Miami RICO and Racketeering Attorney

RICO is a set of federal laws specifically designed to punish criminal activity by business enterprises. Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, as a way to target organized crime. Over the years Congress has enacted several statutes authorizing increased punishment for typical organized crimes such as gambling, loan sharking, transportation of stolen goods, and extortion.

The specific goal of RICO is to punish the use of an enterprise to engage in certain criminal activity. A person who uses an enterprise to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity may be convicted under the RICO criminal statute (18 U.S.C.A. § 1963). An enterprise is defined as “any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity.” A pattern is defined as “at least two acts of racketeering activity, one of which occurred after the effective date of [RICO’s passage] and the last of which occurred within ten years … after commission of a prior act of racketeering activity.” Racketeering activity includes a number of discrete criminal offenses, such as gambling, bribery, extortion, bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, securities fraud, prostitution, narcotics trafficking, loan sharking, and murder.

RICO has proved to be a powerful tool in the federal government’s fight against organized crime. Many states also have enacted RICO-style statutes designed to apprehend organized crime that somehow escapes the provisions of RICO. Although for years, RICO was thought to be a charge for “the mob”, Prosecutors are using RICO against a variety of criminals and obtaining lengthy sentences for them. According to many critics, RICO has been expanded beyond its original purpose of eradicating traditional organized crime groups to convict petty, nonviolent criminals and sentence them to unduly long prison terms.

Sabrina Puglisi is a board certified criminal trial attorney who is committed to fighting for you if you find yourself in the position of being charged with a RICO prosecution. To contact Miami Attorney Puglisi, call (305) 403-8063.