Aircraft Maintenance Technology Online
by Stephen P. Prentice
Remember RICO? The statute called Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO 18 U.S.C. ss 961-1968). When the mobs were overrunning New York City, Chicago, and other big cities, the federals brought out this Act in order to go after the mobs. Its use was very successful in shutting down many mob operations in some big and small cities.
RICO of course provides for criminal penalties in the main, but also provides for civil sanctions, namely triple damages and attorney fees. The statute requires that (1) the defendant violated the RICO by participating in a pattern of racketeering activity through its association with an enterprise affecting interstate commerce; (2) that the plaintiffs sustained an injury to their business or property; (3) and the violation of the law caused the injury.
In 1996 Congress expanded the scope of RICO to include violations of the federal immigration laws.
A recent news article described how some imaginative lawyers have come up with a new use for RICO. They have devised a theory that will allow them to sue the employers of undocumented workers. We all know that there are laws on the books to sanction employers for hiring undocumented workers but we also know that they are rarely enforced with any vigor by the federal government. The lawyers say now it may be possible to hit these employers where it will hurt them most . . . in their pocketbook.
Posted by Richard at September 14, 2005