RICO charges are no longer limited to just mafia members. While the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) originally targeted organized crime, state and federal crime-fighting laws are now used to prosecute everything from financial fraud to public corruption.
The Georgia (RICO) Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act is similar to other RICO statutes in that it allows for the prosecution of a number of individual crimes as part of a larger conspiracy. Former President Donald Trump and 18 others have been accused of conspiring to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The defendants face a number of different charges, which RICO links together.
History of the federal law against racketeering
The RICO Act was enacted in 1970 to combat organized crime. The law allows prosecutors to bring down an entire organization, not just individual members. Charges can be brought against anyone involved in a corrupt organization. This allows law enforcement to target their leaders, not just the “subordinates” who commit the crimes.
Ironically, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is indicted alongside Trump, brought some of the most famous federal RICO indictments in history. As federal prosecutor, Giuliani used the law to overthrow the heads of the so-called “Five Families” in New York in the 1980s.
file RICO charges
To be found guilty of violating RICO federal law, prosecutors must establish beyond reasonable doubt: (1) that a corporation existed; (2) that the company affected interstate commerce; (3) that the Defendant was affiliated with or employed by the Company; (4) that the defendant engaged in a variety of extortion activities; and (5) that the Defendant, by committing at least two acts of extortion, guided the Company through or participated in this pattern of extortion activity.
The RICO Statute broadly defines all of the above terms. A “company” includes, for example, any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity, as well as any association or group of persons actually connected but not a legal entity. Likewise, “extortion activity” includes state crimes such as murder, robbery, extortion, and several other felonies punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, as well as more than a hundred serious federal crimes, including racketeering, interstate theft, drug offenses, mail fraud, securities fraud, Currency reporting violations, certain immigration offenses and terrorism-related offenses.
According to RICO, the illegal acts that make up a pattern are called “predicate offenses.” Predicate offenses must be related in that they “have the same or similar objectives, results, the same or similar participants, victims, or methods of commission, or are otherwise linked by dissimilar characteristics, and are not isolated events.” Prosecutors must also demonstrate that they amount to continued criminal activity or pose a threat.
In particular, prosecutors are not required to show that the defendant concurred with every other conspirator, knew all of the other conspirators, or was fully aware of all the details of the conspiracy. Rather, they need only show that the defendant consented to committing the material extortion offense by agreeing to participate in two acts of extortion; that he knew the general state of the conspiracy; and that he knew the conspiracy went beyond his individual role.
Georgia’s RICO Statute
The Georgia (RICO) Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (Ga. Code § 16-14-4) is based on RICO federal law. However, there are some notable differences. While federal law requires proof of continuity, Georgia’s RICO statute can be used to prosecute individuals and organizations that have only recently been active, with at least two acts of extortion within a four-year period to further one or more activities Projects with the same or similar intentions are required.
Georgian law also contains more than 40 “acts of merit” that can be used to show a pattern of extortion activities. Criminal acts supporting the charges against Trump and his co-defendants, according to the latest indictments, include making false statements, filing false documents and forgery, impersonating officials’ names, computer breaches and attempts to influence witnesses.
RICO laws can be an incredibly powerful legal tool for prosecutors, but cases are extremely complex and obtaining convictions can be difficult. If prosecutors are successful, a criminal conviction could carry a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine of $25,000, or three times the monetary gain.
