I am reading an American novel (The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy - and jolly good it is too).
In this book many of the bad boys are involved in “mail fraud” which is obviously a crime. However I have no idea what this entails (it seems to have something to do with sending racist literature through the post). I have come across this crime in other novels and am still baffled.
I don’t think there’s an equivelent English crime (although it is illegal to send pooh throgh the post)
I have trried google to find out but that just confused me more.
So please help out. What is mail fraud and would you got to jail for it?
It’s any use of the mail (as opposed to me walking up to/breaking into your house, etc.) to commit a crime. If I promise to send you X if you send me $100, and then I don’t once I get your money, that’s mail fraud. It basically allows U.S. postal inspectors (the mail police – and they are tough customers) to get involved since your local police may not have jurisdiction to go after a criminal in another state.
Basically mail fraud is a giant umbrella crime that signifies that the US mail system was used in the commision of a crime. It’s kinda like tax evasion. When they don’t know what to charge you with, they hit you with mail fraud.
Likewise, if it is illegal to do something (like sell pornography, or as seems to be the case in your book – distribute racist literature) and you do it through the mail, that’s mail fraud. It’s still illegal even if you and I never meet. It’s a way to make the excuse “It wasn’t me. I didn’t do. It happened through the mail. I wasn’t the one who handed him the item.” null and void.
This is slightly off-topic, and I have no cite, but back in the Wild West days, it’s said that the postal inspectors were so bad-ass that on more than one occasion, a general store that had a small postal annex would be burgled, and the proprietor would come in the next morning to find a chalk line drawn around the postal annex with a note saying, “Dear postal inspectors – we didn’t cross this line.”
One reason you don’t have it in European countries is that you don’t have the distinction between State and Federal crimes - in the US, each state has their own criminal code, under which fraud would normally be prosecuted, for instance. The act exists so that using the US mail system to commit a fraud becomes a Federal crime, not just a State offense, and is tried by the Federal courts. Several nuances like this exist in the US because of the different levels in the criminal justice systems - for instance, kidnapping becomes a Federal offense if you cross a state boundary - the so-called “Lindbergh Law”. If you keep the victim in state (and don’t MAIL a ransom note), only the state laws apply.
Link to mail fraud definition at the USPS website.
Selected quote: “Postal Inspectors investigate any crime in which the U.S. Mail is used to further a scheme, whether it originated in the mail, by telephone or on the Internet. The use of the U.S. Mail is what makes it a mail fraud issue.”
Just calling it “mail fraud” is a little vague, as obviously this term covers a wide variety of crimes. (Side note: I have fun reporting those “send $5 to the people on this list” folks to the US Postal Inspectors - well, the Americans listed, anyway - as that is covered under mail fraud.)
It’s essentially a way for the Feds to take over what would have been a state crime. The congress might federalize a crime if it were to cumbersome or impossible for a state to do it, such as a fraud committed from Florida on New York residents. They also take over crimes in response to public perception that a crime is serious enough. With wire fraud, mentioned above, if a dope dealer phoned a friend in the next city to sell an eighth of pot, it has become federal, since state lines were crossed. If the dealer is a small fry, the feds won’t get involved, and leave the state to procecute him for basic narcotics offenses. However, if the dealer is a supersized fry, the feds have the ability to prosecute him. That is a much bigger deal.
Even if you call or mail a letter next door in perpetration of a fraud, it still falls under the umbrella of mail or wire fraud, since you used the US mail service, or the telephone lines that can be used across state lines.
In the states, if someone is overreacting about something, you might say to them “Don’t make a federal case out of this.” The saying comes from the (correct) perception that it is a much bigger deal to be in federal court than in state court. The judges and prosecuting attorneys are generally considered to be higher quality than state court, and you are dealing with the FBI, or other federal agency rather than the local police. The same applies in civil trials. The feds run a much tighter ship than the local courts.
For a while, the federal government made it illegal to send “obscene” things through the mail, and people who did it were often charged with mail fraud related crimes. There is the old legend of the tabloid newspaper (might be a UL) which ran two printings, one distributed to the news-stands with the word “fuck” in it, and one sent through the mail to subscribers which omitted the word. Lots of pornographers were arrested for sending porn through the mail. I imagine the novel you’re reading is based on a similar premise, though this sort of thing doesn’t really happen any more to my knowledge.
The man who posted anthrax to people is guilty of: Murder; attempted murder; other laws probably AND mail fraud? Thus making it a federal offence? Is this right?
If so it doesn’t help with my book, because it is set in the mid 60’s with a backdrop of the civil rights movement and the people who are apparently guilty of “mail fraud” are sending racist/white supremecist material through the post. Surely such material was legal at this time so where was the crime in posting it?
Two independent jurisdictions. The U.S. government (the one you usually think of, with Bush and the Congress and all that stuff) can legally only do what the Constitution authorizes – although one can get creative on how the powers authorized in the constitution enable thus-and-so! The State governments retain all powers not specifically forbidden them by the Federal or State constitution and not specifically delegated to the Federal government by the Federal constitution.
Since the Federal government can muster quite a lot of stuff, it’s useful to have crimes charged in the Federal courts instead of the state courts where one has a choice. Mail fraud, because committed via a service of the Federal government, is a federal crime.
It depends on the content of the hate material… Fer instance, if it was sent with the intent to incite riot or civil unrest, it was a fairly serious crime then and now, no matter if it were racist or not.
In the movie version of The Firm (but not in the book, I’m told), Tom Cruise’s character finds a vulnerability of the firm when he discovers that they have been overbilling their clients. The bills were sent through the mail … bingo, mail fraud, a federal crime. Without the mail element, they would have been violation of state fraud law or the bar association’s ethics rules, but not federal law.
Not quite. It wouldn’t be mail fraud because there is no fraudulent aspect, but you’re on the right track.
TITLE 18 , PART I , CHAPTER 83 , Sec. 1716 of the federal Code makes it an offence to mail hazardous material, including germs, and makes it a capital offence to do so if death results:
So, the person who mailed the anthrax is potentially liable for the murders of the recipients of the mail, and also for the postal workers who died, as a result of these provisions.
But Wait! it gets better! Order now and we’ll throw in state murder charges!
The individual states also have criminal jurisdiction, so those states who had citizens die as a result of the anthrax could also charge the sender, under their regular murder statutes.
Not convinced yet? Have we got a deal for you!
The states could charge the sender even if the sender has already been convicted of federal murder charges, without infringing double jeopardy!
It would help to know the context of the racist material. If it is ONLY racist material and the time frame is the mid-60’s, Mr. Ellroy may be taking a few liberties.
A glance at U. S. law enforcement literature in the mid-19th century will turn up a plethora of stories about Postal Officers. They are one of the oldest Federal investigation forces (I believe the U. S. Marshal service is a tad, and only a tad, older).
The other posters seem to have gotten the more serious stuff. Having independant state governments that do their best to not cooperate with each other makes everything more complicated.
I would think regardless of the time, it would be difficult, if not impossible to charge anyone with mail fraud for sending racist literature through the US Mail. It’s not illegal in the U.S. to espouse racist views.
The Supreme Court does give the government the right to restrain “fighting words” speech, but that has to be speech that is going to cause imminent trouble.
The State governments retain all powers not specifically forbidden them by the Federal or State constitution and not specifically delegated to the Federal government by the Federal constitution.