RICO Lawyer & Attorney : Thomas Walker : Cosho Humphrey Law Firm : RICO Act, Federal and State Racketeering Litigation, Boise Idaho

There are cases in which combining federal antitrust and RICO claims in a single suit can create a powerful litigation strategy. Such situations often arise in “associated in fact” enterprises consisting of several different business entities that have engaged, or are engaging, in a scheme that defrauds consumers and at the same time restrains trade and/or fixes prices.

Complaints asserting antitrust violations usually rely on the classic underlying antitrust statute, section 1 of the Sherman Act. Since its enactment almost a century ago, this statute has provided essentially as follows: “Every contract, combination . . . conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. . . .” Section 2 of the Sherman Act may also be implicated: “Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony . . . .”

Combinations violating the Sherman Act may also constitute an “associated in fact” enterprise, and if the combination uses the United States mail, or telephone and facsimile services, or email and/or the Internet to implement and carry out a program that defrauds consumers or other businesses, the perpetrators also commit mail and wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343, respectively, which are predicate acts under the federal RICO Act.

The Sherman and RICO Acts provide for treble damages and an award of litigation costs and fees to the prevailing plaintiff. There are other similarities between the elements of the Sherman and RICO Acts that provide additional leverage to a plaintiff injured in his business or property by reason of the defendants’ violations of these two potent federal statutes. In addition, such cases usually involve pendent state law claims, including violations of state competition and racketeering acts that can also be tried in the federal court.

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Federal prosecutors are wrapping up -- without going to trial – a case against eight people accused of smuggling millions of dollars worth of cigarettes from North Idaho to tribal smoke shops in western Washington.

A trial date was recently cancelled with guilty pleas from four final defendants, including accused ringleader Louie Mahoney, of Plummer, Idaho.

The latest guilty pleas came eight months after at least three defendants from western Washington cut plea-bargain deals with federal prosecutors and agreed to testify against Mahoney and other co-conspirators living in North Idaho, court documents reveal.

The smuggling operation between 1999 and May 2003 cost the state of Washington an estimated $56 million in lost taxes, according to Jim McDevitt, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

As part of the investigation and an earlier companion case involving six other defendants, a special task force seized $5.1 million in cash and more than 200,000 cartons of cigarettes.

Defendants in both cases agreed to forfeit the cash and cigarettes to the federal government as a condition of their plea agreements.

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