Business

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law of 1970 was aimed at mobsters and drug traffickers, but in recent years prosecutors have used the statute to go after white-collar criminals with gangbusting zeal. That application of RICO has been attacked as unfair, especially the practice of freezing the assets of suspected criminals before trial. Last week the Justice Department issued new RICO guidelines requiring that prosecutors seek a forfeiture of assets in proportion to the crime rather than try to seize all of a defendant's business interests. The changes come in response to pending congressional legislation that would weaken RICO laws. Still, the man who helped draft the law, Notre Dame Law School professor Robert Blakey, calls the reforms a "clarification and codification of common sense."