## Facts

- A federal grand jury indicted six defendants for conspiring to violate RICO by agreeing to participate in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, including theft-related schemes, fencing, narcotics trafficking, and obstruction of justice; two defendants were also charged with substantive RICO violations.
- The government alleged an informally associated, profit-driven criminal organization that operated through functionally separated “departments,” including stolen cars and counterfeit titles, thefts from interstate commerce, narcotics distribution, and violence/obstruction designed to protect operations.
- The evidence linked the defendants and numerous unindicted co-conspirators to many criminal ventures, but no more than three defendants participated in any single venture.
- J.C. Hawkins was portrayed as connecting all ventures and functioning as the central coordinator.
- After a 12-day jury trial, all six defendants were convicted of RICO conspiracy; two were also convicted of substantive RICO offenses.
- On appeal, the defendants challenged whether the alleged association qualified as a RICO enterprise and whether the evidence showed each defendant agreed to participate in the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity.

## Issues

1. Whether an informal association of individuals, organized around profiting from ongoing criminal activity, can constitute a RICO “enterprise” under 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4) for purposes of a § 1962(d) conspiracy.
2. What agreement and participation the government must prove to convict an individual of a RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d).
3. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support each defendant’s RICO conspiracy conviction, particularly James Alford Elliott, Jr.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit held that the alleged informally associated group could qualify as a RICO enterprise, even without a formal structure, where the proof showed coordinated criminal activity directed toward a common economic purpose.
- The court affirmed the RICO conspiracy convictions of Delph, Foster, Recea Hawkins, J.C. Hawkins, and Taylor, finding sufficient evidence that each manifested agreement to further the enterprise through racketeering activity.
- The court affirmed the substantive RICO convictions for the defendants convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c).
- The court reversed Elliott’s RICO conspiracy conviction, holding the evidence failed to show he agreed to participate in the enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity.

## Legal Principles

- A RICO “enterprise” under 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4) may be an informal association-in-fact; formal incorporation or rigid hierarchy is not required if the proof shows an ongoing association directed to a common purpose.
- To prove a RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), the government must show an enterprise affecting interstate commerce, a pattern of racketeering activity, and that the defendant agreed to participate in the enterprise’s affairs through that pattern.
- RICO conspiracy liability requires that the defendant, by words or actions, objectively manifest agreement to participate (directly or indirectly) in conducting the enterprise’s affairs through the commission of at least two predicate offenses.
- Participation in isolated criminal conduct connected to enterprise members is insufficient absent proof of agreement to the enterprise’s broader racketeering pattern.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit treated a loosely organized, profit-motivated criminal association as a RICO enterprise and sustained most RICO convictions, but reversed Elliott’s conspiracy conviction because the evidence did not permit a finding that he agreed to further the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity.


United States v. Elliott, 571 F.2d 880 (5th Cir. 1978)