Organized Crime Control Act Of 1970

The term “Rico Act” stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, Codified as chapter 96, Title 18, of the United States Code which was passed by Congress in 1970. The purpose of the Act was to eliminate the ill-affects of organized crime on the nation’s economy. The Rico Act provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The

Irwin Schiff’s The Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawful Collects Income Taxes is a how-to manual on how to stop paying income taxes. Schiff wrote this book in 1980 while in prison for failing to file income tax reports. Schiff has been in jail several times for tax evasion and other crimes involving taxes.

The Act has even been crucial in taking down several terrorist plots before damage was inflicted. For instance, a Lodi, California father and son were arrested and indicted after lying to federal agents in regards to the son’s attendance at an Al Qaeda terrorist training. It secured six guilty pleas from an al Qaeda “sleeper cell” in Lackawanna, NY , six convictions from a terror cell in Portland, OR, and a prosecution for Colombia's leftist rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia money launderer. In addition, it convicted a man who sent over 200 threatening, white powder laced letters to various Louisiana government agencies, businesses, and individuals and the discovery of an 88 year old Wisconsin woman who was kidnapped and held for ransom. (Carrigan, Alex,

In the United States of America, the Organized Crime Control Act, 1970 established witness protection program that provides for the identity protection and relocation of witnesses and their families to safe place in state and federal criminal proceedings under this act. Under title V of this Act, the Attorney General Authority was empowered to expand grants for the protection of witnesses. However, this act provides protection to the witnesses only in the proceedings related to organized crime. The Act was silent about proceedings in the cases involving other offences.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been pursued by government agencies recently as the SEC, the FBI, and Department of Justice are cracking down on international business corruption. Companies are working harder at expanding economically in the market by doing business with individuals and other companies in foreign countries. Foreign countries are not always in compliance with US laws and regulations, causing US companies who deal with them issues with compliance on the home front. Because of these ongoing issues congress decided to introduce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to prosecute foreign companies for corrupt activities within the United States. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is a federal law that was amended in 1977,

In 1967, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice called for a revolution in the approach to crime. As a result, the commission developed seven specific goals that are relevant in the twenty-first century: prevent crimes, adopt new ways of dealing with offenders, eliminate injustice and unfairness, upgrade personnel, conduct research to find new and effective ways to control crime, appropriate the necessary funds to accomplish the goals, and involve all elements of society in

Abel Fields had previously claimed he had served in the military for 8 years and

January 30th changes were made to the crimes act (2000) to help stop one punch violence in Sydney’s CBD after a senseless act of violence took the life of a Sydney teen. The changes that were made, gives a harsher jail sentence if a life is taken, and if the attacker if intoxicated at the time there is a minimum sentence of eight years, this is only the second time in recent history a minimum sentence has been put in place. More transport out of the CBD was also put into place after the amendment was passed, to give a safe option home after a night out. Places that sell alcohol have also been effected by having to stop people from purchasing alcohol after a certain time.

In pursuit of the war on drugs, changes had been made to the nature of law enforcement and prosecution. Law enforcement have now been more empower with these new policies seem to have diminish civilians rights, such policies gave law enforcement power to violate third and fourth amendment. “Using general warrants, British soldiers were allowed to enter private homes, confiscate what they found, and often keep the bounty for themselves. The policy was reminiscent of today’s civil asset forfeiture laws.”(Balko, R, 2013) The civil asset forfeiture statute is an asset seizure of possessions that are alleged proceeds from criminal activity. Criminal activity over the decades had developed and more organized. Criminals would get their mandatory minimum sentence and the crime enterprise would just continue, but legislators’ passed a statute to dismantle entire criminal organizations and it’s known as Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations or R.I.C.O. Passed in 1970 it was used in the prosecution of Sicilian mafia in New York city. Instead of prosecuting criminals individually such as solders and capo, it was effective in shutting down entire criminal organizations. R.I.C.O statute appeared to be effective on the war on drugs. The combination of the two policies provided incentives to battle the war on drug. Assets were disseminated among various law enforcement departments, putting more officers on the streets, obtaining newer police vehicles and countless equipment for law

The Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Force became the vehicle which all the federal, state, and local police agencies join to address the violence facing their communities. “The FBI’s Safe Streets and Gang Unit administers 160 Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Forces nationwide, staffed by nearly 850 FBI agents, more than 1,500 state and local law enforcement personnel, and nearly 100 other federal law enforcement agents.” (FBI) These task forces go out and track down the gangs through investigations to get prosecutions to include racketeering, drug conspiracy, and firearms violations. They monitor through financial analysis and wire intercepts to catch and prosecute the whole gang up through their command

In l932, the Threatening Communications Act and the Kidnapping Act passed. In l933, a new law made it a federal crime to assault or kill a federal officer. The National Firearms Act, the National Bank Robber Act, the Anti-Racketeering Act, the Fugitive Felon Act, and the National Stolen Property Act all passed in l934. Such legislation increased the role of the federal government in crime control (Raaphorst,71).

The only way to take down organized crime will be if the government is aware of the roots of why the syndicates form, because what would a country be without being aware of all of its citizens? Though the American Dream may be something that doesn’t reverberate with today’s generations, it should be kept in every American’s hearts. “The future will be determined by the young”, said Eleanor Roosevelt, “and there is no more essential task today, it seems, to me, than to bring before them once more, in all its brightness, in all its splendor and beauty, the American

This is mainly because of the services the organizations provide, the fear they cause, the indistinct information available about them, and their national level of organization. In order to gain influence in a community, criminal organizations will provide services that the people within that community might want, for a cost: immunity from any actions taken against organized crime. In return for helping fund a politician, help a police officer with the bills, or even help the average citizen or businessperson overcome a problem. The only requirement is that in exchange for that service, the person must be willing to ignore the organization’s illegal actions (Ruth 114). Organized crime also utilizes fear to control the community by selectively fulfilling threats to give the appearance of the ability to fulfill any threats that the organization makes. The organization’s use the appearance of absolute power to cause continued loyalty, adherence to extortion schemes and other activities, and to discourage witnesses, while the selective nature of fulfilling threats keeps law enforcement and the general public from taking notice of the organization. Organized crime also remains hidden from the public eye because the public and the government only focus on one aspect of organized crimes revenues, which allows the organizations to profit from a broad range of criminal activities even while the government or public attempt to stop the revenues from one source, making it very difficult for the government to stop organized crime from being a profitable business (Ruth 115). The criminal organizations have also followed in the footsteps of industrial corporations and have grown to encompass territory throughout the country. The

Long ago a President of the United States addressed the public with a warning about White Collar crime of the future. He quantified that there were people in charge of professional industries that were extremely shrewd. The warning came next which consisted of being aware that the men in these authoritative positions would have the ability to make decisions that were immoral and thoughtless. With this warning, there were some words of advice that the President would suggest, that could combat the issues people could possibly face because of White Collar crime. The suggestion was that people should remain aware that there is an issue afoot. Also, that he would appoint people that would make sure that these crimes would not go unnoticed. It is thought that the FBI was created as a direct result of the President’s fear that men with positions of power and the right amount of money would become corrupt. White Collar crime has been a top priority to the FBI since the first time it was recognized. More recently, terrorism has taken over the precedence of the importance at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This does not mean that the original tasks like investigating White Collar crime are going unnoticed, but the FBI does have a lot on their list of things to do

In the 1990s, as crime was continuing to rise at a steady rate, American leaders soon realized they had a crisis on their hands. In response to this, President Bill Clinton released a bill in 1994 aiming to take extreme action in combatting crime. This bill included many actions such as increasing the amount of police officers, more funding for cities’ law enforcement programs, and enforcing