RICO Redux

It'd be a foolish exercise to keep repeat-reporting polling stories--although there is encouraging news out there. So, on a day when there's not much else, but on which I did link to Maria Bartiromo's promise of Russia Hoax prosecutions after the election, let's briefly return to RICO.

I'm not going to try to provide information here. I'm just offering the views of professionals. You'll need to read between the lines a bit, but the line at the bottom is simply this: RICO was dreamed up with a very specific problem in mind--Mafia type organized crime. While it does have theoretical applicability beyond that, as a practical prosecutive matter by far the better case theory to go with--if at all possible--is a much more traditional conspiracy approach. It depends on circumstances, but that's always going to be the general rule, and it's basically DoJ policy as well. Conspiracy cases are far more straightforward, and any juror can understand a conspiracy.

This, in my view, is absolutely beyond question as regards the Russia Hoax. Regarding the Biden Inc. case, we're hampered because we simply don't know the full scope of it--recall, Biden Inc. appears to have been incorporated into an already existing money laundering investigation, according to Rudy Giuliani. And that money laundering investigation would include other criminal violations that are hidden from our view at this time. Nevertheless, I'd be very surprised if any effort to do a RICO would be made.

Fitting in with that, there was a revealing lawyerly exchange on Twitter today regarding the general utility of RICO. Read it and see how actual prosecutors view RICO:

PlausibleDeniabilityBrennan’sOrangeJumpsuit

@15poundstogo

Replying to 

@HansMahncke

My experience as an attorney: It's very easy to spell "RICO."  If only I had a dollar for every time someone suggested that RICO was the cure for all ills.  It's not.

12:01 PM · Oct 29, 2020·

shipwreckedcrew

@shipwreckedcrew

LOL.  It is a never-ending source of amusement. 

RICO is a screwed up statute that is hard to make jurors understand and hard to prove.  There are specific -- and very limited -- fact patterns it fits into.  Otherwise it is best avoided.

 

Imitations Precede the Original

@TravisB82671361

Replying to 

@shipwreckedcrew

I'm not an atty but I can spell overt act and Clinesmith.

1:36 PM · Oct 29, 2020·

shipwreckedcrew

@shipwreckedcrew

That gets you a "conspiracy" charge, not a RICO charge.  VICAR -- "Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering" -- is a much more useful statute that I used many times rather than go down the RICO road.  When I was first starting out and  suggested RICO approach to a case my supervisor said -- "Give yourself a couple years before you ever consider that again. My prediction is you'll come to the realization almost everyone does, 'Why would I ever want to put myself through that?'"

He was right.

1:47 PM · Oct 29, 2020·

I'm looking forward to a big picture conspiracy case.