PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KYW Newsradio
October 19, 2018
By Steve Tawa
While U.S. Justice Department follows up on subpoenas it issued to eight Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania in the priest sex abuse scandal, seeking private files and records, victim advocates point to what they call a culture of silence and coverup. There is some speculation as to whether a tool used to take down mobsters could come into play.
Former prosecutors and defense lawyers involved in famous Philadelphia mob cases in the 1980s, mostly centering on Nicodemo Scarfo, the former crime family boss, shared some thoughts on whether the feds will employ the federal RICO statute. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, was originally passed to bring down the Mafia.
Most agree that it would be “interesting if the feds employ the RICO tool, to go after the upper hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.” To prove a RICO violation, prosecutors must prove a pattern of criminal activity in two or more predicate acts connected to the enterprise. While there may be a statute of limitations dating back just ten years, a former leading prosecutor says if one of them is within the time frame, the others can date back to infinity. He adds the “Roman Catholic Church is as much an enterprise as the mob.”
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