NCJ Number
217479
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology Volume: 97 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2006 Pages: 1-48
Date Published
2006
Length
48 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the application of the “operation or management” test of RICO set out in the U.S. Supreme Court case Reves v. Ernst & Young.
Abstract
The analysis indicates that the “operation or management” test fits well within the text and legislative intent of the RICO statute and is therefore appropriate regardless of the U.S. Supreme Court’s more expansive interpretation of RICO conspiracy in Salinas v. United States. Furthermore, the “operation or management” test of RICO is considered important because it gives essential content to RICO conspiracy and ensures that RICO will not be reduced to a mere associational offense. The author notes that RICO is a tricky statute but that the extension of the Reves test provides additional protection to individuals otherwise at risk of guilt by association. The Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations (RICO) Act was passed by Congress as Title XI of the 1970 Organized Crime Control Act in order to eradicate organized crime. Elements of a RICO violation include: (1) the presence of a defendant “person;” (2) an “enterprise;” (3) and a “pattern” of (4) specifically defined predicate “racketeering” acts. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Reves v. Ernst & Young placed a limit on RICO liability, requiring that individuals brought to justice under RICO have “some part in directing an enterprise’s affairs.” In addition to considering how the “operation or management” test impacts RICO enforcement, the article also analyzes the interaction of Reves and RICO conspiracy before and after the U.S. Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Salinas v. United States. In Salinas, the Court enumerated a broad standard of RICO conspiracy, but despite this broad standard, the author argues that courts should require that RICO defendants operated or managed an enterprise in order to incur liability. Footnotes