this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: RICO (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by moistclump@lemmy.world to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world
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I keep seeing references to RICO in the Trump Georgia stuff. What is it and how is it relevant to that case?

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[–] geekworking@lemmy.world 73 points 1 year ago

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws. These were originally made to go after organized crime bosses.

Crime bosses will have layers of minions directly committing crimes. This lets the boss say it wasn't them. RICO provides laws to go after an entire criminal organization, including the bosses who direct the minions to commit crimes.

They are using the law in the Trump case because many of the direct crimes were done by minions. If they can prove that there was an organized series of crimes that were under the direction of boss Trump, they can hold him accountable for the crimes of the organization.