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3. The Attorney General should provide Informational resources for <br />city and county attorneys who prosecute obscenity crimes. <br />4. Obscenity prosecutions should concentrate on cases that most <br />flagrantly offend community standards. <br />11. OTHER LEGAL REMEDIES <br />A. RICQ/FQRPEITURE <br />In addition to traditional criminal prosecutions, use of RICO statutes and criminal <br />and civil forfeiture actions may also prove to be successful against obscenity offenders.: . <br />By attacking the criminal organization and the profits of Qlegai activity, such actions cari;,-^ <br />provide a strong disincentive to the e^biishment and operation of sexually oriented ^,-4^ <br />businesses. For example, the feder^ government and a number of the twenty-eight <br />states which have enacted racketeer influenced and corrupt organization (RICO) :c <br />statutes include obscenity offenses as predicate crimes. Generally speaking, to violate <br />a RICO statute, a person must acquire or ‘maintain an interest in or control of an <br />• • <br />enterprise, or must conduct the aff^rs of an enterprise through a “pattern of criminal <br />activity.* That pattern of criminal activity may indude obscenity violations, which In turn <br />can expose violators to increased fines and penalties as well as forfeiture of all property . <br />acquired or used in the course of a RICO, violation. These statutes generally enable <br />prosecutors to obtain either criminal or civil forfeiture orders to seize assets and may <br />also be used to obtain injunctive relief to divest repeat offenders of financial interests in ... <br />sexually oriented businesses. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-68 (West Supp. 1988). RICO <br />statutes may be particularly effective in dismantling businesses dominated by <br />organized crime, but they may be applied against other targets as well. <br />The Working Group believes that Minnesota should enact a RlCO-iike statute that <br />would encompass increased penalties for using a “pattern* of criminal obscenity acts <br />to conduct the affairs of a business entity. Provisions authorizing the seizure of assets <br />for obscenity violations should be considered, but the limitations imposed by the First <br />Amendment must be taken into account. <br />-25-