Tag Archives: rico law

How Anti-Mafia Laws Could Bring Down Legal Pot

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RICO laws were written to combat organized crime kingpins – but now they’re being used against state-legal marijuana businesses

Most people have strong feelings about marijuana’s distinctive dank odor. Suspicious landlords sniff for it. High-school hot-boxers roll down all the windows of their cars and drive around for hours trying to get rid of it. Mainstream candle and soap companies seek to recreate it for high-end, non-psychoactive mood settings. And now, it’s quietly becoming clear that the powerful smell of legal cannabis could become its ultimate undoing ­– the thing that causes the entire legalization experiment to disappear in a poof of smoke.

Earlier this summer, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado decided that the “noxious odors” from a pot farm could be lowering nearby property values and creating a nuisance. The decision came out of a civil suit by the farm’s neighbors under federal racketeering law, and could set a landmark precedent. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and this decision makes clear that private citizens can now circumvent state law and do what Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants but has yet to do: challenge the legitimacy of states and businesses participating in legalization. Next year, the suit will go back to district court, and unless other appeals courts issue contradictory rulings and the Supreme Court decides to take up the case, the 10th Circuit decision will stand – providing a road map for people who hate marijuana to initiate the collapse of legal weed in America.

Everything about this case is important, from its far-reaching implications to the mysterious, well-funded organization behind it. But before we get into the details, the key thing to realize here is this neighborly dispute is a microcosm for what’s wrong with America’s tangled marijuana policy: The commercialization of cannabis has had real consequences for people and places that want no involvement with the drug. Attempting, as we have, to cordon off the states and businesses and entrepreneurs and government agencies that interact with pot is delusional.

Legal weed cannot be neatly contained. Markets and odors don’t work that way. Neighbors know this. Interstate pot traffickers know this. Attorney General Jeff Sessions knows this. The question is: when will we change federal law to reflect reality?

Full Read – http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/how-anti-mafia-laws-could-bring-down-legal-pot-w499585

Federal prosecutor reviews possible use of RICO law for Altoona-Johnstown

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

U.S. Attorney David Hickton said his office is looking into whether a federal civil law on organized crime can be applied to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in the wake of a state grand jury report that said it had a history of clergy sexual abuse and coverup.

The report found that much of the abuse by diocesan priests dated back several decades, and neither the abuse nor any alleged coverup could be prosecuted under the statute of limitations.

But federal laws allow U.S. prosecutors to bring a civil case against an organization and seek an injunction or a consent decree to shape its future behavior, and such cases do not have a statute of limitations, he said.

Mr. Hickton said his office is looking into the case because it prosecuted one Altoona-Johnstown priest, Joseph Maurizio, who last month was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for sexually abusing boys at a Honduras orphanage between 2004 and 2009.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton said his office is looking into whether a federal civil law on organized crime can be applied to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in the wake of a state grand jury report that said it had a history of clergy sexual abuse and coverup.

The report found that much of the abuse by diocesan priests dated back several decades, and neither the abuse nor any alleged coverup could be prosecuted under the statute of limitations.

But federal laws allow U.S. prosecutors to bring a civil case against an organization and seek an injunction or a consent decree to shape its future behavior, and such cases do not have a statute of limitations, he said.

Mr. Hickton said his office is looking into the case because it prosecuted one Altoona-Johnstown priest, Joseph Maurizio, who last month was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for sexually abusing boys at a Honduras orphanage between 2004 and 2009.

Sourced From – http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2016/04/02/Federal-prosecutor-reviews-possible-use-of-RICO-law-for-Altoona-Johnstown/stories/201604020025