Thug Riders gang members arrested under complex RICO charges
DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF) — Fourteen members of a dangerous and violent motorcycle gang at the center of a federal investigation are behind bars.
U.S. District Attorney Kenneth Parker said they’re connected to numerous crimes here in the state and out.
One of the charges the group faces is violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). It increases the penalties for those who participate in organized crime.
Dayton 24/7 Now’s Gwyneth Falloon took a closer look at what exactly it means to be charged with that.
The RICO act gives authorities more access to additional resources to help bring criminals to justice. Falloon sat down with Vipal Patel, former acting U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, who told her RICO charges are extremely difficult to prove.
“I can tell you this much, this is not the first time this particular United States attorney’s office has brought RICO conspiracy charges,” said Patel.
Patel said the Southern District of Ohio has a history of charging people in violation of the RICO Act.
“It’s a really powerful statute that allows the prosecutors and gives a lot of ammunition to the prosecutors by bringing all these bad acts in front of the jury. The jury gets to hear and see all of them,” Patel said.
That’s exactly what was seen in Friday’s indictment in the wide-ranging conspiracy case involving the Thug Riders Motorcycle Club, a motorcycle gang with a Dayton chapter. Fourteen members are accused of taking part in gang-related activity, including in some cases murder and extortion.
“We’ve had several gangs, motorcycle gangs in our communities,” said former Montgomery County Sheriff, Representative Phil Plummer. “A lot of it was local street gangs, controlling their neighborhoods and selling dope. That’s where a lot of our violence came from. But, we also had the Outlaws. We had different motorcycle gangs, and we had three Mexican drug cartels.”
Plummer said gangs and organized group crime is not new to the Miami Valley. Enforcing RICO helps get dangerous criminals off the streets.
“Remember, we had the Salem Mall,” Plummer recalled. “Gangs shut down the Salem Mall because you had to assault people at the Salem Mall and had to destroy the Salem Mall to become a gang member.”
While the RICO Act is simple in some parts, it’s just as complex in others.
“If the government can prove that there was an agreement between individuals, even if that person was never there, but that person knowingly and voluntarily entered into that conspiracy, knowing and seeking to aid the objective of that conspiracy, they’re gonna be held criminally liable,” Patel said.
These groups also often consider members family, which University of Dayton Law Professor Emeritus Tom Hagel said could make finding witnesses a challenge.
“That’s why they have such a problem sometimes with prosecutions, in terms of getting lower-level people, for example, to flip to turn on the upper, higher level,” stated Hagel. “A lot of them will go to prison, even though they might be able to make a deal. But, if they make a deal, you know, they may have some form of retribution.”