Could the Saints' bounty system be an offence under RICO?

Factual Questions
1

As I understand it from the news articles (and threads here on the Dope, of course), the coaching staff of the Saints (and possibly some other NFL teams) had organized bounty systems where a player who hurt a player on an opposing team got paid a bounty. The NFL has heavily penalised the Saints coaching staff who were involved, saying it’s contrary to the NFL rules.

Question: is there a potential for the bounty system to be an offence under RICO? It certainly has hallmarks of a conspiracy.

It also appears to have gone beyond the accepted standard - hard clean hits are part of the game, but the NFL’s own actions have said that intentionally trying to injure another player are not part of the game. And, the usual principle of physical contact sports is that a player consents to what would other wise be an assault, as part of the game. But if the NFL is punishing people for doing it, that’s a clear indication that it’s not part of the acceptable standard, so the “consent by playing” defence may not apply.

So, would RICO apply? what about state criminal laws for criminal conspiracy?

2

What predicate acts have the coaches ordered the players to do? As far as I know none of the players have been charged criminally with anything (i.e. assault) and even if they had it’s irrelevant because assault isn’t a RICO offense.

If the coaches had the players kidnap other team’s players and then had them participate in some sort of illegal gambling operations, that might be a better pattern of racketeering activity.

3

assault with intent to injure isn’t an offence? or not a predicate offence for the purposes of RICO?

I would have thought that if the Mob had enforcers whose job was to beat up others on instructions from higher-ups, it would potentially attract RICO, but I’m not at all familiar with it, so I’m asking.

4

Tell me you are not really serious. Next thing you know, there will be Congressional hearings.

God knows there’s nothing more important to focus on.

5

The trick would be proving the coaches meant “assualt beyond what is normal play in a football game”. There are plenty of ways to perform a legal tackle that leave a person unable to play for a day or more. Unless there is proof that the coaches encouraged actual illegal behaviour, there’s no offense.

Not sure what RICO covers other than a pattern of repeated illegal acts. So you would have to prove that it was intended that there be illegal acts. If the tacklers did not even get tossed out of the game (IIRC, a lot were not penalized) then it’s hard to prove the coaches intended that the actions be outside of the normal game “rough and tumble” and were supposed to be actual assault. Its not a crime for the coach to say “I want you to hit those guys hard - real hard!”

6

http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2012/03/nfl-bounty-hearing-coming-in-senate-118368.html

7

Correct. It’s not a racketeering activity as defined by RICO. And RICO requires two separate racketeering activities with the most recent within 10 years.

[QUOTE=18 U.S. Code § 1961 - Definitions | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute]

As used in this chapter—
(1) “racketeering activity” means (A) any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; (B) any act which is indictable under any of the following provisions of title 18, United States Code: Section 201 (relating to bribery), section 224 (relating to sports bribery), sections 471, 472, and 473 (relating to counterfeiting), section 659 (relating to theft from interstate shipment) if the act indictable under section 659 is felonious, section 664 (relating to embezzlement from pension and welfare funds), sections 891–894 (relating to extortionate credit transactions), section 1028 (relating to fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents), section 1029 (relating to fraud and related activity in connection with access devices), section 1084 (relating to the transmission of gambling information), section 1341 (relating to mail fraud), section 1343 (relating to wire fraud), section 1344 (relating to financial institution fraud), section 1425 (relating to the procurement of citizenship or nationalization unlawfully), section 1426 (relating to the reproduction of naturalization or citizenship papers), section 1427 (relating to the sale of naturalization or citizenship papers), sections 1461–1465 (relating to obscene matter), section 1503 (relating to obstruction of justice), section 1510 (relating to obstruction of criminal investigations), section 1511 (relating to the obstruction of State or local law enforcement), section 1512 (relating to tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant), section 1513 (relating to retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant), section 1542 (relating to false statement in application and use of passport), section 1543 (relating to forgery or false use of passport), section 1544 (relating to misuse of passport), section 1546 (relating to fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents), sections 1581–1592 (relating to peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons)., [1] section 1951 (relating to interference with commerce, robbery, or extortion), section 1952 (relating to racketeering), section 1953 (relating to interstate transportation of wagering paraphernalia), section 1954 (relating to unlawful welfare fund payments), section 1955 (relating to the prohibition of illegal gambling businesses), section 1956 (relating to the laundering of monetary instruments), section 1957 (relating to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity), section 1958 (relating to use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire), section 1960 (relating to illegal money transmitters), sections 2251, 2251A, 2252, and 2260 (relating to sexual exploitation of children), sections 2312 and 2313 (relating to interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles), sections 2314 and 2315 (relating to interstate transportation of stolen property), section 2318 (relating to trafficking in counterfeit labels for phonorecords, computer programs or computer program documentation or packaging and copies of motion pictures or other audiovisual works), section 2319 (relating to criminal infringement of a copyright), section 2319A (relating to unauthorized fixation of and trafficking in sound recordings and music videos of live musical performances), section 2320 (relating to trafficking in goods or services bearing counterfeit marks), section 2321 (relating to trafficking in certain motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts), sections 2341–2346 (relating to trafficking in contraband cigarettes), sections 2421–24 (relating to white slave traffic), sections 175–178 (relating to biological weapons), sections 229–229F (relating to chemical weapons), section 831 (relating to nuclear materials), (C) any act which is indictable under title 29, United States Code, section 186 (dealing with restrictions on payments and loans to labor organizations) or section 501 (c) (relating to embezzlement from union funds), (D) any offense involving fraud connected with a case under title 11 (except a case under section 157 of this title), fraud in the sale of securities, or the felonious manufacture, importation, receiving, concealment, buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), punishable under any law of the United States, (E) any act which is indictable under the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, (F) any act which is indictable under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 274 (relating to bringing in and harboring certain aliens), section 277 (relating to aiding or assisting certain aliens to enter the United States), or section 278 (relating to importation of alien for immoral purpose) if the act indictable under such section of such Act was committed for the purpose of financial gain, or (G) any act that is indictable under any provision listed in section 2332b (g)(5)(B);

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