EFFECTS OF RICO LAW IN 2014

Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was enacted in the 1970s in order to prosecute Mob crimes but it is resurfacing with notoriety recently in San Diego. As you have seen recently in San Diego and National Media, the U.S. Attorney's Office is using this Federal Law to execute warrants and indict local "gangs".

The RICO charge allows the U.S. Attorney's Office to indict the individuals together for even separate crimes in the same trial. The basis of a RICO violation are crimes that are alleged to have been committed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO allows for defendants to be prosecuted for ordering another to commit a crime or assist in even if they did not actually commit the crime. RICO violations carry a much harsher penalty than the maximum sentence of the actual crime charged. The law treats others that have acted in-group or concert as a much bigger threat to society than those that act alone.

Just recently over 17 search warrants were executed in San Diego and over 24 defendants have been indicted in federal court, some defendants facing life sentences because of the RICO charge.

In the January 13, 2014 San Diego Union Tribune U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy characterized local gangs or friends as "crime families working together for the sole purpose of money making". However Defense Attorney Brian Watkins responded in defense of his client who was a named defendant that was indicted by saying, "It is over-reaching….When there is this type of exposure it prevents people from fighting the case." Following the arraignment Watkins added that the RICO law was being misused by calling "high school friends or cliques 'gangs'".