Deck 3: Infiltration of Business, Extortion, and Racketeering

Question 1

What is organized crime infiltration of business or government?

Answer 1

It is sometimes the product of conspiracy, by which businesses pay money to others so that they can make even more money illicitly, and more often it is extortion by which money is paid under threat of future personal or financial harm

Question 2

What are the circumstances under which the infiltration of business usually occurs?

Answer 2

Circumstances where the nature of the business is considered questionable or it caters to a clientele seen as undesirable, and circumstances in which local corruption is common

Question 3

How was a New York State judge who had an affair with a woman convicted of extortion?

Answer 3

The woman ended an affair with the judge, and he claimed he would sell sexually explicit photos of her and her new boyfriend if she did not give him money In this case, it was the threat of damage to reputation, rather than the abuse of a public office, that formed the basis for the threat of future harm

Question 4

What is the Hobbs Act?

Question 5

What is a protection racket?

Question 6

Why is it difficult to know the true extent of extortion?

Question 7

Is extortion of businesses been shown to be a significant problem?

Question 8

How can it be said that there can be thin line between bribery and extortion?

Question 9

What was the legal issue in this case?

Question 10

What was the Court's finding and rationale?

Question 11

How does the Hobbs Act apply in practice?

Question 12

What are some examples of how the Hobbs Act applies in actual cases?

Question 13

What is racketeering?

Question 14

What are the facts of the case of Ronald Trucchio?

Question 15

What did the prosecution have to prove to make a RICO case against Trucchio?

Question 16

What are the facts of United States v. Ianniello and Cohen?

Question 17

What was the legal issue?

Question 18

What was the court's finding and rationale?

Question 19

Why is a habitual offender not necessarily a RICO offender?

Question 20

What is the crack-house statute?

Question 21

Mei-Fen Chen, owner of the Della Motel in Houston, claimed she was unaware that drug transactions were taking place there. Why did the U.S. Court of Appeals affirm her conviction under the crack-house statute?

Question 22

Why is it sometimes difficult to link individual crimes to part of a racketeering enterprise?

Question 23

What were the facts of the case against Joseph Massaro?

Question 24

How did the court rule in the Massaro case?