![]() The enterprise just has to be a discrete entity." But it may also be a corporation, a political party, or a managed care company. The Justia site puts it thusly: The group charged under a criminal RICO violation "might be a crime family, a street gang or a drug cartel. ![]() But they have been utilized by prosecutors all over the country for much more than that." As Suskauer says: "RICO laws were initially put together to prosecute organized crime. Despite RICO's mob-related roots, it is no longer simply about going after gangsters. So, RICO charges aren't limited to those in the mob? And as Suskauer notes, the state laws can be much broader, meaning a greater variety of underlying crimes can be considered part of a RICO violation. States, including Georgia, now have their own RICO laws. ![]() RICO doesn't just exist at the federal level. A racket, in other words.īut Trump and others weren't charged with a federal RICO violation, so what's going on? And, yes, it was very much created as a tool to combat organized crime - or as the Justia website says, it's "the 'ultimate hit man' in mob prosecutions." The key idea behind RICO is that it's about charging an individual or individuals in operating a criminal enterprise - meaning more than one underlying crime (or "predicate act" in legal terms) is being committed, and the crimes are tied together into something much larger. Originally, the RICO law was established at the federal level in 1970. When did RICO go into effect? And why was it created in the first place? Here are some of the key things we learned. To help us better understand what a RICO charge means and how it applies to this particular case, we read up on all things RICO and spoke with Michelle Suskauer, a veteran Florida-based criminal-defense attorney with Dimond, Kaplan & Rothstein and former president of the Florida Bar. And it's the one that has arguably been generating the most buzz, especially because of its association with the world of gangsters. It's the first count in the 41-count indictment tied to the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. We're referring, of course, to Trump et al being accused of violating the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. But how and why did Georgia prosecutors charge him and his associates with committing a crime very much connected with, well, organized crime? 6 things to know about RICO violations, which are usually associated with mobsters, but can apply much more broadly, legal experts say.ĭonald Trump may not be a mob boss.
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