Pundits are beginning to realize what US Person has known all along: Trump is the head of a corrupt organization, and has been so for four decades. Ever since he began dealing with the Mafia in New York to get his tower built when the mob had shut down concrete trucks in the city; to the casinos in Atlantic City where the Russian mob hung out while he washed their millions; to his repeated tax evasion and financial fraud; to the culmination of his criminal activity, the attempted take down of the US government through a multi-spoke conspiracy, Trumpillini has evaded and subverted the laws of the land. Greg Barack noted in his Salon article on the subject, that he, "is not an outlaw of negligence, incompetence or ignorance....Trump knows the subtle difference between what is lawfully right and lawfully wrong.... he is an expert on criminal intent."
As the criminal investigations involving him and his businesses drag on, the picture of Trumpillini's RICO is coming into focus. The acronym stands for Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization. An enterprise determined to be a RICO can be prosecuted, dismantled, and its officers jailed. Trumpillini's penchant for white collar crime is lately seen in DOJ's investigation of his PAC, Save America, the vehicle he uses for raising funds by propagating the myth of a stolen election since 2020. Another Washington, DC grand jury has issued subpoenas to several mid-level aides involved. Since its inception Save Amenrica has raised $135 million including $30 million from his campaign funds. Combining all of these activities with the January 6th Insurrection and the Mar-a-Lago Papers case into one giant prosecution is probably too complex and unwieldy. But they are related because they have as their hub one corrupt individual.
Generally, a RICO prosecution involves a pattern of criminal conduct through an enterprise over a period of time for financial gain. That definition fits what Trumpillini has been engaged in for years like a glove. What is truly ironic is that his main cappo, Rudy Giuliani, used the federal RICO statute to bring down the New York mob in the 80s. Fanni Willis, the Fulton County DA investigating Trumpillini for his election fraud in Georgia, used a state version of the statute to prosecute gangsters in Atlanta. Under the Georgia statute, making or attempting to make a false statement to any state department or agency is defined as "racketeering". That certainly describes what Trumpillini tried to do when he told Georgia election officials that the election was fraudulent. What makes RICO laws powerful, is that the head of a corrupt organization does not have to directly commit illegal acts to be found guilty. He merely has to participate in the racketeering activity by having others in the organization do it for him. Certainly Giuliani, when he promoted baseless claims of election fraud in Georgia and elsewhere, was doing so at the behest of his Padrino. The lesson here: even Presidents can be criminals.
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| credit: G. Le Lievre BC Idonwanna sez: No way out. |