Mired in scandal, is the Catholic Church an ‘organized crime’ group?

HARRISBURG (PA)
Penn Live

September 5, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

The Catholic Church may be in the business of saving souls, but amid the spiraling clergy sex abuse crisis, one pioneering legal mind thinks of the church as an organized crime organization.

That’s the view held by David Hickton, a former U.S. attorney in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Two years ago, shortly after the state Office of Attorney General released a scathing report on widespread clergy sex abuse in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Hickton sought to prove that the church was criminally responsible for the egregious crimes committed by priests on minors.

Hickton invoked a seldom-used but powerful federal law designed to combat organized crime.

He initiated a civil lawsuit against the diocese under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law better known as RICO that has been used to prosecute mobsters, the Hells Angels and other criminal enterprises.

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