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I agree with Alan4discussion: cases such as these should be pursued in order to identify all individuals involved in the criminal act.
It's a shame that neither the RICO act nor CCE (continuing criminal enterprise) laws cannot be applied against religious organization's criminal activities However, conspiracy (accessory after the fact) could easily be applied towards anyone with knowledge of the criminal act. Simply based on the testimony of the defendant, DOJ could easily indict his 'boss' - and probably convict him - on the same charges.
While (by definition) CCE can only be applied to drug trafficking organizations, it would be an interesting exercise to see if one can legally define the Catholic church (or any other church for that matter) as a Racketeering organization - in order to press RICO charges. An example would be the use of extortion and/or "protection" schemes (give a certain percentage {cut} of your income to the church or you'll burn in hell for all eternity).
Do this, and you could legally take down the whole organization in one fell swoop....
Permalink Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:48:23 UTC | #950135