Law Commons^™

Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations (Rico): Basic Concepts - Criminal And Civil Remedies, G. Robert Blakey, Brian Gettings

Journal Articles

This article will present a brief overview of the legislative history of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, and its structure, including its standards and basic concepts. The article will then consider the criminal sanctions authorized under RICO and discuss specific aspects of the RICO civil suit as well as some of the problems that may be expected to arise in it. The objective of the article is to provide the reader with a short introduction to RICO, one of the most sophisticated statutes ever enacted by Congress.

Freezing The Status Quo In Criminal Investigations: The Melting Of Probable Cause And Warrent Requirements, Fernand N. Dutile

Journal Articles

This article will trace the development of what can be called the "freezing the status quo" concept in the United States Supreme Court. That concept provides for intermediate level intrusions based on intermediate levels of justification, permitting law enforcement to isolate an event and exploit its opportunities for fruitful investigation. The article will begin with a discussion of two early cases which hinted at the Supreme Court's willingness to adopt the "freezing the status quo" doctrine as a means of justifying certain police activity in the absence of probable cause. Next, the Court's decisions in Terry v. Ohio and subsequent …

The Burden Of Proof In Criminal Cases: A Comment On The Mullaney-Patterson Doctrine, Fernand N. Dutile

Journal Articles

The United States Supreme Court's recent ventures into the constitutional requirements concerning the burden of proof in criminal cases justify consideration of their prescriptions, of their consistency and of the constitutional limits of burden-shifting.

Mullaney and Patterson mark not the end of the inquiry but rather its beginning. Although they undoubtedly resolve, whether well or badly, a large number of burden of proof situations, those resolved may be the easier and the more obvious, not the more difficult and the more subtle. In any event, however, these two landmark cases will at least have alerted us to the complex problems …

"On The Waterfront": Rico And Labor Racketeering, G. Robert Blakey, Ronald Goldstock

Journal Articles

Labor racketeering in America is a pervasive, persistent problem not easily controlled by conventional criminal statutes. The authors examine the applicability of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute (RICO) to the problem of labor racketeering and look at the recent case of United States v. Scotto as an example of the Act's application in this area. The authors conclude that to the extent that it is used appropriately and with discretion, RICO provides the flexibility to be an important law enforcement tool against labor racketeers.