co
LANSING - I CO, a bill
. passed out of the Senate
ludiciary Committee ov. 15,
sounds more like a Miami VICe
cbaraaer than a piece of legis-
lation. I
Ironically, the TV show's
detectNes, Cr�tt d Tubbs,
used the federal RICO statute
to seize ill-gotten gains from
bad pays. In the end, the cops a1-
ys drove off in expensWc cars
aDd
La maker in both state
ho e hope for p e of
RICO, hich stands for the
federal Racketeer IDflueDced
�nd Corrupt Or,anizatio
e, beca . wiD authorize
police to seize money and
property t are used by or are
the profits of drug dealers or or
guized crime. For instance,
cars, boats, and houses used to
seD or oper te criminal
enterprises can be seized.
Under the Senate bill, also
c lied Continuing Criminal
EDt . ,apr tor
have to ho that a suspect
co . ted at least 0 of 28
PearJed oB'e in order to
prove the e· eace of oontinu
. criminal en erprises. The of
fense list includes s c
moncy-m in, crimes e
bezzlement, forgery, pornog
raphy, nd pro titution, in
. tion to drug vio'..u· �ua..
"The truth of � ter,
e· obligation yc.
to y t i the truth to
criminal property: said Sen.
Rudy ichol, R-W terford,
the bill' ponsor. -If that
propenyl tr ceable to criminal
• . y, than it ulId be for-
fei ed and it ould go to the
. tful cr.-
"For too lon& the people of
M·IOI..;W'!lIIft ba '---- ��. . . ..a
l� yc � ... ",dmaeu
by organized crime . in-
timidates .. atmDS,
cheats them of their rd-
earned money, d oys 0
n tural resource - . d Rep.
Perry Bullard, D-Ann Arbor,
ho introduce his version of
RICO in tJte House Wednes
day.
One major difference be
. t een the t 0 proposals .
Bull rd's bill, like the federal,
st tute, ould allow victims to
u defendants in civil court for
triple damages in continuing
criminal enterprise cases.
Critics of the federal RICO
tatute believe the civil
provisions should be left out of
the Michigan bill.
William Wagner, assist t
�ority counsel for the Senate, .
explained th t Nichols left civil
RICO ou of his bill bees
ill
House RICO vs. Senate RICO
some fundamental differences
Are private individuals allowed to sue for damages?
How many predicate criminal cts are required?
Is forfeiture allowed before conviction?
What ndard of proof is required for forfeiture?
Who can prosecu a RICO ca ?
House
Senate
yes
no
3
2
-+
no
yes
99� sure
51% sure
Attorney General
County Prosecutor
eNS graphic by: Kendra KMI Phair
civil la uits do not use the
same criteria �
Prosecutors haYC a duty to their
jobs and are leas likely to b
the right to seize a defeDdaDt's
property, Waper said. .
BuDard' biD focuses heavily
on victim rights and includes the
civil provisions.
"There' no good reason why
a citizen is a victim of crime
should not be ible to sue: Bul- .
< lard said. -After all, crime not
only hurts society as a ole,
but it also has its most im
mediate impact on its iDdividual
victima.-
The House bill further sup
Ports victims by contributina
left<Wer ts from the forfei
ture ctio to t e Crime
Vi • , Compensation Board.
The Senate bill would pc the.
leftover money b ck to law en
forcement.
\ We've provided that the Det
forfeiture assets go to the aime
victim' ,-Brett McRay,
Bullard's aide, said. "We feel
that's a better use of that money
than giviDa. it to la enforce
. ment,"
McRay said that la enfor
cement, already supported by
the gO¥CnU1lent.
Aaother major difference
between the two state RICO
bills is the amount of proof the
potice will need to haYC before
they can seize defendant's
property.
Under the federal RICO
statute and Nichols' bin, the
lC\dofproofis "preponderance
of the evidence: or bout 51
percent sure that the person is
involved in a continuing
criminal enterpri .
"t allows the government to
sci and forfeit a per on's
pr rty, even though they
haven't been convicted of a
aime, . Howard Simon, ex-
"ecutive director of the
American Civil Liberties Union
in MicbipD.
Police would have e right
to seize the defendant' proper-
Source: Michigan House of Representativ
ty using only the proof neces
sary to obtain a search warrant.
In the House RICO bill, Bul
lard requires a conviction
before propertyi seized. Police
and prosecutors would need to
prove their ca e "beyond a
reasonable do bt, - to jury
about 99 percent sure - before
the defendant would lose his
property.
"(Criminals) beat the system
because the prosecution can't
prove beyond a reason ble
doubt," Nicho said. "The truth
of the matter establish d by
the preponderance of evidence
is that it still was criminal"
property, and so do allow the
forfeiture at that point."
One criticism of the federal
RICO tute is that it is often
interpreted loosely and used to
, go after smaller criminals.
McRay said Bullard believe
that the state RICO bills must
be carefully worded, so that
police and prosecutors would
not be able to overuse the
,. --------------------------------------------------------
I
Racketeering and RICO
These are the crimes that will constitute racketeering under.
the House bill, the Senate bill, and both the bills
Senate- Both
Ho
statutes.
"This is obviously an extraor
dinary power, "McRay said. We
just thin if you're going to have
such po r, it ought to be aimed
higher and not just at every
Tom, Dick and Harry who's
making a buck from orne
criminal enterpri e."
Nichols' bill already gone
through the metamorphosis of
the committee process, while
Bullard's bill has yet to f ce t
fire.
Unlicensed Ie of p'soline"
Explosives
Perjury Child pornography
Embezzling Unlicensed le of cigarettes ....
Welfare fraud Violation of controlled substances laws
Forgery Medicaid fraud .
Displaying or d.isseminating
obscene matter to minors
Jury tampering
First or second d
Counterfeiting
Prostitution
Illegal U 0 financial
transaction device
Motor vehicle fraud
Arson·
involvement in
vio tion invol over $100,000.
11
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