The list of charges brought in the case included extortion, drug trafficking, assaults, loansharking, and gambling. In 2006 in Florida, several members of the Gambino crime family were tried under the RICO Act and sentenced to life in prison. In 2015, a federal grand jury issued indictments against 61 Latin Kings gang members involved in a drug distribution scheme in Texas. Prosecutors first brought charges against gang leaders in 2006 in Tampa, Florida. There have been two major RICO Act cases involving the gang known as the Latin Kings. Eventually, the case moved to arbitration and was decided in favor of Major League Baseball. In an unusual type of RICO Act case, 14 Canadian companies sued the commissioner of Major League Baseball, claiming that the commissioner conspired to devalue the Montreal Expos as the team prepared to relocate to another city. The case involved two federal trials - both of which ended in mistrials. In addition to the drug-related charges, prosecutors also accused the club of various other crimes, including murder and attempted murder. The federal government brought RICO Act charges against the Hells Angels motorcycle club located in Oakland, California in connection with the alleged manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. There are a host of famous - or infamous, depending on your perspective - RICO Act cases throughout U.S. In fact, the history of RICO Act prosecutions is quite fascinating. While the RICO Act is often associated with violent criminals like mafia families, it has been used in a wide range of cases. It can be used to bring both civil and criminal cases against individuals or groups engaged in activities like illegal gambling, bribery, kidnapping, money laundering, counterfeiting, embezzlement, drug trafficking, and many other types of crimes. However, the RICO Act isn’t limited to the mafia. When President Richard Nixon first signed the RICO Act into law, its intended purpose was mafia prosecutions. It makes headlines every now and then in the news when federal law enforcement officials and prosecutors go after a criminal organization, such as the mafia, in a big sting designed to take down a large group of people. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a federal statute that has been around since 1970. To contact Miami Attorney Puglisi, call (305) 403-8063.There are a host of famous - or infamous, depending on your perspective - RICO Act cases throughout U.S. Sabrina Puglisi is a board certified criminal trial attorney who is committed to fighting for you if you find yourself in the position of being charged with a RICO prosecution. According to many critics, RICO has been expanded beyond its original purpose of eradicating traditional organized crime groups to convict petty, nonviolent criminals and sentence them to unduly long prison terms. Although for years, RICO was thought to be a charge for “the mob”, Prosecutors are using RICO against a variety of criminals and obtaining lengthy sentences for them. Many states also have enacted RICO-style statutes designed to apprehend organized crime that somehow escapes the provisions of RICO. RICO has proved to be a powerful tool in the federal government’s fight against organized crime. An enterprise is defined as “any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity.” A pattern is defined as “at least two acts of racketeering activity, one of which occurred after the effective date of and the last of which occurred within ten years … after commission of a prior act of racketeering activity.” Racketeering activity includes a number of discrete criminal offenses, such as gambling, bribery, extortion, bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, securities fraud, prostitution, narcotics trafficking, loan sharking, and murder. A person who uses an enterprise to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity may be convicted under the RICO criminal statute (18 U.S.C.A. The specific goal of RICO is to punish the use of an enterprise to engage in certain criminal activity. Over the years Congress has enacted several statutes authorizing increased punishment for typical organized crimes such as gambling, loan sharking, transportation of stolen goods, and extortion. Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, as a way to target organized crime. RICO is a set of federal laws specifically designed to punish criminal activity by business enterprises.
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