RICO Act

What exactally does the RICO act do? I have a general idea, that the government can prosecute the Don under RICO and send him to jail even if the Don has never personally killed, extorted, bribed or engaged in any criminal behavior. The Don can be imprisoned because he operated and managed a criminal enterprise that engaged in such acts. The victims of the Mafia can sue the Don civilly and recover the economic losses they sustained by reason of the Mafia's racketeering. Does it help people like Sammy the Bull and other rats get lighter sentencing?

it means if anyone is caught do anything, then everyone up and down the line are guilty.

RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization. Very, very importantly: it makes it a felony, punishable by a double-digit sentence, to conspire to commit a crime via an organized crime operation, or something that appears to be a "racket." I emphasize "conspire" because that's the key. In order for a defendant to be convicted of a felony, the prosecution usually requires a "corroborating witness" to back up the testimony of a main witness. In a conspiracy case, no corroborating witness is required to get a conviction. As you know, it's very difficult to get anyone to testify against a gangster--much less to get two people to testify. That's why so many mobsters got away with murder, literally. But under RICO, all they need is one witness, plus some other kind of circumstantial evidence, such as surveillance tapes or phone taps. If you put it in the context of the Godfather granting Bonasera's wish: Vito gave orders only to Hagen, who passed them on to Clemenza, who passed them on to Paulie. Now, if Hagen suddenly decided to turn rat, without RICO, it'd be his word against Vito's, and Vito would get off. But with RICO, all it'd take to convict Vito would be Hagen's testimony and one other piece of evidence, such as a bug on Vito's phone if Bonasera called to thank him for "granting my wish."
Not only that, RICO applies to victims of organized crime. Let's say I'm a degenerate gambler and I owe big bucks to a Mob loan shark. He forces me to "bust out" my business to pay him off. I can be prosecuted under RICO for operating a "racketeer influenced organization," and I could face a double-digit sentence. This provides me with a huge incentive to testify against the Mob guy.

Ok thats along the lines of what I was thinking. Now does RICO also give extra incentives, like greatly reduced prison time to the degenerate gambler to get him to testify?

Without RICO, the degenerate gambler might only have been prosecuted for commercial fraud for "busting out" his business--a year or two in jail at most. But under RICO, he could go away for 20 years, minimum, because technically, he was part of a "racketeer influenced organization"--his own business. So now the prosecutor can say to him, "Look, we know you're the victim here. If you let the mob guy who victimized you get off the hook, you go away for 20 years, minimum. But if you agree to testify against him, we'll give you immunity." In other words, if he cooperates with the Feds, they won't prosecute him for any crimes he committed while he was coerced into busting out his business--he gets a pass.

I find that unfairly. I mean if he does testify he might get killed sometime in the future. If he layed that in the prosecutor's face they wouldn't care.

That's true. The guy's stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. The prosecutor might justify this by saying, "Hey, look, this jerkoff may be a victim, but what did he think was gonna happen when he got involved with Mob loansharks of his own free choice?" The government might offer to put him in the Witness Protection Program.

RICO laws seem distinctly unfair...Several unjust arrests could take place; it seems the evidence can be very thin, and still throw someone away for a lifetime...

That's also true, Researcher. On the other hand, Mob types literally got away with murder for decades before RICO--and that was unfair too.

I think the Mob has developed technics to penetrate the witness protection program to find Snicthes.

R.I.C.O.-is the feds way of creating new
laws under the statute of a rico case,if
you beat a rico case it is in there rights
to re-indict you under the same crime,thus
voiding the double-jeopardy rule used under
state indictments,also,being convicted of
a rico crime will certainly net you no less
then 12 years,you cannot bargain a rico case
for less time,the serious-ness of the crime
would have to be dropped to a regular feloney
or a state charge thus ending a rico indictment.
Witness protection only exists while the
person who is being protected has something
to offer,info,court-appearances,after that
they are on their own,the government stops
paying their monthly salary and the protected
must earn a living a legit living,usually
these people move back to the life they know
best,crime.
Being a crime boss under rico is a seperate
crime unto itself that carries life in prison
w/o parole.To conspire under rico is another
seperate entity which also carries life,and
the final seperate indictment under rico which
was added in the late 80s is worded like this,
a person who furthers their position in crime
by commiting crime,such as murder,to conspire
to commit murder,extorsion,conspire to commit
extorsion and loan sharking.All added to the
rico act to indict john gotti on his 3rd rico
case.

Hello people. It have been a long time since I've posted here. Maybe it was 2 years ago. But now I'm back (maybe for longer time, but I don't know) with a question.

I'm in my last year of (criminal) law and I have to do my last paper (in dutch it's called 'scriptie'). This has to be a big study (since it's masterclass).

Since I have big interest in Organized Crime I want to do do a study about this with links to criminal law.

I was thinking about a study about the question wether a RICO act (Thats why I posted in this old forum post) would be needed in Holland. Since we don't have such thing. The only article we have is 140 Sr. (Dutch law). And it says:

"Deelneming aan een organisatie die tot oogmerk heeft het plegen van misdrijven, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste zes jaren of geldboete van de vijfde categorie."

Translation:

"Participation to an organization who has the aim to commit crimes...fifth category".

Crimes: a whole bunch of articles (more then the 8? from the RICO act) written down in the law-book.

My question is: does this article match up with the RICO act? Or is it way to simple to put it like that?

Can someone help me with that?

Hey M.M. Floors, ik ben ook bezig met een paper over gelijkaardige materie. Weet u toevallig of die straf van maximim 6 jaar of een geldboete van de 5e categorie ook van toepassing is in België?

Sorry I can't help you. Dutch law differs from Belgium Law. I can't help you about that.

Welcome back Floors!
Short answer: Yes! The big difference in the US between RICO and earlier laws is that earlier, law enforcement had to catch a crime boss in the act of committing a crime to prove him guilty. That was almost impossible because a crime boss gave orders to people below him to commit crines. But, RICO makes it a crime to be a part of, or conspire to be involved in, a criminal organization. Now, if law enforcement can show that the boss is part of a larger organization directing criminal activities, he can be prosecuted and sentenced to many years in prison. Your Dutch law seems to say almost the same thing.

Already thougt so. Only difference is that in Dutch law you can get maximum of 6 years...instead of RICO act. '

PS I'll think I stay on the forum for a while. Maybe I find some new fun in it.

What would happen if the enterprise was totally legit? Get done for tax evasion?

What do you mean by "get done for tax evasion?" Can you calrify what exactly you are trying to ask here?

You mean you know more about organised crime then about anything legitimate!

He means that your statement doesn't make any sense, clarify it

Uh Uh.

Huh? What is Uh Uh?

I thought all Americans knew what it mean't. They created the phrase.

Uh Uh? you mean Uhn Uh? as in no?

Do you ever learn?

Tell me something. What exactly is your problem?


I asked you to clarify your question, that's all.

If you cannot be courteous to your fellow board members and are finding it difficult to show them some respect, then perhaps it's time for you to move on to another website.

Nah, I'm british.

Nah, you're being a wiseass.

If you do NOT have anything valid to post here or contribute to this topic, and if you cannot give a fellow member the courtesy of answering a legitimate question, then don't even bother to post here anymore.

Oh im sorry, your one of those Council Estate scum who live off the system..

Yeah, up on Raymede Drive with the other thugs.

Alright, enough already! End it!

Well I finally decided what my last paper subject will be: deals from prosecutors with criminals. I has a slight link with the RICO act. It's about the deals a prosecutors makes with criminals to convict another criminal. Most of the times someone higher in the ranks.

(Just to let you know...)

Speaking of the Rico Act...I've always wondered if they started off with the name "rico" ("is this the end of Rico?"), and then found suitable words to fit it. The act itself could have been named a lot of things and still had the same meaning. Rico to me has always sounded Italian, and Italian organized crime has always been at the top of the government's hit list.

Could be. The author of the law, Robert Blakey, was specifically aiming at the Mafia. And giving a law (or a government agency, or a movement) a catchy, easy-to-pronounce acronym is always helpful in getting attention and making people remember what it is. How many people can readily identify OSHA, NARAL, etc.?

In the "Five Families" book Selwyn Raab writes that one of Blakey's favorite movies was "Little Caesar". The fictionalized Al Capone of that movie was nicknamed Rico.
"Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?"

Still a great film...

Still a great film...

Rudy Giuliani is a major "Godfather" fan. As US Attorney, he invited Blakey to give daily briefings on RICO to his staff so he could prepare the famous "Commission" case. He referred to Blakey as "my consigliere."