RICO Charges Dismissed In Biker Case Part II – RICO Defined
On November 3, 2010, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Federal RICO charges were dismissed against William Davey, a member of the American Outlaw Association also known as the “Outlaws”. After eight days of trial and four days of deliberation, the jury acquitted Davey of all charges and sent a striking message to the government.
This case began as a 27 defendant case charged in a 50 page indictment charging violations o 12 federal offenses. The indictment alleged that the Outlaws Motorcycle Club was a national criminal enterprise and the defendants were brought from as far away as South Carolina, Maine, and Wisconsin. Almost all of the defendants were charged in Count I with Conspiracy to violate RICO. Before discussing the facts of the case, it is important to understand RICO and how it is that individuals with little or nor ties to criminal conduct can be charged under this statute.
The Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was passed in the 1970’s in response to organized crime and the use of legitimate organizations, such as political parties and unions, for criminal purposes. Specifically, a violation of RICO occurs when an individual is either associated with or employed by an enterprise in which two or more individuals reach an agreement to acquire or maintain an interest in or control of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activities. Racketeering activity is defined by the statute and includes such crimes as bribery, extortion, and crimes of violence. When someone is charged with conspiracy to violate RICO, the government need only prove that a person agreed to participate, directly or indirectly, in the affairs of an enterprise, the objective of the enterprise being a pattern of racketeering. The government must prove that the individual participated in some manner, however slight, in the overall objective of the conspiracy and that the conspiracy itself involved, or would have involved, the commission of two racketeering acts. However, the government is not necessarily required to prove either that an individual agreed to personally commit two racketeering acts or that the person actually committed two such acts. Moreover, the government does not have to prove that the racketeering acts were actually committed. It is the agreement that is punished and the agreement is very loosely defined under RICO. Therefore, it is very easy for an individual associated with a group or organization who does not participate in criminal conduct to be charged with conspiracy to violate RICO. The questions then becomes did the person actually conspire to commit a crime and, if not, is there a chance that they can be wrongfully convicted based on their association with others? In other words, will jury convict an individual based on guilt by association.
In the present case, the challenge facing Mr. Davey was his membership in the Outlaws and the government attempting to convict him in large part on that fact alone. As stated in the previous article, membership in the Outlaws is not a violation of RICO and one cannot be convicted of any crime based strictly on being a member (terrorist organizations excluded). However, the government can, and did in this case, use membership in the organization to get into evidence bad acts or other crimes committed by other members of the group so long as the government alleges that the crimes were committed in furtherance of the organization. This allows the government to poison the jury against a defendant by making him look bad for being in an organization that may have a few bad individuals in it. Ultimately, this strategy back fired against the government and actually had the effect of demonstrating at trial that William Davey was not like some of the other individuals in the club and he appeared not to have broken any laws.
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