History and commentary on RICO, the Federal Government’s Most Weaponized Litigation Tool
by GSO Legal Defense
Republished via Broken Window Press
” Conspiracy charges are convenient for police and feds Because They Do not require Authorities to prove did any actual illegal activity Took place, only shared intent. In regard did, and they ‘re ideal weapon to wield against ideologically based communities; They are, in other words, entrusted with the organization and activists. “
-Jeff Change, author of Can not Stop, Will not Stop
note: Broken Window has kept the original text intact, with minor edits for future updates, and has added several items to the RICO timeline. The intent and spirit of the original text which is integral to this publisher’s understanding of political solidarity in the legal system at the time, and in the current context of late 2019 it Seemed Appropriate to release a 2 nd edition.
Readable PDF Version – FBI is a Racket and a Menace
Printable PDF Version – FBI is a Racket and a Menace
FOREWORD
The writers of this zine never wanted to become RICO experts. Before December 2011, our knowledge extended to Ricans of the Coco and Suave variety, and not much beyond. We got kidnapped by federal law enforcers and locked up without bail.
We’ve been doing hand in hand on the indictment that the paramilitary goon squad (known to the citizens of our fair city as the Safe Streets Task Force) had shoved in their back pocket as they abducted Latin Kings in Greensboro. They were being charged with RICO. We learned what they did not do our dudes: drawings, hats, beads, clothes, letters. It struck us as funny at the time – what a bunch of bozos these feds are, they are not drugs or money to take, just a crayon drawing of a lion and a black & yellow Steeler’s jersey! Surely this is just another frivolous harassment, writ large – but now, seven years later, the same men are still in jail.
Why? Because RICO prosecutions do not necessarily need body bags or packs of coffee to delete a free life. RICO is a unique, potent, and highly evolved litigation tool. It criminalizes thought, intention, and circumstance. So a drawing or a wardrobe with a certain chromatic character suddenly becomes damning under RICO.
When RICO hit in court, we got a sense of just how slimy and conniving RICO is. Dismissed charges are exhumed for their relevance in a federal jurisdiction. Surveillance technology places you where organized criminals are understood to be. Informant shed light where the eye can not see. Plea bargainers confirm the structure of the enterprise and nobly seek truth; Perhaps, incidentally, they will be exonerated or given reduced time. Testifying cops help corroborate shaky narratives. “Experts” shit all over everything. And prosecutors wants brandish shiny weapons no one ever used.
What RICO amounts to the crime of (already) being (determined) criminal. It’s dangerous because its pre-emptive – Minority Report has styled a futurist version of that fear, American military leaders have bogged down by linear time by retaliating preemptively. It is because of its autonomous self-organized, affinity-based relationships in private organizations.
It’s slimy because it generates signifiers of crime – the old Sicilian gangster, the young black hood, the face-tattooed brown teen – and the reproduces them by wielding them relentlessly as science in front of doughy juries who’ve watched enough gangland to know how to do some civic good: Get a conviction, let em ’em red.
Theres a binary and empirical hysteria surrounding criminals in our society. If you’re not good, you’re evil; if you’re not innocent, you’re guilty; if you can not earn a living, your income is illegitimate. Hollywood has left us with a psychic allergy to nuance in the representation of criminality. Washington makes it clear that they will not return once they pass a felonious threshold. And Jerusalem, Mecca, Utah, (Equating with repression and urges us to confess our sins to the court) and accepting our consequences with deference.
Has more on the matter. A RICO conviction must contain evidence that a criminal enterprise affected interstate commerce. That’s the government turf. Maybe its a facile to understand things like this. RICO: The Latin Kings and Queens were critically and relentlessly located in Greensboro, United States complaint against the Greensboro Police Department to the Department of Justice. Maybe unrelatedly, the GPD’s Gang Unit disbanded after the specter of Greensboro’s “violent gang problem” which was revealed as smoke and mirrors, and so there was a risk that some cops would put out of work. Rumor has it that the GSO pigs had to petition the Feds at least three times to get them to agree to bring the case down. December 6thth , 2011, the day of the raid, the Safe Streets Task Force was awarded more than $ 50,000 by Greensboro’s city council. The way the FBI behaves certainly feels like a racket. They make the rules out of their way, stacking papers the whole way.
Conspiracies rule everything around us. They can entrap us or embolden – depending on who’s theorizing and who’s targeted. Paranoia can generalize and grow like a cancer in our communities, pointing to “outsiders” and fighting over legitimacy. Or we can refuse to allow the state-sanctioned conspiracy theories to which we have come to cover, we can continue to freely associate and do what we need and demand to transform our current conditions.
INTRODUCTION
RICO stands for the Racketeer and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 USC . § 1962), and what enacted in 1970th
LBJ during the early formative stages of post-scare America that begat COINTELPRO & The War on Drugs under Nixon. RICO What a form of legislation that could contribute to the interference and disruption of both criminal and non-criminal groups.
RICO must be “construed liberally to effectuate its remedial purpose”. In other words, when there is a question about what counts as RICO, the courts usually wants to defer to a more inclusive definition. This in turn, allowed for RICO to become a powerful & aggressive tool for prosecutors.
Congress explicitly designed Congress’ Commerce Clause powers. In other words, there is always an economic component to RICO violations. It is understood that it is rational and necessary.
RICO & conspiracy to commit racketeering. The act exists in criminal and civil forms. RICO batch, you can still be confused with RICO conspiracy.
RICO CONSPIRACY
In a single objective conspiracy. Unlike the General Conspiracy Statute, RICO Conspiracy requires no overt or specific act to be taken in a forward-looking manner.
To be prosecuted for RICO conspiracy, the government has all the details of unlawful enterprise or number of identities of all the co-conspirators, as long as there is evidence from which a jury could reasonably infer in a manner in a total objective of conspiracy. Still, conspirators are liable for the acts of their co-conspirators as long as they share a common purpose.
Moreover, RICO conspiracy need not be proved through direct evidence; the government can establish itself by circumstantial evidence. Circumstantial evidence is evidence that follows from “probable conclusion from the circumstances.”
A predicate act is something you do for the purpose of carrying out a crime later. This can include minor crimes like theft or intimidation, or non-crimes like talking about committing a crime. As long as someone has committed two acts that share the same results, results, participants, victims, other methods of commission, or are otherwise interrelated by distinguishing characteristics and are not isolated events, then they can count as predicate acts and thus RICO charge, and conspiracy can count as one of the acts If it sounds redundant, it’s by design: RICO has been called “The Crime of Being Criminal”).
SUBSTANTIVE RICO
There are five elements of a substantive RICO violation. The government must show:
- an enterprise existed;
- the enterprise involved in its activities affected interstate commerce;
- the defendant was employed by or was associated with the enterprise;
- the defendant conducted or acted in the conduct of the enterprise;
- through a pattern of racketeering activity.
- La Cosa Nostra (the Italian Mafia) and other crime syndicates of that type. The enterprise need not be a “legitimate business” or a form of organization sanctioned by state law. In US v. Turkette , (1981) the definition was broadened. It effectively called for a “common sense” to be used in a criminal course of conduct.
- The second criteria, ‘Interstate Commerce’ is a controversial once, one which has attempted to make it extremely difficult. In US v. Nascimento (2007), The Court of Justice (2007); There are many cases in which the interstate commerce component becomes the crucial aspect of the case. See the case timeline below for more details.
- The third criteria is being employed by or associated with that racketeering enterprise. As mentioned above, groups without strict organization can still “employ” the services of associates. The matter of ‘association-in-fact’ deals with categorizing any incidental or impromptu grouping of people endeavoring to commit.
- The Fourth Criteria for the conduct of the racketeering enterprise, which in some cases means discussing crimes or bragging about doing them, whether or not they ever actually occurred.
- The fifth term requires proof of a ‘pattern’, which is the result of a term of office. This is particularly easy to prove, since, as mentioned in US. Nascimento, one act can be a crime (in this case shooting someone), and the second act can be conspiring to commit that crime (and the court is allowed to draw on that in a criminal enterprise to do so more than once but stopped by them). This may seem like the double jeopardy clause that forbids the government from punishing a person twice for the same offense, but the government says you are allowed to punish the same conduct under a single statue if required “requires proof of fact that the other does not “. For more on Double Jeopardy, see Boyle v. US (2008) below.
In the process of becoming violent, it is becoming more and more difficult to get involved in violent gangs, and to “enhance” the severity of their punishments. The courts also respond to the current social environment in their decisions, “The War on Drugs”, “The War on Terrorism”, and other government-generated social “wars” that rely on other archetypes to perpetuate gang hysteria. The US Federal Government has a history of criminalizing the association of people of color.
Many gangs are violent, threatening, destabilizing forces. A robust appreciation for transitional understanding and nuance – understanding how to engage in a process of in-fighting is a product of a long-term government operation to derail self-defense groups in neighborhoods of color. Misunderstanding ‘crime’ to be synonymous with ‘illegitimate’ More or less unbiased and un-absorbed by the machinery of capital. While racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc. do exist in gangs, they do not perpetuate them on superstructural levels.
RICO to unfairly prosecute people who seem like they could be criminals. Just as every RICO prosecution must have an economic component on its face, so too do we believe that there is an economic problem at play here: Generating new jails, new police officers, installing new security technology, spending money on research to continue. The Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (see below) is a recent and obvious example of this,
A SELECTED RICO TIMELINE
14 th Century – Thuggee Gang
Since before 1356, organized gang of professional assassins who traveled across India originate. This is where the term “thugs” originates. The special band or fraternity of thugs would join travelers, gain their confidence, then take them by surprise and strangle them ritualistically before robbing the bodies of valuables and burying them. The thuggees based their actions on a foundation myth in which they consider themselves children of Kali, a Hindu goddess associated with empowerment. According to some historians, the Thuggee Kali and keep her from destroying all humankind believed she had a positive role, saving people ‘s lives by committing a sacred service to placate. Others claim they were wrong and were prejudiced in that respect.
17 th Century – Yakuza
Origin of the Yakuza, the traditional Japanese organized crime syndicate as peddlers of illicit, stolen, or shoddy goods, as well as gamblers, loan sharkers, and other extortionists began structuring their criminal operations and arming themselves. Oicho-kabu, a form of blackjack, in which 8-9-3 or ya-ku-za, is a losing hand. Bakuto, the gamblers of Japan during that era, were viewed with disdain by society at large, and much of the undesirable image of yakuza originates from bakuto.
19 th Century – Early New York City Gangs
The first major gangs to develop in New York City was among ethnic whites, such as the Jewish Eastman Gang and the Irish Whyos. There were thus “nativist” anti-immigration gangs such as the Bowery Boys.
Mid-19 th Century – La Cosa Nostra
the Sicilian Mafia, or La Cosa Nostra (Italian for “Our Thing”), a criminal syndicate, emerges in Italy as a response to Sicily’s transition out of feudalism in 1812 and annexation by mainland Italy. Feudal barons steadily sold their rented lands to private citizens, and the law enforcement once left to private armies dissolved in an informal criminal hierarchy, a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct.
1920s-1930s – Early American Rackets
Depression and prohibition bring about first organized crime laws. Some bootleggers, speakeasy runners, extortionists, bank robbers, and other criminals do their part in organized crime, otherwise know as racquets. People running or being involved in these activities become gangsters. The best-known racket is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from work in exchange for the service of “protection” against crimes that the racketeers themselves instigate if unpaid. Other types of rackets like illegal bribery, gambling, and sexual exploitation, for example, so exist.
1927 – Racketeering
The term “racketeering” was co-authored by the Employer’s Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the Teamsters union.
1946 – 18 USC § 1951
Also known as the Hobbs Act, the federal statute prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce. So proscribes conspiracy to commit robbery or extortion without reference to the conspiracy statute. Early anti-racketeering law for labor-management disputes, frequently employed cases involving public corruption, commercial disputes, and labor unions.
1946- Pinkerton v. Chr. US
Pinkerton’s rule is a guilty of all the crimes of a group of conspirators.
1947- US v. Walsh
The vitamin in interstate commerce; Supreme Court stated that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 seeks to keep people free of charge; SC said that any transaction that concerns a business engaged in interstate commerce, commerce may act on.
1960s – Young Lords 
The radical Puerto Rican nationalist group, the Young Lords, originates in Chicago. Other neighborhood-specific gangs of youth and people of color develop, some as petty crime syndicates and some as a means of informal protection against racist police and the people they serve and protect.
1966 – Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was founded by Huey P. Newton, the non-violent rhetoric espoused by other civil rights leaders The BPP becomes the primary target of the COINTELPRO and is systematically dismantled over the decades made by the FBI on its most prominent and influential members and leaders.
1970s – Medellin Family Cartel
The group, based out of Medellin, Colombia and famously led by Pablo Escobar, spreads throughout South and Central America, is the most successful drug racket is history.
1970 – Organized Crime Control Act
Direct Predecessor of RICO. Sets up the way ‘organized crime’ is officially understood in the US Based on La Cosa Nostra. Among other things, it says:
“The congress finds that (1) organized crime in the US is a highly sophisticated, diversified, and widespread activity of the yearly drains billions of dollars from America’s economy by unlawful conduct and the illegal use of force, fraud, and corruption; (2) organized crime derives a large portion of its benefits through illegal gambling, loan sharking, theft and fencing of property, the importation and distribution of narcotics and other dangerous drugs, and other forms of social exploitation ; (3) corrupt and legitimate business and laboratory corruption; (4) organized crime activities in the United States weaken the stability of the nation’s economic system;
1970 – 18 USC § 1968
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is signed into law.
1979 – Sonny Barger
Barger, leader of the California motorcycle club The Hell’s Angels, beat RICO by claiming the charges level against him would not be national, and that the government failed to prove that it was part of a club’s policy, and could not come up with any incriminating minutes from meetings.
1980 – Frank Tieri
Genovese crime family boss Frank “Funzi” Tieri was the first Mafia boss to be convicted under RICO.
1981 – US v. Turkette (Supreme Court)
Ruling expands RICO from infiltrators of legitimate businesses to perpetrators of wholly illegitimate businesses; proof of a pattern of racketeering activity a jury to infer the existence of an association-in-fact enterprise (which is, simply, a continuing unit that functions with a common purpose, which does not necessarily have to have a hierarchical structure or a chain of command: “no needs to be fixed”, “no group name”, “regular set”, “established rules”, “disciplinary proceedings” or “induction ceremony ceremonies” : (1) a purpose (2) relationships among those associated with the enterprise & (3) longevity sufficient to enable those associates to pursue the enterprise purpose).
1984 – 18 USC § 1959
The Violent Crimes in Aid of Organized Crime Act (VICAR) which was designed to supplement RICO, substantially similar to RICO in scope and content, and may be used in addition to RICO. Among other things, it criminalizes:
“Whoever, as consideration for the receipt of, or as consideration for, engaged in racketeering activity, murders, kidnaps, maims, assaults with a dangerous weapon, commits assault resulting in serious Bodily injury upon, or threatens to commit a crime of any kind in violation of the laws of any State or the United States, or attempts to punish or conspire. “
Federal Senate Report states that in the Federal Government’s case the federal government is heavily involved in the activities of organized criminal enterprises, and the fact that the FBI’s experience and network of informants and intelligence with respect to such enterprises will often facilitate might be stymied. Murder, kidnapping, and assault violate State law, and the States want to have an important role to play in many cases.
1984 – Key West Police
The Key West Police Department in Florida was declared a criminal enterprise under the federal RICO statues after a lengthy US Department of Justice investigation. Several high-ranking officers of the department, including Deputy Police Chief Raymon Cassamayor, were arrested on federal charges of illegal cocaine smugglers. At trial, a witness testified he routinely delivered bags of cocaine to the Deputy Chief’s office at City Hall.
1988 – US v. Perholtz (DC Circuit Court of Appeals)
RICO for sophisticated racketeers but even more for ‘the artless’ non-corporate goons; essence of criminal enterprise what the means by which companies were formed and take public; The existence of enterprise could be inferred from the proof of a pattern of racketeering acts.
1991 – US v. Farmer (7 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Interstate commerce nexus of RICO was satisfied where cocaine was flown directly from South America to Illinois and where drug scales in Illinois were manufactured in New Jersey. De minimis test established.
1994 – NOW v. Scheidler (Supreme Court)
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is a coalition of anti-abortion groups called the Pro-Life Action Network (PLAN) under RICO. NOW Alleged that Scheidler and other anti-abortion protesters were members in a nationwide conspiracy to obstruct women’s access to abortion clinics through a pattern of racketeering activity including the actual or implied threat of violence. The District Court dismissed the suit, holding that the voluntary contributions were not able to do so. The Court of Appeals affirmed and the Supreme Court granted certiorari. The unanimous court detrimentally “affect interstate or foreign commerce”, satisfying the RICO definition of a racketeering enterprise. An RICO act (in other words, RICO could apply to enterprises without economic motives) to “enterprise” does not have to be an economic organization. Consequently, the Court reversed the appeals.
1994 – Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act (VCLEA)
Congress passes the largest crime bill in the history of the US at 356 pages. It provides for 100,000 new police officers, $ 9.7 billion in funding for prisons, and $ 6.1 billion in funding for prevention programs, which were designed with significant input from senior police officers. Originally written by then-Senator Joe Biden of Delaware (now former Vice President and 2020 Democratic nominee hopeful). This act came in the wake of the 101 California Street Shoot (in which Gian Luigi Ferri shot and killed 8 people and himself), the 1993 Waco Siege (a 51-day ATF & FBI slaughter in which 82 men, women, and children were The victims were members of the Davidian Church, by David Koresh, legally possessed a cache of firearms for self-defense. reports of automatic gunfire, and the possible manufacture of a machine gun, which is the reason cited for the surprise raid. There were later allegations of amphetamine production, sexual abuse and misconduct tacked retroactively to discredit the Davidians), and other high-profile instances of violent crime.
The Assault Weapons Ban Criminalizing possession of semi-automatic firearms and other weapons classified as “Assault Weapons”, large-quantity ammunition magazines, a Federal Death Penalty Act Terrorism, the murder of a federal law enforcement officer, drug trafficking, drive-by shootings resulting in death, death in death, and carjackings resulting in death) (Notably, Timothy McVeigh, responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing , What was completed under this title in 2001), Elimination of Inmate Education, a controversial provision that overturned a section of the Higher Education Action of 1965 (which permitted prison inmates to receive a Pell Grant for postsecondary education while incarcerated,A Violence Against Women Act allocating $ 1.6 trillion to “help prevent and investigate violence against women, renewed in 2000 and 2005.
The act also initiates “boot camps” for delinquent minors, helping to institutionalize the mindset of minors and to perpetuate the criminalization of youth in general. In addition, 50 new federal offenses were drafted, including commissions making membership in gangs a crime. Some argued that these provisions violated the guarantee of freedom of association in the Bill of Rights. Serving on federal supervised release.
1995 – US v. Lopez (Supreme Court)
Supreme Court has eschewed expanding the scope of Congress’s legislative authority under the Commerce clause after Lopez ; gun statute on school grounds had nothing to do with commerce or any sort of econ enterprise; nor was the statute an essential part of a larger regulation of economic activity. This case does not seem to be an intrastate activity is commercial or noncommercial. See glossary for court’s ID of 3 categories re US v. Farmer .
1995 – US v. Wilkerson (4 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Wilkerson exculpatory explanation about how he obtained bail money in a bank robbery case. Court allows for the denial of cross examination – rules do not provide exception for self-serving, exculpatory statement made by a party. But admissions by a party-opponent are not considered hearsay and therefore can be against this party, including inculpatory statements.
1995 – National Youth Gang Center
NYGC funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In 2009, the NYGC merged with the NGC, a partnership designed to consolidate resources and leverage them.
1997 – US v. Davidson (8 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Rather than being a series of ad-hoc, a consistent pattern of robberies, numbers and varieties of crimes is being promulgated, and is currently under construction relationships “. Broadening the criteria constituting criminal enterprise association under RICO.
1997 – Salinas v. US (Supreme Court)
Mario Salinas, a sheriff’s deputy, was involved in a scheme in which he assisted the sheriff in allowing a prisoner “contact visits” (aka conjugal visits) to exchange for money and goods. Salinas did not accept or agree with these two cases, and that they did not agree with each other Salinas’ RICO conspiracy conviction. Established a precedent it suffices that a conspirator adopt the goal of furthering or facilitating the criminal endeavor; defendants do not have to be aware or willing to commit predicate acts; just maintained criminal organization that did crimes;
1997 – Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS)
RISSNET is a network to interconnect many local, state, regional, and tribal law enforcement databases. In 2002, RISSNET was connected to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Online System, and in 2003, the official backbone for all unclassified but sensitive criminal intelligence data traffic. As part of the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan (NCISP), RISSNET is connected to the Automated Trusted Information Exchange (ATIX) database, which contains information on homeland security and terrorist threats. RISSNET came out under an information-sharing initiative championed by the International Associations of Police Chiefs (IACP), the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit membership organization of police executives, with more than 20,
1999 – US v. Frega (9 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
The defendants, including attorney and state court judges, were convicted of misappropriating and sentencing to death in RICO. In 1991, Jim Williams and Patrick Frega, an attorney, disbursed over $ 100,000 in bribes to former California Superior Court Judges Michael Greer, James Malkus, and Dennis Adams, or members of their families. When the California Commission on Judicial Performance was opened, the Frega and the Judges created a coverup by adding or altering the connection between Frega and judges. They were later charged with RICO conspiracy based on the allegation that Frega and accomplices conspired to participate in the affairs of the Superior Court through a pattern of bribery and extortion.
2000 – Jones v. US (Supreme Court)
The defendant tossed a molotov cocktail inside a home and occupies it as a dwelling place for its own and which is not used for commercial purposes. The court ruled that the defendant could not be convicted of federal arson crime because it did not have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. The case was about substantial effect on commerce and rejected a broad arson statute. It also referenced Lopez & the constitutional avoidance doctrine.
2000 – US v. Morrison (Supreme Court)
A freshman student at Virginia Tech was assassinated and raped by Antonio Morrison and James Crawford, members of the school’s football team. School conducted hearings on the survivor’s complaint found that Morrison admitted having sexual contact with her despite the fact that she had twice told him “no”. College proceedings failed to punish the two men, and later a state grand jury did not find sufficient evidence to charge one man with a crime. The survivor then filed suit under the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) of 1994 that gendered motivated violence is the right to sue their attackers in federal court because of gender-motivated crimes are not economic activity. Demonstrated Lopezcould be extended to remove cash flow from commerce clause power, we need not adopt a categorical rule against aggregating the effects of any noneconomic activity in order to decide these cases. An acutely unfortunate outcome for the rape and sexual assault survivor, but a meaningful precedent set in limiting the power of the federal courts to regulate noneconomic activity.
2003 – Scheidler v. NOW (Supreme Court)
The court overturns the 1994 case (see above) and says the application of RICO there was over-broad and could not apply to the noneconomic activity of PLAN, the anti-abortion activists; finds that non-economic violence does not violate RICO. Finalized in appeal in 2006.
2003 – National Gang Center
NGC funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and operated by the Institute for Intergovernmental Research on behalf of the US Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. According to their web site, the NGC uses strategies of “prevention, intervention, suppression, and follow-through”, and “provides technical assistance and training to communities that are multi-strategy approaches to their transition problem”. The center also trains state, federal, and tribal criminal justice.
2004 – US v. Waucaush (6 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Indictment alleged that the Cash Flow Posse in Detroit was a violent street gang that had an unknown frequency at an unknown point in time, and had violated RICO by murdering and conspiring to murder two rival gang members. The government argued that CFP intrastate acts of violence because the murder of rival gang members prevented them from selling drugs, but the court held that fact to be the requisite effect on interstate commerce. The court held that where the enterprise did not engage in economic activity, a minimal effect on commerce will not do. The government has substantial effects on interstate commerce. This case cites Jones v. US (2000) .
2004 – US v. Crenshaw (8 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
After a shooting incident in St. Paul’s Minnesota involving the 60’s Crushing and the Bogus Boys Davis Brantley-Gillum, defendants Keith Crenshaw, Timothy McGruder, and Kamil Johnson were convicted in the death of 4-year-old aid for life without release. The holding referred to Turkettecriteria, finding that the Rolling 60s Crips constituted an association-in-fact enterprise, without discussing the evidence of the enterprise and the pattern of activity may coalesce. CITES § 1959, concerning violent crimes in. (Substantiv,. The crimes involved in the RICO enterprises represent one method for Congress aid of racketeering activity, only requires that the ENTERPRISE be engaged in or affect interstate commerce, not that the murder must do so).
2005 – Gonzalez v. Chr. Raich (US Supreme Court)
The court held that Congress could regulate intrastate economic activity if it were seen as part of a larger regulatory scheme; a broad interpretation of the Clause of the Constitution. California State Law (the Compassionate Use Act, which was authorized by the DEA under the Controlled Substances Act). RICO cases Because the court presupposes / essentializes “street gangs” as the interstate in reach and economic in motivation, RICO indictments for anybody. (Cf. The North Carolina Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation (NC ALKQN),The New Jim Crow .
2005 – National Gang Intelligence Center
The NGIC is established as a multi-agency effort that integrates the transitional intelligence assets of federal, state and local law enforcement entities to serve as a centralized intelligence resource for transitional information and analytical support.
2006 – US v. Olson (7 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Evidence of a single enterprise was not [legally spoiled] by a change in the leadership of the enterprise, a subset of the Milwaukee chapter of the Latin Kings; provides for a local autonomy and allows a regional leader to have a clear understanding of what’s going on in local specific chapters.
The Kail Kings may have splintered for a time that is irrelevant to the continuing overall structure of the Milwaukee Chapter . Olson , 450 F.3d 655, 668 (7th Cir., 2006)
2006 – Operation Down Crown
Tampa, Florida Latin Kings arrested in connection with RICO conspiracy charges, named after a “Operation Down Crown”, coordinated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Tampa Police Department, the State Attorney’s Office, the FBI, ICE, and the ATF. In 2008, Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet throws out RICO charges against 23 defendants in the investigation of the suspected Tampa faction of the Latin Kings. Tampa Kings are not going to meet that they were arrested for attending. Essentially Agosto, the informant, invented the crimes and manufactured the conspiracy. (Cf December 2011 Raid of NC ALKQN).
2007 – US v. Nascimento (1 st Circuit Court of Appeals)
The alleged RICO enterprise consisted of a violent street gang, Stonehurst, that was active in the mid-90s in Boston, and alleged the defendants had committed nearly two dozen murders and assaults with intent to murder members of a rival street gang. The enterprise, as in Waucaush, which is not involved in economic activity. The court said Stonehurst constituted an enterprise where its members had shared goals, a cache of firearms, self-identified as belonging to an organization, pooled and shared resources, Stonehurst was not motivated, but its activities did not result in violence. The court held that the constitutional avoidance doctrine was misapplied inUS v. Waucaush (2004) , and RICO requires only a de minimis effect on interstate commerce in all cases. This case cites Gonzales v. Raich (2005) & US v. Lopez (1995) .
2007 – Magnum v. Archdiocese of Philadelphia (3 rd Circuit Court of Appeals)
Rejected civil RICO claim alleging that the Catholic Church had covered incidents of sexual abuse by priests; no injury to business pursuits; physical or emotional harm to a person is not property under civil RICO, and losses are not property under RICO.
2008 – Boyle v. US (Supreme Court)
Edmund Boyle of New York, convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, bank burglary, bank burglary conspiracy, and attempted bank burglary and sentenced to 151 months imprisonment. He appealed, arguing that the government’s case against him was factually contradictory: in his trial, the robbery was in the act of the Boyle Crew enterprise, but in a previous case had been charged with the robbery was the act of the New Springfield Boys enterprise. The district court said Boyle’s Fifth Amendment due process had not been violated because “nothing dictates that a single crime can not be committed by two enterprises working together, each in the furtherance of its own interest”.
The Supreme Court, on appeal, does not need to show connections between the enterprises beyond what is apparent in the criminal activity itself. Boyle solicited a review of the case, which happened in December 2011. The reason for the successive prosecutions violate the Double Jeopardy Clause where the offenses are the subject of both prosecutions and “are the same in fact and in law”; so, when a defendant is prosecuted twice for RICO violations, there is no double jeopardy problem unless the racketeering enterprise and the pattern of racketeering elements are the same in both prosecutions.
The court, disagreeing with Boyle’s claims to the contrary, found that (1) theenterprise and the pattern of activity proved in the case of the Eastern District Trial (negating his claim of double jeopardy), and that (2) “the scope of the charges charged in the case of the case in the Eastern District.” (negating their claim that the two patterns of racketeering activity were the same). So the court affirmed the previous prosecution, and RICO’s scope remained exceptionally broad.
2009 – Anti-I-69 protests
In Bloomington, IN, there were RICO charges brought against Gina “Tiga” Wertz and Hugh Farrell , and other activists who protested the development of I-69, at Interstate Highway that would decode indigenous ecological systems. The racketeering charges stemmed from alleged participation in office evictions, confrontations, conversion (unauthorized use of someone else’s property), corrupt business influence (racketeering) and threats to law enforcement officials who removed to EarthFirst! roadblock tree-sit platform in the proposed I-69 path.
The “conspiracy” allegedly culminated with “an internet blog on public internet sites to search officers and officials ‘you will suffer the consequences’ and ‘maybe we will go into your homes'”. The prosecutor thus mentioned Farrell “has been observed advocating literature and materials which advocate anarchy, property destruction, and violence”. In early March 2010 the judge dismissed the felony racketeering charge, which left four misdemeanors that carried a maximum sentence of four years. The defendants worked out a plea bargain and got 2 years unsupervised probation. This, in concert with other search “eco-terrorism” enhancement prosecution sets a dangers folks who are white and who label their associations as ‘social-justice’
2010 – US v. Ayala (4 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
In a case arising out of La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), there is no evidence that the double-dealing problem arises with the prosecution of a violation of the VICAR statute (a) (5), and larger racketeering conspiracy charged under RICO, because Congress intended to conspiracy and racketeering conspiracy to be distinct offenses.
2011 – Greensboro, NC ALKQN Raid – US Cornell
A home was raided by a team called the “Safe Streets Task Force,” the Greensboro Police Department (GPD), an FBI agent, and a fully armed and armored FBI elite tactical unit, complete with assault rifles and helmets. The US Attorney’s Office, the Department of Justice, The US Marshall, the DEA, and the ATF were all involved in the raid.
Jorge Cornell (aka King J), the Inca (leader) of the North Carolina Almighty Latin King and Queen (ALKQN) and several other members of the ALKQN were arrested at the home and elsewhere. King J has established himself as a Community Leader in Greensboro, running twice for City Council, brokering a peace treaty among local gangs and street organizations, calling for a Title IV Investigation in the GPD, being an active member of the School Safety Board for the district where his / her daughter attended school, partnering with local clergy and civil rights leaders to foster and environment among empathy and pride among black & brown youth to discourage criminality,
As in all RICO cases, a strong economic correlation is suggested by the facts of the indictment. Cornell from 2008 to 2011 focused on police accountability and reconciliation justice, culminating in a request for the Federal Department of Justice to investigate misconduct within the force. Greensboro City Council meeting that was held soon after. As the gang unit was disbanded, some police personnel lost their jobs, they were created under the commission of the Safe Streets Task Force, and more than $ 60,000 the raid.
Testimony before a Federal Grand Jury, including information provided by informants, led to the raid. The FBI & GPD had been surveying the NC ALKQN and collecting information for a year under the RICO, and have put together a 25-page indictment on the murder, arson, assault, and a laundry list other felonies. About the few years prior to the raid. The GPD Gang Squad has now come to an end in a poorly coordinated attempt to discredit and disband the ALKQN. The other claims are vague and / or unsubstantiated.
In 2013, Cornell was sentenced to 28 years while Russell Kilfoil (King Peaceful), whom the government allegedly acted second-in-command, was sentenced to 15 years. Several others arrested during the raid, Randolph Kilfoil (King Paul) and Irvin Vasquez (King Dice) were both found guilty of racketeering but are both serving out a prior sentence; Wesley Williams (King Bam) took a non-cooperating plea and serving 7 years; Steaphan Acencio-Vasquez (King Leo) so took a non-cooperating pleas and serve time.
Even though some people did not cooperate, the complexity of their policies, and their participation in a racketeer ), still did not lay the crimes at any one’s feet but their own. This is an unfortunate reality within the class society and the industrial justice system.
2012 – US v. Israel Ernesto Palacios (4 th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Palacio (aka Homie) found guilty of RICO in association with La Mara Salvatrucha; conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and other violent crimes. In brief, MS-13 is described as being a transnational gang formed by Salvadoran immigrants in LA in the 1980s that operates via a network of local cliques. These two MS-13 cases represent the deep legitimacy with which federally-funded research is based on street organizations and gangs.
2013 – Cohen v. Trump (US Southern District of California)
Donald Trump of a nationwide scheme to “make tens of millions of dollars by marketing Trump University” without delivering “neither Donald Trump nor a University”. Despite the marketing statements, Trump had virtually no personal involvement in determining the instructors or coursework. In fact, the initial filing states that “instructors were high-pressure salespeople hired as independent contractors and paid on a commission basis”. Trump University was “unaccredited and unlicensed to operate as an institution of higher learning … provided no degrees, no credits, no licenses, nor anything else of marketable value to student-victims”. In fact, almost immediately after its founding, The New York State Education Department (NYSED) wrote to Trump in 2005 warning him to stop using the name “University” without a license. Shortly after Trump’s presidential election, and about a week before scheduled arguments, a $ 25 million settlement was reached in November 2016 with trump avoiding admission of wrongdoing.
2017 – Energy Transfer Partners v. Greenpeace, EarthFirst !, and John and Jane Doe s
Energy Transfer Partners (DTP) the pipeline company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) filed a series of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation
(SLAPP) and RICO charges against Greenpeace, EF !, and multiple protestors claiming that the defendants were engaged in a conspiracy to defend the public and defend the company, and that defendants were engaged in “illegal enterprise” targeting ETP and its DAPL project , The suit thus alleged that “the Enterprise, through Earth First! And Red Warrior Camp, knowingly funded controlled, directed, and incised acts of terrorism in violation of the US Patriot Act “among other acts, including cyber-attacks.
Ultimately, the court dismissed the case in 2019 after a series of procedures
concluding: (1) that enterprise did not exist because of it “would not exist “(Which then impacted the remaining complaints); (2) Greenpeace was not involved in an ongoing organization with other defendants; it did not direct protestors to “perform specific illegal acts or have any control over the protestors”; “Coordinating closely” does not establish a continuing unit; “Donating to people whose cause is support does not create a RICO enterprise”; “RICO enterprise”.
2019 – Sen. Cruz accuses “Antifa” of racketeering
In July 2019, Senator Ted “Zodiac Killer” Cruz of Texas penned to open letter to Attorney General William Barr, Deputy Attorney General Jeffery Rosen, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, calling for the Justice Department and FBI to “open an organized crime investigation into Antifa, a left-wing anarchist terrorist organization that routinely relies on violence to intimidate and punish its political opponents “. Cruz specifically targets Rose City Antifa, alleging violence and property destruction over the previous three years, as well as Willem Van Spronsen (despite not being affiliated with any specific group beyond identifying as an antifascist, a political position) he attacked an ICE center in Tacoma, Washington.
Cruz alleges that that “Antifa” is both an international organization and an enterprise of association-in-fact – but it is questionable . Greenpeace. Cruz alleges racketeering “acts involving robbery or arson” though lacks specific citation, and again argues that “Antifa, especially Rose City Antifa, undertakes these acts in a predictable, continuing pattern … it continues to raise money and recruit members for future violent activities “.
While the FBI or the Department of Justice at this point seeks to have it taken a high level, and downplay of the ultra-violence being disaffected white men (noticeably absent from the letter), an unfortunate symptom of colonial capitalism and white supremacy.
Today I penned a letter to Attorney General William Barr, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, and FBI Director Christopher Wray calling for an investigation into Antifa under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). pic.twitter.com/ptY0syxPrn
– Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) July 23, 2019
Afterword
The aim of this article is to present the RICO’s notes on the history of RICO , youth, and other folks alike. It represents a body of research that came in the wake of the Federal and Local Law enforcement raid of Jorge Cornell, Inca of the North Carolina’s Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN). ALKQN members and others, about the true nature of the gang, have read the raid, and were able to read the he and other in the community “Situation in our city. This zine has been co-operated with members of the Jorge Cornell Legal Defense Team. For more about the ALKQN in NC check out Guilty County, a zine distributed by NegateCity and available online. So seeALKQNSupport.wordpress.com for more information on the case studies and plans for support. Most importantly, cross-reference the facts here with your own knowledge and personal experience, research matters for your self, and reach that are your own. So they can make more balanced and well-informed decisions.
After Afterword
Broken Window Press took the republishing of this important text in the light of the political context of the trump administration, the growing state of surveillance driven by the ubiquity of technological devices seemingly everywhere and in everything, and our view of the need for anarchists, autonomists, and other radicals to continue to understand our history. We encourage anyone currently or contemplating engaging in activities did may or may not have legal implications to review A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant by the Tilted Scales Collective as well as the myriad of security culture / practices / practice (it) (praxi?) resources available, which can be found at ItsGoingDown.org