DAVID BETRAS: Trump faces RICO charges in Georgia. Here’s what we know about them
As most, if not all the astute readers of Mahoning Matters know, Donald Trump has been criminally indicted four times in the past four months.
What is the RICO Act?
The most recent, handed down by a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury on Aug. 15, charges the former president and 18 other individuals with 161 violations of the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and 40 crimes, including making false statements, forgery, impersonating a public officer and perjury.
Enacted in 1970, the federal RICO statute was aimed directly at the heart of organized crime.
Before its passage, prosecutors were forced to try perpetrators individually for mob-related offenses.
That made it easy for bosses to insulate themselves from prosecution for crimes they ordered their subordinates to commit.
How ‘Godfather II’ referenced the RICO Act
The scene in “Godfather II” in which a Corleone Family “soldier” is questioned by Senate investigators spells out how the system worked:
Senate Counsel: You kill people at the behest of your superiors.
Willie Cicci: Yeah, that’s right, counselor.
Senator: Did you ever get such an order directly from Michael Corleone?
Cicci: No, I never talked to him.
Senator Geary: Was there always a buffer involved? Someone in between you and your superiors who passed on to you the actual order to kill someone.
Cicci: Yeah, right, a buffer. The family had a lot of buffers.
RICO blew up the buffers.
How someone can get charged with racketeering under the RICO Act
Under the law, anyone who has committed two or more “predicate acts” within ten years and is part of an “enterprise,” defined as any group of individuals who associate with each other for a common purpose, can be charged with racketeering.
The RICO statute lists 35 predicate acts, including gambling, murder, kidnapping, extortion, arson, robbery, bribery, counterfeiting, theft, embezzlement, wire and mail fraud, and slavery. An enterprise can be anything from a violent street gang to a Fortune 500 company.
In addition to enabling prosecutors to indict anyone involved in an enterprise, RICO convictions carry stiff penalties.
Those found guilty may be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for each count and must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.”
In addition, those accused may also be convicted of the underlying predicate acts.
That combination broke down the wall of silence that had enabled organized crime as bosses and soldiers facing lengthy prison sentences and heavy fines began to “roll over” and testify against their former associates.
The RICO Act can be used in more than criminal courts
RICO is not limited to use in the criminal courts. A private individual who believes their a racketeer has damaged business or property may file a civil suit and seek treble damages.
How serious a threat is the Georgia indictment to the former president and his associates?
Both Brian Kopp, leader of BKM’s Complex Litigation Practice Group, and I have represented numerous clients in RICO matters and we believe the defendants are in real jeopardy.
For example, in one criminal case, my client was convicted of four racketeering counts and sentenced to jail even though he did not know the offenses had been committed.
He was found guilty because the government proved he was part of the “enterprise.”
That means someone like Trump attorney Jenna Ellis can still be held accountable for illegally accessing voting machines in the state, stealing voter data, and dozens of other allegations made in the indictment.
Brian, who has done extensive work at the appellate level and made case law at the Sixth District Court of Appeals by convincing a three-judge panel that his client had not committed a predicate act with which he was charged, believes the sheer number of RICO violations lodged against the defendants creates a severe challenge to their lawyers.
Why Rudolph Giuliani being indicted under RICO is ironic
Finally, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the irony associated with Rudolph Giuliani being indicted under RICO.
The former mayor first rose to prominence in 1985 when, as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he charged 11 organized crime figures with RICO violations.
Time magazine called the prosecution the “Case of Cases” and said it was “the most significant assault on the infrastructure of organized crime since the high command of the Chicago Mafia was swept away in 1943” and quoted Giuliani’s stated intention “Our approach is to wipe out the five families.”
He succeeded then and stands indicted now.
That is just one of the fascinating aspects of what will undoubtedly be the most watched and perhaps the most consequential criminal trials in American history.
David J. Betras can be reached at 330-746-8484 or dbetras@bkmlaws.com. Read more David Betras columns here.
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