RICO Initially Was Enacted in 1970 to Combat Organized Crime and Other Corruption As noted above, RICO initially was enacted October 15, 1970. RICO provides powerful criminal penalties for persons who engage in a “pattern of racketeering activity” or “collection of an unlawful debt” and who have a specified relationship to an “enterprise” that affects interstate or foreign commerce. Organized crime derives a major portion of its power through money obtained from such illegal endeavors as syndicated gambling, loan sharking, the theft and fencing of property, the importation and distribution of narcotics and other dangerous drugs, and other forms of social exploitation (Martin, 2015).
Pueblo Bishop Bloods Kevin Eleby, who was known to the Los
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More than 1,000 FBI agents and LAPD officers executed arrest and search warrants after a two year investigation into the Pueblo Bishop Bloods. Prosecutors, characterized Pueblo Bishop as a well-structured criminal organization, brought racketeering charges against the gang under a special anti-organized-crime law called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act that allows for more serious charges and longer prison sentences (Rubin, 2010). The investigation was called operation family ties because many of the members lived in the Pueblo de Rio apartments, but also united by family ties with one another. According, to the 88-page racketeering indictment the Pueblo Bishops Bloods operated as a criminal enterprise, using violence and intimidation to control the Pueblo del Rio housing project. The indictment stated that members of the Pueblo Bishops functioned as an organization with the goals of enriching members of the gang through narcotics trafficking and armed robberies, committing acts of violence to protect and expand the criminal operation, and enhancing control over Pueblo de Rio through intimidation and acts of violence against residents and members of rival gang …show more content…
The use and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime, and distribution and manufacturing of narcotics near schools, playgrounds and public housing facilities. “The indictment specifically alleges a wide assortment of overt acts committed since 1999 in furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy, including numerous narcotics transactions, attacks on police officers, armed robberies, firearms sales, drive-by shootings, assaults with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, and murder” (FBI, 2010). A federal jury found a total of forty-five members of the Pueblo Bishop Bloods guilty and all convicted with lengthy prison sentences. Kevin Eleby was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, Jermaine Hardiman was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, and Rondale Young was sentenced to life plus 10 years in federal prison, all under racketeering