It's Not Just the Godfather's Problem

Racketeering is not a common word. In fact, most Americans only hear the word in the context of late-night legal dramas, as actors portray DAs devoted to stopping the Mafia in cut-and-dried cases where guilt is obvious. Regardless of how it’s presented in the media, racketeering is a complicated allegation and a costly crime, impacting the financial security of millions of Americans, whether or not they’re aware of it.
The legal definition of racketeering is fulfilled when a group or organization that is centrally controlled, through a clearly hierarchical system, knowingly engages in criminal activity.
RICO--the short name for the legislation that governs racketeering investigations and prosecution—was passed in 1961 as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. RICO’s primary area of concern is to break up organized crime, including protection scams, gambling schemes, or prostitution and theft rings disguised as legitimate business ventures. But these were not the greatest threat posed by organized crime; a more serious threat—the protection of American pensions--still flies under the radar of those who draw their knowledge of organized crime from movies like The Godfather.
Beginning in the early twentieth century, the membership of American labor unions grew extremely rapidly—and as membership soared, the amount of money funneled into retirement pensions and other employer incentives for those workers also increased dramatically. With millions of dollars up for grabs, organized crime and labor unions began a complicated relationship, with union leadership encouraged, coerced, and often threatened into handing pension management contracts off to Mafia interests.
RICO’s role has changed somewhat since 9/11, as it is now used to prosecute a wide range of criminal allegations in the federal government’s effort to stanch the flow of cash to terrorists. These prosecutions are typically viewed uncritically, and lauded as a valuable part of our defense against terrorism. Yet some critics, many of whom are criminal defense attorneys, insist that the current climate of absolute anti-terrorism hysteria contributes to a win-at-all-costs mentality, resulting in the prosecution (and sometimes conviction) of innocent individuals.
And the critics may have the data on their side. The Office of the General Inspector’s website offers the following numbers: racketeering cases referred for prosecution have remained basically stable from 2001 to 2005, while the number of indictments has shot up by more than 75%. Additionally, the number of cases actually prosecuted has increased by nearly three-fourths. It stands to reason that, if the number of allegations remains steady, the number of cases actually tried should as well; the statistics, then, indicate an obviously alarming trend.
This trend makes a cautionary point: as prosecutors move cases toward court with abandon, and jurors are deluged nightly with news about terrorist concerns, an experienced and effective white collar defense lawyers is absolutely necessary to any racketeering case.
Doug Slain is a sex crimes lawyer and sex crime criminal defense lawyer in San Francisco and Oakland California. To learn more, visit http://www.sexcrimescounsel.com
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Racketeering laws are being aggressively used to prosecute new crimes in the modern era. Critics allege that hysteria over terrorism has led to an abuse of existing statutes.
Doug Slain is a sex crimes lawyer and sex crime criminal defense lawyer in San Francisco and Oakland California. To learn more, visit http://www.sexcrimescounsel.com.