RICO for street gangs, why don't they use it?

From what I can see, it seems like they don't really use Rico on common street gangs? Why not, they definitely commit enough crime and are big enough in scope? Not necessary because the drug and violent crime arrests bring enough time on their own?

It just seems out of character that they don't; we all know how government and media love headlines about 300 count indictments, multi-jusrisdictional task force, etc.

If I get this right, Illinois made it's own Rico act...
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/22587034/new-rico-law-leads-to-street-gang-arrests

Or do the feds just not generally prioritize street gangs, leaving only state level prosecutors to bring the charges, and most of the states do not have individually crafted Rico laws?

I thought they do use RICO against street gangs. Do you know the documentary series "Gangland"? In almost every episode it's the same story: a gang wreaks havoc in their city, the police try to do something, but almost always fail miserably due to the gang's capacity of "regeneration" and replacement of the arrested members, so at the end they call the FBI and a RICO case gets made with dozens of gangsters being sent away for a long time.

not saying Gangland doesn't get it right sometimes, but the shows I saw were a joke, not really documentaries.

I agree, especially the one about the Native American gangs and the Pagans motorcycle club, watching those episodes was like watching a comedy; especially the former Pagans club president, James DeGregorio who was enraged that his former accomplices started to do jobs like delivering toys to children dressed as Santa Claus.
-"we're not good-doers!!! We're against the law!!! Half of my friends are in prison or dead!"

They use it plenty. If you go to the USDOJ websites to actually track such stats, you'll find that they use it just as much with street gangs as they do with LCN, it just doesn't make the same headlines.

Suburban America (where you're not likely to meet a Crip, a Blood OR a Mafioso), loves a good gangster story. The street gang stuff just doesn't market as well, so you don't read about it.

So the whole argument of "why don't they go after the Black dealers?" really is a crock of shit. Just because you don't read about it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

As an aside, most States now have their own RICO type statute.

@ Alicecooper,

Me & Scorsese are the Scribes of the Street Gang Archives. Go through either one of our profiles and check all the posts from the past.

@ PB,

Surburban America can actually meet Crips, Bloods, etc since they moved there decades ago. It's more or less Hollywood portrayal of stereotypes and discrimination.

Recently, the feds were going to indict the owner of Pilot/Flying J.on a RICO charge for his employees robbing trucking companies of their fuel rebates. As soon as the RICO rumors started flying, the settlement talks began and since the owners brother is the governor of Tennessee and the owner himself owns not only Pilot/Flying J., but the Cleveland Browns as well, money talked and the bullshit walked.
Jimmy Haslam company Pilot Flying J to pay $92M fine
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11214330/jimmy-haslam-company-pilot-flying-j-pay-92m-fine

i was just looking around on there, is there a section that has graphs, percentages, etc?

I've seen the big reports, like the National gang one, but unaware of what all is out there.

Actually Illinois has its own recently enacted street gang rico act which they have been frequently using against gangs such as the black souls, certain vice lord factions and the hobos. They even used it against that alleged outfit crew that was robbing drug stash houses.

Because of the general public's interest in fictional and real life Cosa Nostra figures...the targeting and prosecution of alleged members is "leading story" "press conference" material.

Street gangs which commit more violent acts.....or other ethnic mobs involved in the trafficking of women and kids are also targeted by fed. and state law enforcement but not as "newsworthy" as deemed by those who make those decisions.

Street killings and forced slavery/prostitution don't get the same headlines as the word "mafia"...or the same amount of l.e. resources.

"Mafia" is the golden goose for feds....careers are made with high profile convictions.

People love the mafia just off the movies alone. Anyone remember when the departed came out, it felt like every show tried to include some nondescript irish mob group and that stupid dropkick murphy song was everywhere.

I hear you, BF. And I have no doubt that "successful" Black criminals have moved out of the ghettos and into the suburbs. Fuck, it's what half the Italian criminals did after they got made lol. But that's not the point I was trying to make.

My point was that your average Lilly White, "John Q. Public," is a lot more interested in the LCN than about the gangs because of the way they've seen them portrayed in movies.

If you look at my initial post, I made it very clear that the Feds go after the gangs just as much as they go after the wiseguys. You just don't read about it because the people I was referring to don't care to read about it. I was also quick to point out that when White people use silly lines like "why don't they go after the Black drug dealers?" that it's a line of self-serving steaming shit.

It's a pity that non-Italian gangs don't make headlines. I would like especially to see documentaries about the Russian, Albanian and Greek mafia in USA. Why hasn't anybody done a documentary or a book on Alex Rudaj's gang for example? And I thought the Russian mafia could make headlines in newspapers, considering how often it's used as villains in the movies.

I agree with you, Dwalin. But marketing boils down to demand, especially in the publishing industry. Especially today, in the age of e-books. There just isn't enough demand for publishers to hand out advances for books about obscure gangs that aren't likely to appeal to the masses.

However, I mentioned e-books for a reason. I predict that you'll be seeing a lot more e-books about low-end criminals that won't be very credible. Look no further than the Leiber/Cicale joint project as the example. These 80-page e-books are the 21st-century equivalent of the 1950's True Detective magazine (which, ironically, were rarely very true at all).

what suburbs are you talking about?

the suburbs around chicago look like a ragedy area of chicago with more land

True , I see your point and it's amazing how ignorant some can be despite the technology available.

@ Cook,

He's not talking specifically about Chicago just the generation raised in their suburbs.

Exactly. An entire generation (mostly White kids who grew up in Suburbia) believes that the Feds are still on a witch-hunt against Italians and that the predominantly Black gangs are left alone. All they have to do is go to the DOJ website and look up the indictments and the ratios. But most of them aren't interested in the truth anyway .

WOW!!

they do alot just doesnt get the headlines like some old godfather types.

Pizza,

Do you think news coverage of actual gangsters and events did more to create this American fascination with LCN or do you think it was more because of fictional gangsters that crossed over into pop culture in film and tv? or a combination of both?

Probably a combination. But it was the fictional "man of honor" portrayals more than anything else. Although it's an interesting dichotomy. The third act of "Goodfellas" showed them true to form, and yet it still created a generation of wannabes.

Fast forward another ten years, and we're seeing Tony Soprano banging hookers and walking outside in his underwear to pick up his morning paper (while scratching his ass, to boot). Now, that's a FAR CRY from Don Corleone in his tuxedo doling out favors to the common man, and yet it still influenced some kids into thinking it's a great life.

But to be fair, it didn't start with the gangster movie. It started with the old cowboy movies. There will always be people who feel the need to identify and root for the guy with the black hat on.

My personal opinion is that if you're dumb enough to become a criminal based on a movie that you saw, that you probably would have ended up a criminal even if you hadn't seen it.

People HATE hearing this. But most criminals are stupid. I don't give a shit what anyone says.

Hence the reason so many on these forums don't really have any idea what's going on. Their insight extends to the latest headline and whatever board talk they read.

RICO is used plenty of times against Street Gangs and it's leaders. You only need to look back at the Reagan era to see that most of the heads of those drug crews were given life sentences off of RICO cases. OG Mack was convicted off RICO. King Blood, RICO, they tried to use it ln King Tone more than once, he was lucky.

Lol all those horrible e books out there especially the one from our buddy Ed. How about mafia secret judge, ever hear of that one. Ha! Mob Candy Mag and all those wannabe guys.

is this one of the reports you mean or are there others that are better/different? Didn't read the whole thing yet, looks like there are large holes in some of the info just browsing...

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fjs12st.pdf

the bolded part--if that is directed toward my original post, I never said they don't go after them I asked why it didn't seem like they used Rico against them much (which apparently is not correct anyway).

and the flood of shitty ebooks coming---ugh.

I'm sure the editing will be superb.

next rico case for a mmobster gonna be vinncent asoro. guy looks like death hes 80+ the feds let out all the tapes of him talking shit about the bosses so hes shelved and there gonna waste millions on this trial. on the brightside there gonna drag massino out for more history lessons. he got that lawyer mcchon the beast, so he must have had a little money put away after being a mobster for 70yrs. looking foward to it hasnt been a good mob trial probaly since whiteys last year. but ones coming, another mafia taking down the front page shit. could you ever ever seeing them doing multi boss case ceful crea whoever the westsides guy the month. when that guy barney was indicted they took down the whole westside acting under, consig, and boss. massino to.

Proving a RICO offense just isn't as easy with a street gang as it is with a mafia family. There are 4 overarching types of RICO violations. Here's an exempt from my White Collar Crime Outline.


(a) Use income from “racketeering pattern” to acquire an illegal enterprise
- buying the enterprise
(b) Acquiring an interest in an enterprise through pattern of racketeering.
- Acquiring FROM racketeering
- Goodfellas “Bamboo Lounge”
(c) Employed by enterprise
- Made guy/ associate
- Employer/ Enterprise = distinct
(d) Helping further a,b,c- Enterprise
- Common Purpose
- Relationship btwn associates
- Longevity
- 2+ people

If you look at the bottom, the "common purpose" element is often difficult to satisfy with a street gang. With the mafia, it's a glorified pyramid scheme. The purpose is to keep the organization going. It's been stated that LCN is intended on "outlasting" it's present generation. Gangs aren't the same way. Often times there's no criminal activity-for-profit outside of hurting/ killing people.

Truest statement in the world. I've never represented or prosecuted an intelligent criminal. If I found one, I'd probably give him a pass just for making my job semi interesting, but I'm not holding my breath (joke, people…… sort of.)

What suburb are YOU talking about? That's a pretty broad generalization. And not exactly true.

" It's been stated that LCN is intended on "outlasting" it's present generation. Gangs aren't the same way."

I understand the entirety of your post but this reoccurring "continuity" statement made by other posters baffle me at times. It been known that even some street gangs were built to outlast their original members. Same for LCN.

so you're gonna tell me how ragedy the area in and around chicago looks?

suburbs doesn't mean rich, it means not in the big city

Yeah alot of Chicago's suburbs are straight fucked, however alot of violence is being directed from the city. So much of the city is changing I mean look at the Austin neighborhood it's become so gentrified that you got white people hopping off the L walking down Austin and then hopping right back on the train to go to the suburbs

RICO is used against street gangs all the time. I can't even keep up with it at this point. Locally between RICO and gang injunctions, just about every major gang has been hit hard at some point.