Saturday, October 12, 2019

RICO - Does it apply to corrupt Medford City Government?



 

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Long titleAn Act relating to the control of organized crime in the United States
Acronyms (colloquial)
  • OCCA
  • RICO
NicknamesOrganized Crime Control Act of 1970
Enacted bythe 91st United States Congress
EffectiveOctober 15, 1970
Citations
Public law91-452
Statutes at Large84 Stat. 922-3 aka 84 Stat. 941
Codification
Titles amended18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure
U.S.C. sections created18 U.S.C. §§ 19611968
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Senate as S. 30 by John L. McClellan (DAR)
  • Passed the Senate on January 23, 1970 (74-1)
  • Passed the House on October 7, 1970 (341-26)
  • Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on October 15, 1970
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering and allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes they ordered others to do or assisted them in doing, closing a perceived loophole that allowed a person who instructed someone else to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because they did not actually commit the crime personally.[1]

If a debate is fixed would that be election tampering and conspiracy?

  

The Hobbs Act

Extortion by fear

The Hobbs Act covers extortionate threats of physical, economic and informational harm (i.e. blackmail). To be "wrongful," a threat of physical violence must instill some degree of duress in the target of the extortion.[2] Furthermore, it is unlikely an economic threat is "wrongful" for Hobbs Act purposes unless a defendant purports to have the power to harm another person economically and that person believes the defendant will use that power to deprive him of something to which he is legally entitled.[3] Finally, in the context of blackmail, a Hobbs Act prosecution is probably proper if there is no nexus between the information the defendant threatens to expose and the defendant's claim against the property of the target.[4]
__________________________________________________________

 

Gil Dozier

Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Gil Dozier, in office from 1976 to 1980, faced indictment with violations of both the Hobbs and the RICO laws. He was accused of compelling companies doing business with his department to make campaign contributions on his behalf. On September 23, 1980, the Baton Rouge-based United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana convicted Dozier of five counts of extortion and racketeering. The sentence of ten years imprisonment, later upgraded to eighteen when other offenses were determined, and a $25,000 fine was suspended pending appeal, and Dozier remained free on bail.[15] He eventually served nearly four years until a presidential commutation freed him in 1986.[16]
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.

LAWSUIT CITES PLOT TO WRECK EXPOS


SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL


Also named in the suit, filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), are Loria's stepson, Marlins President David Samson, and Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and President Robert A. DuPuy.

Jim Quinn, a lawyer with New York firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, representing the partners, said fraud occurred in Loria's initial acquisition of the Expos, in the team swapping and in baseball's plans to contract the Expos. The suit points to Loria issuing a series of cash calls -- a mechanism used to cover losses by calling on all the stakeholders to ante up -- which went unanswered by the partners. That effort led to diluting the partners' stake in the Expos, which fell from 76 percent to about 6 percent under Loria's ownership. The group says Loria and baseball lied about their intentions.
 https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2002-07-17-0207170093-story.html