Word: rico
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...scary part is that RICO, as it's used now, is undermining virtually every treasured right in our judicial system...
Take the notion of being innocent until you're proven guilty. When grandstanding U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani went after partners in the Princeton/Newport investment firm on charges of securities fraud, he used RICO to freeze all the assets of the company. Soon after, they were out of business. All this before the defendants had had their day in court...
...take the generally accepted right to hire your own attorney. Sorry, we froze all your bank accounts. You'll have to make do with a public defender. Remember, this is RICO. The rules are different here...
...those courtroom abuses are just the beginning. Where RICO really takes its toll is on free speech and the First Amendment...
JUSTICE Department regulations now prohibit "creative" uses of RICO by the federal government, but this restriction doesn't apply to private organizations. In Philadelphia, an abortion clinic sued protesters who picketed their clinic weekly for nine years. The case was complicated by the fact that the defendants broke in a couple of times and damaged the clinic's equipment. The $108,000 award to the clinic was essentially a death sentence for the defendants' group...