My office handles both civil and criminal litigation under the RICO statute, for both plaintiffs and defendants.   Let me make some observations about RICO practice.

1. Any RICO plaintiff should expect a motion to dismiss.   Many of these cases involve fraud.  Clients may assume that pleading the existence of a fraud and explaining how the client has been damaged will be sufficient.   It’s not.  The plaintiff must identify the date, time, and place of any false or deceptive statements, and what each defendant did.  Do not lump together multiple defendants together and assume that will be sufficient because it won’t.

2. Criminal defense of the peripheral defendant  Frequently the defendant is put in the position of having the defendant testify and face grueling cross-examination, or put forth a limited defense.