Essays on Racketeering

MEMORANDUM

Introduction: The RICO Criminal Defense Practice The RICO Act is very significant considering the prevalent infiltration of organized crimes in trade and commerce which remarkably eroded the stability of the national economy by influencing legitimate businesses and labor unions. Organized crimes have become global and the same becomes a threat to national economy and even corrupt and subvert the democratic process in the United States. The RICO Act helps in preventing organized crimes involved in racketeering from infiltrating legitimate organizations that are involved in the interstate and foreign commerce. With its wider scope of criminalizing the offenders, the growing ...

MEMORANDUM

RE: Justification for the Future Existence of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Criminal Defense Practice With countries across the globe, including the US, facing unprecedented threats from organized crimes such as terrorism and drug trafficking, the existence of the RICO is justified in spite of the looming budget deficit and likely cutbacks ahead. Organized crimes as transnational or national criminal activities organized and executed by criminal organizations or enterprises with intent to kill, destroy and maim for money, profit and religious or political motivation, pose the greatest threat to our nation in the 21 century. The RICO ...

Congressional Ethics

Representative James A. Traficant, Jr. was charged of ethics violation after having been convicted of 10 federal charges involving the commission of the crimes of tax evasion, bribery and racketeering. Traficant was found to be guilty for receiving favors and monetary gifts in exchange of performing official acts that will be in favor of the donors. He is also known to receive kickbacks from staff and engaged in racketeering activities. In 1999, he subscribed a sworn US Individual Income Tax Return which he jointly filed with his wife with a verified declaration under the penalties of perjury. After investigation, ...

Introduction

Different offenses are usually characterized by different characteristics. These are traits that have been found in most of the investigations of the crimes. In this essay the crimes discussed include sexual assault, murder, terrorism, acquisitive crime and organized crime. It also explains the ethical considerations for psychological interviewers and criminal investigators, the collateral information needed in investigations and offers recommendations to the criminal investigation process. Sexual assault is a type of crime that involves forced sex or non-consensual sex. Sex assault differs from sexual harassment since sexual harassment doesn’t necessary involve having of sex that is, it involves ...

Introduction

Organized crime refers to a network of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals in an organized manner and who are engaged in illegal activities. Such criminal organizations are well organized with a clear chain of command and segregation of duties among its members in much a similar way to a lawful organization or government. The only distinction between organized crime organizations and other lawful organizations is that they are engaged in illegal activities. It is organized crime organizations that are usually responsible for transnational crimes. Transnational crimes denote crimes that have significanteffects in more than one country. This is because such transnational crimes ...

Al Capone strikes fear in the hearts of citizens as his reign of terror continues in the Chicago area. This Brooklyn, New York native began his life of crime at a young age, earning him the nickname Scarface (Messick & Goldblatt, 1972). As an original member of The Five Points Gang, his connections with crime boss, Jim Colosimo offered him to opportunity to learn the trade under Colosimo’s tutelage (Whitehead, 1956). Upon Colosimo’s death, Capone was groomed to take the position.

The prohibition allowed for many opportunities for Capone to continue to profit off of illegal alcohol sales ...

White collar crimes are financially motivated and non-violent crimes majorly committed by people of high social status. The term “white collar crime” was coined in 1939 by Edwin Sutherland in his speech to the American Sociological Society.White collar crimes are difficult to detect and prosecute. Perpetrators employ highly sophisticated methods to commit crimes and hide the heinous activities through a chain of complex financial transactions. Punishment for these crimes involve: incarceration, restitution, community service, probation, criminal forfeiture, fines or disgorgement.

Bernie Madoff's $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme-Forbes Magazine

This prominent investor was involved in a Ponzi investment scam with the Madoff’s Hedge Fund. A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent ...

Charges against Gorski

According to the case at hand, Gorski has a lot of federal charges against him. As the U.S. Attorney responsible for the case, the federal charges that one is most likely to levy on Gorski are as follows: - Using encryption in aid of a crime: The scenario poses a situation whereby Gorski refused to provide the authorities with the encryption key. As such, he appears to hinder the investigation process. Any instances whereby an individual knowingly refuses to comply with authorities in the investigation are likely to attract charges of non-compliance. The particular instance may have such charges levied on ...

Charges against Gorski

According to the case at hand, Gorski has a lot of federal charges against him. As the U.S. Attorney responsible for the case, the federal charges that one is most likely to levy on Gorski are as follows: - Refusal to cooperate with authorities: The scenario poses a situation whereby Gorski refused to provide the authorities with the encryption key. As such, he appears to hinder the investigation process. Any instances whereby an individual knowingly refuses to comply with authorities in the investigation are likely to attract charges of non-compliance. The particular instance may have such charges levied on Gorski ...

History of the crime family

The Gambino crime family is among the five crime family operating in New York. It is named after its previous leader called Carlo Gambino who controlled the criminal operation of the family from 1959 to 1976 (American Mafia History par. 1). The family originated from the unification of the Salvatore D’Aquila gang and the Morello gang in the 1800s. The group operated in New York for close to twenty years until the incarceration of its boss, Giuseppe Morello. The conviction of the boss and underboss of the gang left a leadership gap that disrupted the gang’s activities. Salvatore ...

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The play “Waiting for Lefty” written by Clifford Odets and the 1954 movie “On the Waterfront” revolved around social realities. The said social realities are focused on the issues faced by the workers since the 1930s to the 1950s. In the two stories, they portrayed the difficulties of forging collective actions. Waiting for Lefty for instance portrayed the internal struggles of workers in forging solidarity to wage a strike to fight for living wage and dignified working conditions. On the Waterfront on the other hand portrayed the fear-stricken workers who chose to be silent ...

Organized Crime in the United States and its impact to the US Criminal Justice System

The United States of America has its fair share of problems when it comes to maintaining national security and stability against international and domestic threats. The federal government has to contend to the threat of various actors wishing to destabilize the country either through fear or terror or through illicit activity that paralyzes the country. One of the most crucial threats the US government faces today are the transnational organized crime groups which endangers the country from within its borders and through the rest of the world. The problem with this threat is the fact most of these organize ...

The federal jurors of Chicago convict the Governor of Illinois George Ryan due to 18 different cases of corruption in April 2006 (Driehaus, 2007). The 18 counts of corruption entail tax fraud, racketeering, lying to the police enforcement, filing false tax returns among others. In his heyday, Ryan was an ardent supporter for granting clemency to death row victims. In 2003, Ryan got a nomination for the Nobel peace prize (Wilgoren, 2003). At the time, he had commuted many death sentences. The family of Ryan prior to his conviction benefited from bounties to vacations, cash, and tickets to events ...

Abstract

Crimes have been evolving over time to become more sophisticated. While law enforcement agencies have equally enhanced their capabilities so as to deal effectively with criminals, other developments have also taken place so as to aid in the all-important task of bring perpetrators of various criminal acts to book. One such development has been through the enactment of various legislation, which seeks to among other things, enhance the efficiency of the law enforcement agencies and officers. Indeed, as the nature of crime has changed over time, the concerned authorities have enacted better laws or revised existing laws so as ...

Introduction

This research paper seeks to explore the gang and security threat groups in American correctional facilities. There has been a rise in gangs in prisons which accounts for the rise in crime both inside and outside the penitentiaries. It is instructive to note that the gang members are taking advantage of the loopholes in legislation presented by the freedom of religion to further their agenda. These gangs pose a danger not only to the correctional officers who are normally attacked, but also the outside world where they carry out crimes in an organized fashion. Ever since the terror attack of 911, ...

Abstract

The paper discusses the life of Alphonse Gabriel Capone a famous and powerful crime mob operating in Chicago. His nicknames were Al Capone or Scarface his influence began in 1925 after the demise of his mentor James Torrio. He gained power through selling of illegal liquor and from there he ventured into other operations like prostitution, gambling, and racketeering to expand his influence. He also bribed politicians and legal authorities to enable him carry out operations without legal interference. However, after the valentine day massacre, which he is thought to be behind, he was pursued by the authorities who caught ...

Russian mafia is one of the most powerful in the world, as it is recognized by certain statistical data. In order to understand its essence better and to find out its peculiarities it will be very useful to analyze the history of its development in the country and to compare it with mafia of some other countries. Information that is necessary for such in-depth understanding is presented in this paper. History of the Russian mafia started in the 1960s, as beforehand the country was economically poor, while mafia arises primarily in such communities where economics is sufficiently developed1. ...

Martha Stewart is one of the most successful icons in America. She is the founder of Martha Stewart Omni media and a magazine publisher. She is also a television personality and business magnate whose TV show has been broadcasted all over the world. In 2004 she was convicted of lying to investigators about a stoke sale and served five month term in Alderson federal prison camp. This is a federal bureau of prisons for women of the United States in West Virginia. The prison is surrounded by towns which include Alderson, summers county, Hinton, Lewisburg, Ronceverte and white silver springs. It is ...