RICO Compliance Report

5. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was originally designed to combat corporate crime? (Hint: No, organized crime…)

Murders, gambling, narcotics, prostitution, hijacking, loansharking, transportation of large whitefish across the state line for immoral purposes

To succeed in a civil RICO claim, a plaintiff must first establish a substantive violation of the RICO statute. This requires that the plaintiff prove four elements: (1) the existence of an enterprise affecting interstate commerce; (2) that the defendant was employed by or associated with the enterprise; (3) that the defendant participated, directly or indirectly, in the enterprise; and (4) that the defendant participated through a pattern of racketeering, requiring the establishment of two predicate acts.

Although some of the RICO predicate acts are extortion and blackmail, one of the most successful applications of the RICO laws has been the ability to indict or sanction individuals for their behavior and actions committed against witnesses and victims in alleged retaliation or retribution for cooperating with federal law enforcement or intelligence agencies. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of bringing organized crime members to justice, ten years passed before the first RICO convictions were obtained. Throughout the 1970s crime families continually fought for power over the many racketeering enterprises that brought in huge sums of money. The National Conference on Organized Crime in 1975 estimated that mob

The Nuestra Familia kept gaining power until the institution of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act (RICO).

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 RICO act was signed in to law enforcement in 1970 by the acting commander in chief Richard Nixon. RICO was enacted as title XI of the organized crime act and started off in full swing with the Mafia growing more powerful than the public really knew. RICO was a total game changer, not just for the gangster, but the people they so often did their dirty work with. RICO has a multitude of ways someone can by charged with a crime of racketeering. Racketeering its self, is really an umbrella of more than about 50 plus different crimes. Under RICO any person that has committed two or more racketeering offense in the last decade can be charged using the RICO act to help. Originally enacted to bring down the Cosa Nostra from running their criminal enterprise, but in order to do so “the head of the snake had to be cut off” as said by Rudy Giuliani. The bosses of the mob never got their own hands dirty they were always the ones giving orders in privet meetings with their worker men, so tying the bosses to the crimes being committed on the street was near, if not completely imposable. The best way to the damning information and evidence is; wire taps, recordings and records of all kinds. Before you can just intrude in to someones personal life like that you need a court order, because as Americans we have rights and the 4th amendment protects us from such invasion criminal or not. Before a judge will sign off on a title XI you must have hard evidential prof that someone has

What these rubrics ensure is that it is able to be proven that a project or business was or is organized and was or is operating in attempts to make profit by illegal means. It must be proven with evidence or testimony that the defendants partook of these activities in order to keep their high level status or to gain status within the business. It may also be noted that the two incidents of racketeering need to have occurred within ten years of one another in order to uphold RICO laws. Also, many states have created their own RICO-like laws that envelop and uphold many of the statutes of RICO itself, in attempts to prevent any loophole activity from occurring. If a conviction is apprehended then the defendant(s) is often subject to pay back numerous monetary sums including but not limited to, funds that were accrued during the illegal activity, treble damages, as well as court and attorney fees. There are a number of differing opinions on the RICO statute, include some of which that feel as though RICO is overstepping some of its Constitutional bounds.

We may not see this group but the mafia was big back in the day. The mafia was the leading group in criminal activity in the 1960’s(Darity). The mafia was a group that would make tons and tons of money off of drugs, robberies and murders. They would sometimes pay off cops to look the other way and if they didn’t get what they wanted they would use their firearms. With stronger and more enforced laws, many lives could have been saved.

The Mafia is involved with more crime then one can think. Back when there was prohibition who do you think was the booze smuggler, the Mafia. this is just a few crimes the Mafia commits. Mafia hitman Salvatore ``Sammy the Bull'' Gravano pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he helped operate and finance a multimillion dollar, statewide criminal drug deal in Arizona. A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted 19 individuals, including six with suspected ties to organized crime, on charges of stock fraud and money laundering. Sex probably rates higher than whiskey in desirability, and so organized crime moved into illegal prostitution. these are just a spoonful or what the Mafia does. Racketeering; fraud; car theft; robbery; armed assault; drug dealing; trafficking in weapons and radioactive material; trafficking in human beings and exploitation through prostitution; alien smuggling; smuggling of precious and antique goods; extortion for protection money; gambling; embezzling from industries and financial institutions up to infiltration and control of private and commercial banks; controlling of black markets. The Mafia is dangerous group of people and they should be put in jail.

Consequently, the federal government enacted the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 which granted money to state law enforcement and allowed wiretapping in cases of suspected criminals; it was a first and direct attack to organized crime as a whole but not criminal organizations (Finklea). Realizing this, the federal government passed The Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 which gave more power to the government in order to combat and prosecute criminal organizations (Finklea). As mentioned in the same article, it allowed Special Grand Juries to investigate multi-jurisdictional organized crimes and for witnesses to be granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for testimonies and protection of themselves and their families

When facing a formal complaint or investigation by a licensing authority, you need experienced legal representation. An attorney that understands the Texas licensing boards and regulations that pertain to licensees is best suited to defend your case and minimize the impact it has on your professional license.

An information letter was sent to families, making clear that the intervention would be delivered during regular class time at no cost to parents, and anonymity would be preserved. Informed consent was obtained. A week before the implementation of the program, the school’s Guidance Officer went to the each Year 6 and 7 class to administer the student’s pre-assessment package during school hours. Each question was read aloud to the group and their understanding of each item checked. Each child, then individually rated each question in their own assessment pack.

The Mexican Mafia, or “La Eme”, as they refer to themselves, is one of the most powerful and influential organized crime gangs in the United States. The organization has risen through the decades of mass gang wars and violence to become the power it is today. Their control is limitless and they have ventured far beyond the expectations of what was thought that gangs were capable of. They have infiltrated governments and manipulated politics. They have taken over neighborhoods and attempted to ethnically cleanse them. Innocent people have become caught up in the affairs of La Eme throughout its history and many have faced violence and death at their hands. This paper is a continual of the case analysis of the Mexican Mafia and will attempt to provide explanations for some of the crimes committed by this organization. Researching gangs and organized crime is important because of their large influence and control over many aspects of daily life. The significance of attempting to provide causations of their crimes can better provide the criminal justice system a clearer understanding of problems that lead to gang members committing crimes on behalf of the organization. A clearer understanding of problems can help the system to provide solutions to combat situations that inhibit crimes.

Organized crime groups are continuously looking for ways to profit from legitimate as well as illegal activities. It is no surprise that organized crime groups play a large role in lucrative illicit activities such as prostitution and in the pornography industries. Some people such as journalist Jack Anderson (Lyman, 2015) believe that the pornography industry is controlled by organized crime groups; however, this is debatable and also controversial. One thing is certain however, any business that produces a lucrative amount of cash is highly susceptible to organized crime influences. This can be seen in the pornography industry. With money producing opportunities such as porno industries, pornographic book stores and adult film making, it is not surprising to see organized crime members involved in behind the scene activities. For example, bookstores offer an opportunity for organized crime groups to skim money off the top, thus increasing and decreasing the tax liability (Lyman, 2015). Legitimate stores offer a place for money laundering as well as disguise other illegal activities that may be occurring within the store. It also creates a legitimate place to launder money from illegal activities such as gambling, prostitution and loan sharking.