Use the RICO Act to Prosecute CIA Crimes

A day or two ago, I read an article that former employees of the Pedernales Electric Coop in Texas and a former law enforcement officer were being prosecuted for organized criminal activity (i.e., racketeering). Their crime? Misuse of credit cards:

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/inquiry-into-unauthorized-purchases-at-pedernales-/nfDKp/

In the past I also have read about abortion clinic protesters who were prosecuted for racketeering. Their crime? Organizing and conducting protests intended to stop the killing of innocent people (i.e., the unborn):

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/25/us/anti-abortion-protests-to-continue-groups-say.html

So ... I asked myself the question, "Why can't we use the RICO Act prosecute the management, employees, and contractors of the CIA for their organized criminal activity"?

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them, closing a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because he did not actually commit the crime personally.

[See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act]

Their crimes? The CIA seems to be an ongoing criminal organization which appears to have committed many of the following heinous crimes (and possibly more):

• Murdering US citizens and others
• Torturing US citizens and others
• Spying on US citizens and their Congress
• Destroying evidence and otherwise obstructing justice
• Trafficking in narcotics
• Misappropriation and misuse of official funds

If we want justice, the place to start is with America's "official" thugs and war criminals ... not with abortion protesters and those who commit petty fraud.