Word: rico
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...increasingly prized aspect of RICO is its special forfeiture procedure, a relative rarity in American law. These provisions allow authorities to confiscate the semilegitimate business fronts, the corrupt construction companies and the phony finance operations through which much Mob wealth is funneled. In the past, even when an underworld chief was imprisoned, the illicit operations remained intact. With RICO, prosecutors can go after the crime empires themselves. In the Angiulo case, for example, the feds are pursuing $4 million in Mob assets, including two apartment buildings, a restaurant and some prime real estate near the Boston Garden...
Recognizing the breadth of organized crime activity, drafters of RICO in 1970 sought to create matching law-enforcement breadth by focusing on patterns rather than instances of criminal behavior. Thus the law applies to those involved in an interstate "enterprise" that engages more than once in ten years in criminal activities ranging from mail, wire and stock fraud to extortion and murder. While many smiled over the acronym's reference to Rico, the archetypal gangster played by Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar, federal prosecutors were slow to use the new legislation. But "since 1980 it's been used aggressively...
...states have their own little RICOs. Meanwhile, prosecutors have begun to take advantage of the elasticity of the federal statute to pursue politicians and other government figures who do not fit the typical gangster mold. Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, whose first trial ended in a hung jury, is back in federal court again facing RICO charges involving an influence-peddling scheme. Two weeks ago, federal prosecutors obtained...
...RICO indictments against two former New York City officials, Michael Lazar and Lester Shafran, in a growing municipal government scandal. Lazar, the onetime city transportation administrator, and Shafran, formerly director of the scandal-ridden parking violations bureau, were accused of bribery and, said prosecutors, operated the bureau "as a racketeering enterprise...
Despite its now well-established popularity with federal prosecutors, however, RICO has its problematic side too. The statute's civil portion allows companies and individuals to bring RICO lawsuits, and because it defines racketeering so broadly, all kinds of legitimate businesses and businessmen are using the law to bash each other around in court. IBM, for example, used the law to sue Hitachi for theft of confidential technology, and reportedly pocketed a settlement of $300 million. New York Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner aimed RICO against investment partners whom he charged with selling him their interests in a joint venture without...