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The Defense Case For Rico Reform, Terrance G. Reed

Vanderbilt Law Review

Frequent use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 (RICO)' by government and private litigants has prompted a chorus of criticism during the last five years. This criticism has not been restricted to the narrow confines of the legal profession;many respectable newspapers recently have issued calls for the outright repeal of RICO. Attorneys who regularly defend against criminal or civil RICO allegations cannot take credit for the increasing dissatisfaction with RICO. Rather, it is the successes, and indeed the excesses, of RICO's proponents that have tarnished the statute's image. RICO's revolutionary application to increasingly broad areas of …