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You are the paralegal in the organized crime practice in a large law firm. In the face of a looming budget deficit and likely cutbacks ahead, your lead attorney has asked you to write a memorandum justifying the future existence of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) criminal defense practice. You should demonstrate your understanding of organized crime and present a detailed argument to support maintaining a criminal defense practice. Be sure to explain and discuss the RICO Act, including the nature of what this act covers, what types of incidences are involved in organized crime, and what prosecutions have happened under the RICO Act
Memorandum
TO: Lead Attorney
FROM: Legal Assistant
RE: Future of the RICO Defence and the need to maintain criminal defence practice
DATE: November 03, 2016
Whether maintaining RICO criminal defence practice is viable at this point in time?
The RICO Act was enacted to destroy the mafia influence over business and eliminate the “racketeering activity” caused due to the violation of federal laws. Criminal offences which qualify under racketeering activities include 35 listed actions specified under the US Code such as activities involving bribery, theft, embezzlement, misappropriation, illegal immigration, committing acts of terrorism etc. (Jeffrey E. Grell, 2003) While this is the highly specialized field in legal practice, the stakes can be high as well. Defending the criminal charges is based on the prosecution memorandum under s 1959 of the Act (Offices of the United States Attormey), summarising that the defendants have committed incidents in furtherance to the enterprise that they are involved in.
In order to prosecute, the investigators are required to establish existence of criminal organization, and the practice of two or more RICO crimes. In practice, RICO is applied to individuals, businesses, political protest groups and terrorist organization. RICO claims against businesses can prove to be extremely costly as the penalty is three times the amount lost besides having implications of punitive damages (Federal Charges, 2016) as well.
In the light of the fact that RICO law practice is already a speciality for a firm like ours, is likely to remain an active area of practice. RICO act places the highest burden of proof on the defendant, whereby engaging a competent lawyer is inevitable. It will be highly beneficial in cases where the companies are willing to shell out big money to defend against RICO claims.
In the light of the above discussion, it would be beneficial for the firm like outs to retain this section of practice as the future prospects of the defence division is good.
Federal Charges. (2016). RICO Conspiracy + Laws & Charges. Retrieved November 03, 2016, from Federalcharges.com: https://www.federalcharges.com/understanding-rico-conspiracy-charges/
Jeffrey E. Grell, P. J. (2003). RICO: Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act. Minnesota: Minnesota Institute of Legal Education.
Offices of the United States Attormey. (n.d.). 9-110.000 - Organized Crime And Racketeering. Retrieved November 3, 2016, from United States Department of Justice: https://www.justice.gov/usam/united-states-attorneys-manual