 The latest indictment against Donald Trump, for plotting to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results, include charges once used to convict mafia bosses like John Gotti and Carmine Persico. District Attorney Fani Willis announced she was using Georgia's RICO law to charge Trump and 18 associates for allegedly participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to keep him in power. RICO – or the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – was originally designed to help prosecutors dismantle organised crime groups from the top down. Since ending the mafia's golden age with a series of high-profile trials in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it has been used to prosecute other crimes, from Ponzi schemes to public corruption cases. Michael Mears, law professor at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, told the New York Times: 'It allows a prosecutor to go after the head of an organization, loosely defined, without having to prove that that head directly engaged in a conspiracy or any acts that violated state law. 'If you are a prosecutor, it's a gold mine. If you are a defense attorney, it's a nightmare.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Generally speaking, RICO laws allow prosecutors to charge multiple people who commit separate crimes while working toward a common goal. Georgia's RICO Act, adopted in 1980, makes it a crime to participate in, acquire or maintain control of an 'enterprise' through a 'pattern of racketeering activity' or to conspire to do so. It's important to note that the alleged scheme does not have to have been successful for a RICO charge to stick. An 'enterprise' can be a single person or a group of associated individuals with a common goal. 'Racketeering activity' means to commit, attempt to commit — or to solicit, coerce or intimidate someone else to commi){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
The latest indictment against Donald Trump, for plotting to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, includes charges once used to convict mafia bosses like John Gotti and Carmine Persico.
District Attorney Fani Willis announced she was using Georgia’s RICO law to charge Trump and 18 associates for allegedly participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to keep him in power.
RICO – or the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – was originally designed to help prosecutors dismantle organised crime groups from the top down.
Since ending the mafia’s golden age with a series of high-profile trials in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it has been used to prosecute other crimes, from Ponzi schemes to public corruption cases.