Federal RICO Charges

How The Government Turns You Into A Mob Boss For Crimes You Didnt Personally Commit

RICO makes you responsible for crimes you didn’t personally commit. That’s the entire point of the statute. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was written in 1970 to catch mob bosses who kept their hands clean while ordering others to do the dirty work. John Gotti didn’t pull triggers personally – he gave orders. The law needed a way to hold him responsible for murders committed by people who worked for him. RICO was the solution. But RICO sweeps far wider than the mob. Under RICO conspiracy, you don’t have to personally commit any crimes. You just have to agree to participate in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. Two acts of wire fraud by someone else in your organization can make you liable as a racketeer. The word itself – “racketeer” – changes everything. You’re not someone who made bad decisions. You’re a criminal enterprise operator. A mob boss. That’s how the jury sees you.

Here’s what makes RICO devastating: they take everything before they convict you. RICO’s pre-trial forfeiture provisions allow the government to freeze all your assets the moment you’re indicted. Your house. Your car. Your bank accounts. Your business equipment. Everything connected to the alleged enterprise can be seized before trial starts. You can’t use your own money to pay your defense attorney because those funds might be forfeitable. Michael Milken – the “junk bond king” – pleaded guilty to lesser charges partly because fighting RICO would have meant fighting without access to his wealth. The threat of asset forfeiture alone forces pleas. You either surrender or you fight with nothing.

The conviction rate tells the story. Federal RICO prosecutions succeed 97.5% of the time. Out of every 100 people charged, only 2 or 3 walk free. That’s not because RICO defendants are all guilty – it’s because prosecutors only bring RICO when they’ve already built an overwhelming case. They’ve spent years investigating. They’ve flipped co-defendants. They’ve seized documents. They’ve built a narrative of criminal enterprise that a jury will find compelling. By the time you’re indicted, the verdict has effectively already been reached. You’re not fighting charges. You’re fighting an outcome that was determined before your trial began.

How Two Crimes Makes You A Criminal Enterprise

Heres the thing about RICO that transforms ordinary criminal charges into something terrifying. The statute requires proof of a “pattern of racketeering activity.” Pattern sounds like it should mean something extensive – a long history of crime, a systematic operation. It dosent. Under RICO, a pattern requires just two acts of racketeering activity within a 10-year period. Two acts. Thats all it takes to transform you from someone who committed crimes into someone who ran a criminal enterprise.

Think about what this means practicaly. Wire fraud is a predicate offense – one of 35 crimes that can form the basis of RICO charges. Mail fraud is another. Two instances of wire fraud committed within 10 years establishes the pattern. Two fraudulent emails. Two deceptive wire transfers. Suddenly your facing racketeering charges that carry 20 years per count, asset forfeiture, and the label of organized crime. The jump from “fraud defendant” to “racketeer” happens with just two qualifying acts.

And those acts dont have to be committed by you personally. If other members of the alleged enterprise committed the predicate offenses, you can still be charged with racketeering based on your participation in the enterprise. Your role might have been minor. Your knowledge might have been limited. Dosent matter. RICO holds enterprise participants responsible for the pattern of activity, not just there own individual acts.

The pattern requirement has two prongs that prosecutors must prove:

• Relationship: The acts must have similar purposes, results, participants, victims, or methods
• Continuity: Either a closed period of repeated conduct or past conduct that suggests ongoing threat of repetition

These prongs give prosecutors flexibility. Almost any two similar crimes can satisfy the relationship test, and almost any business operation can satisfy the continuity test becuase businesses by nature plan to continue operating.

RICO Conspiracy: Guilty Without Committing A Crime

OK so heres were RICO becomes truly dangerous for defendants who didnt actualy do anything wrong themselves. Section 1962(d) of RICO creates conspiracy liability that goes beyond anything in general conspiracy law. Unlike regular federal conspiracy under 18 USC 371, RICO conspiracy dosent require an overt act. You dont have to do anything. You just have to agree to participate in the affairs of an enterprise through racketeering activity.

Heres the kicker. You can be convicted of RICO conspiracy without personally committing any predicate offenses. You dont have to commit fraud. You dont have to commit bribery. You dont have to commit any of the 35 qualifying crimes. If prosecutors can prove you agreed to participate in an enterprise that engaged in racketeering activity, your guilty. Your agreement – your participation in the enterprise’s affairs – is enough. The crimes themselves can be committed entirely by others.

This creates a sweep that catches everyone connected to an alleged enterprise regardless of there actual role:

• The accountant who processed paperwork
• The manager who supervised employees
• The investor who provided funding
• The consultant who gave advice

All of them can be charged with RICO conspiracy if prosecutors decide the enterprise engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity. Your connection to the enterprise makes you liable for what the enterprise did.

And prosecutors love this becuase it gives them leverage over lower-level participants. The FBI approaches someone peripheral to the enterprise. They explain the RICO exposure – 20 years, asset forfeiture, the racketeer label. Then they offer a deal: cooperate against the people above you, or face RICO charges yourself. Most people cooperate. That cooperation builds the case against higher-level targets. RICO cases are built from the bottom up, using the threat of enterprise liability to flip everyone the government talks to.

They Take Everything Before Convicting You

Heres what nobody tells you about RICO untill its to late. The government dosent wait for conviction to take your assets. Under 18 USC 1963, prosecutors can seek pre-trial restraining orders that freeze everything you own the moment your indicted. They argue that assets connected to the alleged enterprise might be transferred or dissipated before trial. The judge issues the order. Your accounts are frozen. Your property is seized. You havnt been convicted of anything, but you no longer have access to your own wealth.

Think about what this does to your defense. You need to hire a federal criminal defense attorney – preferably one who specializes in RICO cases. Good RICO lawyers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But your money is frozen. You cant pay them. Some attorneys wont even take RICO cases becuase there fees might be considered proceeds of racketeering and subject to forfeiture. The government has effectively defunded your defense before trial begins.

This was the original design. RICO’s forfeiture provisions were written to prevent mob bosses from hiding assets in shell corporations while maintaining expensive legal defenses. But the provisions apply to everyone charged under RICO, not just actual mob bosses:

• The corporate executive facing RICO becuase of business practices
• The professional accused of participating in an enterprise
• The minor player swept up in a multi-defendant case

All of them face the same asset freeze that was designed for La Cosa Nostra.

The practical result is that RICO forces pleas even when defendants have strong defenses. Fighting means fighting without resources. Pleading means some chance of keeping some assets, getting a reduced sentence, maybe avoiding the racketeer label entirely if prosecutors agree to dismiss RICO counts in exchange for guilty pleas on underlying offenses. The asset freeze isnt just punishment – its leverage. It makes the government’s offer look better becuase fighting looks impossible.

Why 97.5% Get Convicted

Lets talk about why the conviction rate is so high, becuase understanding this helps you understand what your actualy facing with RICO charges. The 97.5% conviction rate dosent mean RICO defendants are always guilty. It means prosecutors only bring RICO when there certain to win. And that certainty comes from how RICO cases are built.

First, RICO investigations take years. Before anyone is indicted, federal agents have spent months or years gathering evidence. Theyve obtained financial records. Theyve conducted surveillance. Theyve reviewed thousands of documents. By the time charges are filed, prosecutors have a complete picture of the alleged enterprise and everyone connected to it. Your not facing charges based on thin evidence – your facing charges based on an exhaustive investigation thats already reached its conclusions.

Second, RICO cases always involve cooperating witnesses. Multi-defendant prosecutions mean someone always flips. The government approaches the most vulnerable defendants first – the ones with the most exposure or the least resources to fight. They offer cooperation deals. In exchange for testimony against co-defendants, cooperators get reduced sentences or dropped charges. By the time your case goes to trial, your facing testimony from people who were inside the alleged enterprise, who can describe meetings you attended and conversations you had. Former partners become government witnesses.

Third, the proffer trap catches defendants who try to cooperate without understanding the risks. A proffer is an informal interview were your supposed to tell prosecutors what you know in hopes of getting a cooperation agreement. But statements you make in a proffer can be used against you if negotiations fail. One California defendant who gave a proffer hoping to “explain his side” ended up with a superseding indictment that tripled his exposure. He talked himself into additional charges. The attempt to cooperate made things worse.

Fourth, RICO’s breadth makes it almost impossible to win at trial. Even if you didnt personally commit predicate offenses, prosecutors can convict you on conspiracy. Even if you had a minor role, you face the same charges as leaders. Even if you stopped participating years ago, acts within the 10-year window still count. The statute was written to catch everyone connected to criminal enterprises, and it does exactly that.

From Mob Bosses To Corporate Executives

The history of RICO shows how far the statute has traveled from its original purpose. It was written to take down organized crime – specifically, the Italian-American Mafia that controlled labor unions, gambling, loan sharking, and other rackets in major American cities. The first RICO prosecution targeted the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in 1979. The Mafia Commission Trial in 1985 saw Rudy Giuliani indict the heads of New Yorks Five Families. Eight mob bosses were convicted, seven received 100-year sentences. John Gotti – the “Teflon Don” who had beaten three previous prosecutions – was finaly convicted under RICO in 1992 and died in prison. Whitey Bulger, the Boston mob boss, received two life sentences under RICO for racketeering and 11 murders.

But RICO long ago expanded beyond organized crime. Michael Milken, the financier who built the junk bond market, was indicted on RICO charges in the late 1980s for securities fraud. He pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, paid $600 million in fines, and avoided the racketeer label – but only becuase he cooperated. The FIFA executives who ran international soccers governing body were indicted under RICO in 2015 for bribery and money laundering. Corporate fraud cases, public corruption cases, gang cases, political organization cases – RICO reaches them all.

Heres the wierd part about how RICO is used today. The statute mentions “enterprise” 13 times but never limits what enterprise means. Courts have interpreted enterprise to include not just corporations and formal organizations but informal associations of people. A group of friends who commit crimes together can be an enterprise. A company department can be an enterprise. An extended family can be an enterprise. If prosecutors can identify any ongoing organization – formal or informal – that engaged in racketeering activity, they can bring RICO charges against everyone associated with it.

This breadth explains why RICO appears in cases that seem to have nothing to do with organized crime:

• Street gangs – prosecuted becuase gangs are enterprises that engage in drug trafficking and violence
• Corrupt police units – prosecuted becuase the unit engaged in bribery and civil rights violations
• Businesses facing fraud allegations – prosecuted when the company itself is framed as the enterprise

The mob boss statute catches everyone.

What To Do If Your Facing Federal RICO Charges

If your reading this becuase youve been contacted by federal investigators or recieved a target letter in a RICO investigation, heres what you need to understand right now. The decisions you make in the next few days will determine wheather you spend decades in federal prison and wheather you have anything left when this is over.

First: get a specialized RICO defense attorney immediatly. Not a general criminal defense lawyer. Not someone who has “handled federal cases.” An attorney who specifically defends RICO prosecutions and understands how enterprise liability works, how asset forfeiture operates, and how cooperation negotiations proceed in multi-defendant cases. RICO is its own world with its own rules. You need someone who lives there.

Second: protect your assets before they’re frozen. Once your indicted, a restraining order can freeze everything. Before indictment – while your still a subject or target rather then a defendant – you may have options for protecting assets that would otherwise be seized. This is time-sensitive and legally complex. Your attorney needs to evaluate wheather any asset protection strategies are available and appropriate before charges are filed.

Third: understand the proffer trap. If your considering cooperation, do not talk to prosecutors without a binding agreement in place. Statements you make in proffer sessions can be used against you if cooperation fails. One defendant’s attempt to “explain his side” resulted in a superseding indictment with triple the original charges. Cooperation can work – it can dramatically reduce sentences – but it has to be done correctly with a cooperation agreement already signed.

Fourth: recognize that fighting may not be possible. With a 97.5% conviction rate and asset forfeiture that defunds your defense, the math often favors negotiation over trial. Your attorney needs to evaluate the strength of the governments case, your exposure at sentencing, and wheather cooperation or plea negotiation offers a better outcome then trial. Fighting feels right. But fighting without resources against overwhelming odds often ends worse then negotiating from whatever strength you have.

Fifth: understand what RICO does to your life beyond prison. The racketeer label follows you forever. Asset forfeiture can take everything you own. Professional licenses are revoked. Career opportunities disappear. Even if you serve a relatively short sentence, RICO conviction marks you as an organized crime figure for the rest of your life.

The RICO system was built to destroy criminal enterprises completly – not just to imprison individuals, but to dismantle entire organizations, seize all connected assets, and make continuation impossible. When your charged under RICO, that machinery is aimed at you. Everything you built, everything you own, everyone connected to you – all of it becomes subject to government seizure and prosecution. The 97.5% conviction rate exists becuase by the time prosecutors bring RICO, theyve already won. The investigation was the trial. The indictment was the verdict. What happens in court is usually just the sentencing phase with different procedures.

Dont wait to find out how bad it can get.