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These Dons now have something notorious in common.
Former President Donald Trump has been charged with alleged election-tampering in Georgia under an anti-organized crime law known as RICO — a statute once famously used to finally nail New York City’s “Teflon Don” John Gotti, the late head of the Gambino crime family.
The federal RICO — or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations — Act was adopted in 1970 and since then states, like Georgia, have gone on to pass their own version of the law.
More sweeping than its federal counterpart, the Peach State’s RICO law, under which Trump and 18 associates are now charged, makes it a crime to participate in, acquire or maintain control of an “enterprise” through a “pattern of racketeering activity” or to conspire to do so. Notably, the alleged plot does not have to have been successful for a RICO charge to stick.
Here are some of the most high-profile RICO cases:
![Former President Donald Trump looks over the crowd during the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, N.J., Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000021847525-2.jpg?w=1024)
Gambino crime family
Gambino bosses Gotti and Frank Locascio were convicted in April 1992 under the RICO Act and sentenced to life in prison — the beginning of the end for what was once regarded as America’s most powerful Mafia crime family.
Founded in 1910, the criminal organization was one of the original “Five Families” that dominated criminal activities in New York City in the first half of the 20th century.
![Reputed Mafia boss John Gotti is escorted by an unidentified man through the crowds during his trial](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000021888495.jpg?w=1024)
The Mafia syndicate began unraveling in the 1990s, when underboss Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano cooperated with the FBI, which helped the feds bring down Gotti, along with most of the Gambino family’s leadership.
The family’s last capo, Frank Cali, was assassinated outside his Staten Island home in 2019.
Lucchese crime family
In the mid-1990s, prosecutors used RICO charges to dismantle the powerful Lucchese family in a matter of 18 months after several high-ranking members flipped into informants.
The Lucchese family’s downfall came after acting boss Alphonse D’Arco became the first capo of a New York mafia group to testify against the mob. This led to the arrests of the entire Lucchese family hierarchy and nearly decimated the family.
![Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, boss of the Lucchese crime family (back seat) and Salvatore T. "Tom Mix" Santoro, Sr., underboss of the Lucchese crime family, leave the US Federal Courthouse during the Commission Trial September 18, 1986 in New York City.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000021888509.jpg?w=1024)
Bonanno crime family
Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Massino was found guilty at trial in 2004 of 11 RICO counts for seven murders, as well as arson, extortion, loansharking, money laundering and illegal gambling.
Facing a possible death penalty in a separate trial for the murder of capo Gerlando Sciascia, Massino offered to cooperate with the prosecution, becoming the first boss of one of the “Five Families” in New York City to do so.
![Bonanno crime family organizational chart](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000021888490.jpg?w=1024)
Massino, dubbed “The Last Don,” was sentenced in 2005 to life in prison, but was resentenced to time served in 2013.
The Cowboy Mafia
The RICO Act was instrumental in taking down The Cowboy Mafia — a group of prolific marijuana smugglers who operated in the United States during the 1970s. In a span of just over a year, the group imported over 106 tons of marijuana from Colombia using shrimp boats.
![Cowboy Mafia book cover](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000021888492.jpg)
Members of The Cowboy Mafia were arrested in 1978 after the feds seized one of the boats, the Agnes Pauline, while they were unloading their cargo in Port Arthur, Texas. A year later, 26 smugglers were convicted.
The head of the group, Charles “Muscles” Foster, pleaded innocent by reason of insanity and was acquitted. In 1982, The Cowboy Mafia’s suspected financial backer, multimillionaire and honorary Texas Ranger Rex Cauble, was convicted of RICO charges and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Hells Angels Motorcycle Club
In 1979, federal prosecutors attempted to use the RICO Act to go after Sonny Barger, a founding member of the Oakland, Calif. chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, and several other members and associates.
![Hells Angels check visitors to the Bulldog Bash at Shakespeare County Raceway on August 12, 2010 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000021888667.jpg?w=1024)
Prosecutors attempted to show a pattern of behavior to convict Barger and his cohorts of RICO offenses related to guns and illegal drugs. The jury, however, acquitted Barger on the RICO charges after finding that there was no proof that illegal activities were part of club policy.
Founded in 1948 in Fontana, Calif., the Hells Angels is considered by many law enforcement agencies in the US and abroad to be an organized crime syndicate.
With Post wires
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