn from a list of 35 crimes—27
federal crimes and 8
state crimes—within a 10-year period, if such acts are related in one of four specified ways to an "enterprise," can be charged with
racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity." RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such racketeers to file a
civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect
treble damages (damages in triple the amount of actual/compensatory damages).
When the
U.S. Attorney decides to indict someone under RICO, he or she has the option of seeking a pre-trial
restraining order or injunction to temporarily seize a defendant's assets and prevent the transfer of potentially forfeitable property, as well as require the defendant to put up a
performance bond. This provision was placed in the law because the owners of
Mafia-related
shell corporations often absconded with the assets. An injunction and/or performance bond ensures that there is something to seize in the event of a guilty verdict.
In many cases, the threat of a RICO indictment can force defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges, in part because the seizure of assets would make it difficult to pay a defense
attorney. Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts.[SUP]
[1][/SUP]
There is also a provision for private parties to sue. A "person damaged in his business or property" can sue one or more "racketeers". The plaintiff must prove the existence of an "enterprise". The defendant(s) are not the enterprise; in other words, the defendant(s) and the enterprise are not one and the same.[SUP]
[2][/SUP] There must be one of four specified relationships between the defendant(s) and the enterprise: either the defendant(s) invested the proceeds of the pattern of racketeering activity into the enterprise; or the defendant(s) acquired or maintained an interest in, or control over, the enterprise through the pattern of racketeering activity; or the defendant(s) conducted or participated in the affairs of the enterprise "through" the pattern of racketeering activity; or the defendant(s) conspired to do one of the above.[SUP]
[3][/SUP] In essence, the enterprise is either the 'prize,' 'instrument,' 'victim,' or 'perpetrator' of the racketeers.[SUP]
[4][/SUP] A civil RICO action can be filed in state or federal court.[SUP]
[5][/SUP]
Both the federal and civil components allow the recovery of
treble damages.
Although its primary intent was to deal with
organized crime, Blakey said that Congress never intended it to merely apply to the Mob. He once told
Time, "We don't want one set of rules for people whose collars are blue or whose names end in vowels, and another set for those whose collars are white and have
Ivy League diplomas."[SUP]
[1][/SUP]
