S9 Ep 13: Who's Rico?
10/04/22 • 39 min
2 Listeners
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act has been on the books for more than half a century, and Georgia’s version was enacted in 1980.
The 13th episode of Season Nine of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast — “The Trump Grand Jury” — takes a deep look at RICO. The episode traces its origin as a prosecutorial weapon to take Mafia dons off the streets. It also looks at how RICO has been used in recent years against schoolteachers, a metro Atlanta sheriff and street gangs.
Legal experts following the Fulton County special purpose grand jury investigation into what happened here after the 2020 presidential election say that racketeering charges could ultimately be brought in this case.
Episode 13 — “Who’s Rico?” — also looks at a key member of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham’s legal team: Don McGahn. McGahn is one of three lawyers hired by Graham who contends the U.S. Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause protects him from having to honor his out-of-state material witness subpoena and testify before the special grand jury.
You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it above.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act has been on the books for more than half a century, and Georgia’s version was enacted in 1980.
The 13th episode of Season Nine of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast — “The Trump Grand Jury” — takes a deep look at RICO. The episode traces its origin as a prosecutorial weapon to take Mafia dons off the streets. It also looks at how RICO has been used in recent years against schoolteachers, a metro Atlanta sheriff and street gangs.
Legal experts following the Fulton County special purpose grand jury investigation into what happened here after the 2020 presidential election say that racketeering charges could ultimately be brought in this case.
Episode 13 — “Who’s Rico?” — also looks at a key member of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham’s legal team: Don McGahn. McGahn is one of three lawyers hired by Graham who contends the U.S. Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause protects him from having to honor his out-of-state material witness subpoena and testify before the special grand jury.
You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it above.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previous Episode
S9 Ep 12: Breakdown Bonus: What happened in Coffee County, Georgia
The latest episode of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Breakdown” podcast takes a close look at the data breach at the Coffee County elections office which occurred one day after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Podcast hosts Bill Rankin and Tamar Hallerman interview Mark Niesse, the AJC’s elections and voting rights expert.
Niesse has covered the wild developments surrounding the Coffee County data breach on Jan. 7, 2021, since news of it first surfaced. He explains how it happened, why news of it first came to light this past May and why state elections officials should be alarmed.
The Fulton County special purpose grand jury, which is investigating former President Donald Trump and his allies, has issued subpoenas to Sidney Powell and the data firm SullivanStrickler. Powell, who was once a lawyer for the Trump campaign, oversaw the breach and hired the data firm.
Niesse, who was at the Cobb County audit of absentee ballots, also recalls the unusual and sudden visit by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Meadows was told he could not go inside to see what was going on. And Niesse also discusses the state legislative hearings he covered in December 2020 when Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani testified and presented now-debunked evidence of voter fraud.
Separately, the 12th episode of “The Trump Grand Jury” also explains why the Fulton special grand jury may be interested in hearing from former Georgia congressman and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it on your computer above.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Next Episode
S9 Ep 14: Breakdown Bonus with the AJC's Bill Torpy and Patricia Murphy
The latest episode of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast explores court filings that suggest a criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump and his allies has reached a new, more sensitive stage.
The bonus episode also includes podcast hosts Bill Rankin and Tamar Hallerman interviewing the AJC’s metro columnist, Bill Torpy, and the newspaper’s political columnist, Patricia Murphy. They both have been keeping up with the special purpose grand jury investigation and give some interesting observations on what has happened so far and what may happen in the coming months.
You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it on your computer above.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/breakdown-11723/s9-ep-13-whos-rico-24050992"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to s9 ep 13: who's rico? on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy