The federal RICO Act, written by Blakey, was on the books for more than a decade but never used because US Attorneys weren't sure how to apply it. Giuliani, as US Attorney for the Southern District of NY, read in Joe Bonanno's autobiograhy, "A Man of Honor" (yeah, right) a description of the Commission a classic example of a "Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization." He called in Blakey to coach his team and him for the Commission case. Law is a competitive business, and witht that success, US Attorneys all over the country were falling over each other to bring RICO cases against OC. States got into the act with their own RICO legislation for the same reason--and not onlly against OC, just anything that'd make headlines and earn promotions.

One of the big reasons RICO appeals to prosecutors is the ease of convicting or coercing defendants as being part of a "conspiracy." In a conspiracy case, the prosecution doesn't have to prove that you committed a crime--only that you were conspiring with others to commit a crime or crimes. And, if the case goes to trial, the judge will allow 'uncorroborated testimony from unindicted co-conspirators." That's a fancy way of saying that if you're the chief defendant, and the prosecution thinks I was in it with you, they'll pull me in, threaten to indict me for the same double-digit-sentence crime--and then offer to not indict me in return for my cooperation with them. In other words, they can ocerce me into testifying against you. And when I do, they won't have to produce a corroborating withness who'll back up my testimony, as they'd have to in a standard felong.