Home / Practice Areas / RICO & Racketeering Defense
RICO & Racketeering Defense
Georgia’s RICO statute is broader than the federal version, and prosecutors use it to sweep dozens of defendants into a single indictment. Being named is not the same as being guilty, and your role in the State’s theory is the first fight.
The Approach
In a RICO case, the indictment tells a story. Your defense starts by telling yours.
Under O.C.G.A. 16-14-4, the State can charge a pattern of racketeering activity built from predicate acts, and Georgia prosecutors, from county district attorneys to the Attorney General, have made aggressive use of it. The statute’s breadth is exactly why peripheral defendants get pulled in: people whose alleged conduct would never support a standalone prosecution find themselves named alongside the State’s real targets.
Early role definition changes everything. Severance motions, demurrers, and a clear factual record of what you did and did not do can separate your case from the noise of a sprawling indictment. Waiting lets the State’s narrative harden around you.
RICO charges also carry forfeiture exposure and, in some cases, parallel civil RICO claims. The discovery is enormous: phones, wiretaps, financial records, social media. Defending these cases takes organization and resources, and we build that infrastructure from day one.
What we handle
Racketeering cases we defend.
- Georgia RICOState racketeering indictments under O.C.G.A. 16-14-4, including multi-defendant cases.
- Federal RICOFederal racketeering and conspiracy charges, with the different rules they carry.
- Conspiracy countsCases built on association, where the fight is over what you actually agreed to.
- Asset forfeiture defenseProtecting property and accounts swept up in racketeering allegations.
- Parallel civil RICOCivil racketeering claims that follow or accompany the criminal case.
- Targets & peripheral defendantsRepresentation matched to your actual role in the indictment.
Questions
Before you call.
What makes RICO different from other charges?
The State charges a pattern built from other crimes, called predicate acts, and can try many defendants together. The danger is spillover: evidence about others bleeding onto you. Role definition and severance are the antidotes.
I barely know the other defendants. Why am I in this?
That is the peripheral-defendant problem, and it is common in Georgia RICO cases. The breadth of the statute lets prosecutors cast a wide net. A focused early defense is how you get out of it.
Can they take my property?
RICO carries forfeiture provisions that reach property alleged to be connected to the pattern. Acting early, before accounts are frozen and property is restrained, preserves options.
Contact
Talk to a trial lawyer today
Tell us what you are facing. We will tell you where you stand and what to do next.
Canton Office
101 Woodland Way, Suite 1C
Canton, GA 30114
Phone: (770) 693-8715
Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Florida office, by appointment:
1831 NW 33rd Street
Oakland Park, FL 33309
Request a consultation
Confidential. No obligation. We respond during business hours, usually the same day.
Criminal and civil matters go directly to Mitch Skandalakis. Prefer the phone? Call (770) 693-8715.