From the Mafia to Milking Cows: State RICO Act Expansion
![handle is hein.journals/arz41 and id is 1147 raw text is: FROM THE MAFIA TO MILKING COWS:
STATE RICO ACT EXPANSION
A. Laxmidas Sawkar
I. INTRODUCTION
When the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
was drafted as part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, Congress
described its purpose as an attack on a highly sophisticated, diversified, and
widespread activity that annually drains billions of dollars from America's
economy by unlawful conduct....' RICO was enacted as part of an effort to deal
with organized crime, and it included enhanced criminal penalties2 and civil
sanctions3 for those who acquire or operate an enterprise through a pattern of
racketeering activity. Prior to its enactment, the Department of Justice and its many
regional United States Attorneys had no legislation to pursue complex .criminal
organizations. Instead, federal prosecutors were limited to individual prosecutions
with little or no impact on the strength of the criminal enterprise.4
1. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, Pub. L. No.
91-452, 84 Stat. 922 (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968 (1994 & Supp. III
1997)).
2. 18 U.S.C. § 1963 (1994). Among RICO's enhanced criminal penalties are a
fine of up to $25,000, imprisonment of up to twenty years, or both, and forfeiture of any
interest acquired or maintained in violation of the act. See id.
3. 18 U.S.C. § 1964 (1994 & Supp. 111 1997). Among RICO's civil penalties
are divestment, imposition of restrictions, orders of dissolution or reorganization, treble
damages, and reasonable attorney's fees. See, e.g., United States'v. Bonanno Organized
Crime Family, 683 F. Supp. 1411, 1445 (E.D.N.Y. 1988)
The point was repeatedly made [during Congressional hearings on
RICO] that conviction and imprisonment of the perpetrators of
organized crime were not sufficient to deter or curtail organized criminal
activities since the incarcerated individuals were merely replaced with
other members of the criminal enterprise while the economic base of the
enterprise remain untouched.
Id.
4. See UNrrED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, EFFECTIVENEss OF THE
GovERNMENT's ATrACK ON LA COSA NOSTRA 14 (1988). (Prior to the passage of [RICO],
attacking an organized criminal group was an awkward affair. RICO facilitated the
prosecution of a criminal group involved in superficially unrelated criminal ventures and](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/arz41&div=36&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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From the Mafia to Milking Cows: State RICO Act Expansion
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