Discussion Question

Do you think this statute goes too far by allowing the government to charge individuals who are not directly involved in criminal activity? Is the ability to reach those facilitating a criminal activity (and their assets) necessary to the administration of justice?

• Some might argue that RICO is far too broad in its reach. It allows law enforcement extensive reach in charging anyone connected with a criminal enterprise in any way. It also allows for the seizure of assets from anyone implicated in the crime. Most would agree that granting this wide reach is necessary for the efficient administration of justice, others would argue that it infringes upon individual liberties. Some might also argue that it grants the government too much power and invites abuse.

Practice Research

Gloria makes a living by illegally importing cocaine into Florida from Colombia, SA. She does not have any hands on the process. Rather, she hires every part of the activity. Once the drugs arrive, she hires Terry to pack them in the trunk of a car and sends them to a distributor in New York. She hires Robert to drive the vehicle carrying the drugs. On the way, Robert is stopped and arrested by North Carolina police officers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation gets involved and traces the scheme back to Gloria. How can the FBI potentially charge Gloria for her involvement in drug trafficking?

• The FBI can likely charge Gloria with the involvement in an illegal enterprise as prohibited under the provisions of the RICO Act. To convict a defendant under the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the government must prove that the defendant engaged in two or more instances of racketeering activity and that the defendant directly invested in, maintained an interest in, or participated in a criminal enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce. The RICO also provides that it is unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any laws that prohibit racketeering activities under the law. Gloria participated in, financed, and associated with an illegal enterprise with the sole aim of making profits. The fact that Gloria did not personally handle the drugs is not relevant, however, what is important is that she hires/pays for every service provided by the persons who help pack, repackage, and transport and sell the drugs. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/content/rico-act.html

Academic Research

• Engle, Eric Allen, Extraterritorial Human Rights and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) after Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. (May 28, 2012). Book chapter in: Professor Manoj Kumar Sinha (ed.) Business and Human Rights, 2013.. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2069636 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2069636 
• Levin, Benjamin, American Gangsters: RICO, Criminal Syndicates, and Conspiracy Law as Market Control (February 9, 2012). Harvard Civil Rights- Civil Liberties Law Review (CR-CL), Vol. 48, No. 1, p. 105, 2013. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2002404 
• Pierson, Pamela Bucy, RICO Enterprises: The Mob and Fraud (June 27, 2012). Temple Law Review, Vol. 85, 2013 (Forthcoming); U of Alabama Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2179206. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2179206 
• Porter, Wes R., White Collar Crime: RICO (November 30, 2010). WHITE COLLAR CRIME SERIES, Thomson Reuters, H. Lowell Brown, Thomson Reuters, eds., 2011. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1948106 
• Engle, Eric Allen, Extraterritorial Human Rights and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) after Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. (May 28, 2012). Book chapter in: Professor Manoj Kumar Sinha (ed.) Business and Human Rights, 2013.. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2069636 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2069636 
• Levin, Benjamin, American Gangsters: RICO, Criminal Syndicates, and Conspiracy Law as Market Control (February 9, 2012). Harvard Civil Rights- Civil Liberties Law Review (CR-CL), Vol. 48, No. 1, p. 105, 2013. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2002404 
• Gordon, Randy, Crimes that Count Twice: A Reexamination of RICO'S Nexus Requirements Under 18 U.S.C. 1962(C) (2007). 32 Vt. L. Rev. 171 (2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2362388 
• Miller, Jeremy M., Rico and the Bill of Rights: An Essay on a Crumbling Utopian Deal. Commercial Law Journal, Vol. 104, pp. 336, 1999 . Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=926602 
• Blakey, G. Robert, Rico: The Genesis of an Idea. Trends in Organized Crime, Vol. 9, No. 8, 2006; Notre Dame Legal Studies Paper No. 08-18. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1142930 
• Mullenix, Linda S., Complex Litigation: RICO Class Actions (November 2004). Vol. 26 Nat'l L.J. 10 (Nov. 29, 2004); U of Texas Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 438. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2278306
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO): Basic Concepts-Criminal and Civil Remedies, Blakey, G. R., & Gettings, B. (1980). Temp. LQ, 53, 1009. Despite the efficacies of the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), there are still some controversial arguments against it. RICO laws are drafted to cause a decline in criminal organizations or enterprises by prosecuting organized criminals. This paper examines the RICO statute, that is the prosecution and defense of individuals who engage in organized crime. It also investigates how RICO laws are enforced and controversies associated with these laws and their enforcement. It also explores futuristic factors and how these will affect the future of RICO investigations and prosecutions.
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, 18 USC 1961-68: Broadest of the federal criminal statutes, Atkinson, J. (1978). J. Crim. L. & Criminology, 69, 1. This paper highlights the 1970 RICO Act as a very effective arm of Organized crime control Act passed by the congress of the United States. This paper seeks to define how the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization, its statute both at the federal and state levels, what its laws are and how these laws are enforced. Explored in this paper is also the twenty four federal crimes and 8 state crimes that can be tried using the RICO laws. Racketeering activities are exemplified in this paper as well as other substantive crimes or acts that are punishable under RICO. 
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO)-Securities and Commercial Fraud as Racketeering Crime after Sedima: What Is a Pattern of Racketeering , Black, B. (1985). Pace L. Rev., 6, 365. This is a study carried out by Babara Black in 1985 on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization, RICO and its position on what patterns of Racketeering activities are. This study aims to discuss why securities and commercial frauds are classified as racketeering crime under RICO. According to this study, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was enacted to truncate racketeering activities and decrease the infiltration and corruption of business by organized crime. Although, the statute of RICO was initially ignored by civil litigants, these litigants before fully aware of the utility of RICOs civil provisions in 1980. This study aims to define the patterns of racketeering activities.
• Application of Respondeat Superior Principles to Securities Fraud Claims Under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Black, B. (1984). Santa Clara L. Rev., 24, 825. This paper examines the application of RICO laws to security fraud claims under the RICO act.It studies the applications of RICO laws and how its statutory language give room for applications beyond the primary purpose of the RICO act. The application is seen to have extended to ordinary commercial and business fraud claims. Instances are situations where claimants give allegations of securities frauds because the provision of RICO allows that any plaintiff who establishes damages resulting from a racketeering violation can recover treble damages. There is however a tendency that some plaintiffs give allegations to get settlement values for their claims.
• Application of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to Securities Violations, Pray, J. L. (1982). J. Corp. L., 8, 411. This paper examines how the laws of RICO are applied to security violations. According to the act, any individual that fraudulently buys or sells securities or engage in security fraud is exposed to criminal penalties and sanctions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Act. Securities frauds are also regarded as stock or investment frauds, these are tricky ways of coercing investors to buy or sell based on falsified information. This paper studies and explains how securities violations and offenses became predicate RICO offenses. 
• Civil RICO: How ambiguity allowed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to expand beyond its intended purpose, Coppola, L., & DeMarco, N. (2012). New Eng. J. on Crim. & Civ. Confinement, 38, 241. Upon the enactment of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Act in 1970, there are certain provisions and statutes of the Act. However, due to some controversies on the provisions of the RICO laws, RICO has been seen to be applied to many offenses different from its primary purpose. This paper examines how ambiguity and inexactness has made RICO to expand beyond its intended purpose. This paper highlights how RICO is evolving into something which is quite different from its original conception. It also examines the factors responsible for RICO drifting away from its original purpose.
• Georgia Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act, Garland, E., & Samuel, D. (1983). Ga. St. BJ, 20, 34. This paper presents a study on the Georgia Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations. It examines Georgia as one of the states that developed state RICO laws from the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Georgias RICO was passed in 1980 by the general assembly and prosecutors in the state use the RICO laws in diverse criminal cases. This article gives a description of Georgias RICO and its significant features as different from the federal RICO Act. This article also examines specific issues related to the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and how these issues can also affect Georgia RICO.
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act: Powerful New Tool of the Defrauded Securities Plaintiff, MacIntosh, J. G. (1982). U. Kan. L. Rev., 31, 7. Plaintiffs of securities crime and frauds have been seen in recent times to be leveraging on the provisions of RICO Act to prosecute offenders and also recover treble damages. Furthermore, RICO has been attending to certain cases that were not included in its structure upon enactment. This paper however examine powerful new tools that can be used by defrauded securities plaintiffs. This paper explores RICO and securities frauds, securities violations, treble damages and claims of securities plaintiffs. It presents effective new tools of the defrauded securities plaintiff.
• RICO Reform: Weeding Out Garden Variety Disputes under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Nonna, J. M., & Corrado, M. P. (1989). John's L. Rev., 64, 825. The discussions of this paper premise on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act reform following the criticisms against RICO in recent years. Although, there have been many attempts to reform RICO in recent years, these attempts have not been successful due to certain factors. This article however discusses weeding out garden-variety disputes under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. The paper finds out that using the garden variety as a weapon to curtail the statute of RICO would yield positive results. This paper examines this weeding out garden-variety disputes as an effective strategy to RICO reform.
• Vicarious Civil Liability Under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Dwyer Jr, T. E., & Kiely, S. (1984). Cal. WL Rev., 21, 324. In a RICO scheme, a corporate employer cannot be liable for vicarious civil liability unless he is proven otherwise by the prosecutor. This paper examines one of the controversies that emanated from the provision of the RICO Act. This controversy of whether the RICO act contemplates vicarious civil liability. Civil liability in an ordinary sense is based on the liability or fault of another, this article therefore examines the statute of RICO as regards respondent superior liability for a corporate employer whose agent has violated law or involved in RICO predicate offenses.