Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

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The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ( RICO or RICO Act for short ) is a federal law of the United States of America enacted on October 15, 1970 .

The federal law "18 USC §§ 1961-1968" was originally directed against racketeering by the American mafia and against criminal activities within the unions, especially the Teamsters' transport union . It is a legal basis for combating and conviction of criminal activities Mobstern and criminal groups of organized crime .

The possibilities of criminalizing drug trafficking had already been expanded on July 1, 1957 by the " Narcotic Control Act " and declared a federal offense . The RICO Act also enables federal prosecutors to prosecute individuals for belonging to a criminal organization, even if they only ordered crimes but did not commit crimes themselves, or if they committed only two of a total of 35 specified crimes within ten years.

In deviation from German law, the law provides for the possibility of prosecuting criminal offenses not only under criminal law, but also under civil law and making claims for damages for injured third parties.

Proceedings and convictions (selection)

In 1979, the law against Ralph "Sonny" Barger was used, in particular to prevent the drug and arms trafficking of the Hells Angels faction in Oakland . However, there was an acquittal at the time.

Frank Tieri was the first Cosa Nostra boss on November 21, 1980 to be charged under the RICO Act and sentenced to ten years in prison on January 23, 1981.

In 1987, Anthony Salerno , another boss of the Genovese family , was summoned to a " Mafia Commission Trial " which could be called up on the basis of the RICO Act. There the corruption between the Mafia and the union was dealt with and Salerno was sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison. In addition, in September 1987, Rudolph Giuliani obtained a conviction for most of the members of the Irish Westies who were associates of the Gambino family . Only the leader James “Jimmy” Coonan received a prison sentence of 60 years.

In 1989, American financier and investment banker Michael Milken , a symbol of greed on Wall Street during the 1980s, was charged with financial fraud, pleaded guilty on five counts and was sentenced to 10 years in prison but after 22 months in prison Released January 1993.

From 1999 to 2007 the RICO Act served as the basis for a US government lawsuit against the US tobacco industry . The current status of the process is documented on tobacco-on-trial (English) or by Philip Morris USA (English) and as a summary (German).

Between February 14 and May 15, 2000, James Marcello and Anthony Zizzo had to face a lawsuit. The charges were conspiracy, illegal gambling and murder. Marcello was sentenced to 12 years , Zizzo to 10 years. Marcello was released from prison in November 2003, however, and apparently resumed his work for the Chicago Outfit , as whose current boss he is to be regarded according to the FBI .

In March 2006, Barry Mills , leader of the Aryan Brotherhood , was charged on the RICO basis and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 2007, despite concerns , a class action lawsuit against Microsoft and the retail company Best Buy was admitted on appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco on the basis of the RICO Act. In April 2000, the lawsuit brought against James Odom, who accused the two companies of fraud because they exchanged customer information when making purchases using credit cards and the customer was not informed. After investing US $ 200 million in Best Buy, Microsoft had committed to promoting this company, and in return the retailer was supposed to advertise Microsoft's products.

In January 2008, Star Energy brought a lawsuit against RSM Top Audit ( Moscow ), RSM International ( London ), individual accounting firm representatives and other individuals, on the basis of the RICO Act . "Star assumes a pattern of criminal activity that targets the financial markets of the United States." According to RSM, one of the seven largest international accounting organizations in the world, is supposed to falsify audits of Russian companies so that they can raise capital in the capital markets of the United States of America. The procedure has not yet been decided.

On July 19, 2010, it was reported that attorneys for victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the United States had filed at least three lawsuits against BP under the RICO Act. The US Department of Justice is currently examining whether the RICO Act will apply in this case.

In the course of the investigation into corruption allegations in 2015, it became known that the US law enforcement authorities regard the international football association FIFA as a corrupt organization within the meaning of the RICO Act.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 18 USCode Chapter 96.
  2. ^ Organized Crime Research . Klaus von Lampe. 2000 . Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  3. ↑ http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com/
  4. ^ Department of Justice (DOJ) Tobacco Lawsuit ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Selected lawsuits against the cigarette industry ( Memento of August 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ United States of America, Respondent-appellee, v. James Marcello and Anthony Zizzo, Petitioners-Appellant on cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals (English)
  7. ↑ abclocal.go.com: Jimmy "The Man" Marcello is out of prison (English)
  8. ↑ New York Times, September 16, 2006: Life Sentences for 2 Aryan Brotherhood Men (English)
  9. ↑ Microsoft and Best Buy: A "criminal organization"? on www.golem.de
  10. ↑ "Star Energy files RICO lawsuit against RSM" on www.finanzen.net from January 17, 2008
  11. ^ Gulf disaster: Oil victims sue BP under anti-mafia law , Spiegel Online, July 19, 2010
  12. ↑ RP Online : All FIFA news in the ticker

literature

  • Jan Christoph Witte: The US RICO Act and German companies . Law and Economy GmbH (June 1999). ISBN 978-3800511969

Web links