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More than 60 Atlanta training center activists named in RICO Indictment (www.ajc.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/news

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

More than five dozen activists were indicted on RICO charges last week over the ongoing efforts to halt construction of the city of Atlanta’s planned public safety training center in DeKalb County.

top 18 comments

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

RICO prosecution requires multiple acts wherein members set up an "illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit" through coercion, fraud or extortion.
How in the hell is this going to apply to loosely organized voluntary protesters who are unarmed in the face of heavily armed police?

This is stupid. This case is going to fall apart.

[–] radix 22 points 10 months ago

Georgia's RICO statute isn't really comparable to the rest of the nation.

They'll convict on any sort of communication between a small group used to break the smallest laws.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/01/atlanta-cheating-schools-scandal-teachers/

This podcast is specifically about the trump indictment, but also goes into the GA RICO usage: https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/unfortunately-this-episode-is-rico

[+] [email protected] -11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

loosely organized

Did you even read the indictment?

They were organized enough to form a 503c charity and then funnel money in and out of it, track expenses and receipts, and perform reimbursements for supplies for conducting what amounts to traditional terrorism. They also established both on-grid and off-grid communication networks to organize and strategize. They also created and internally published their own educational materials to indoctrinate new recruits to the inner core of the cause.

You and I have very different definitions for "loosely".

[–] dezmd 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You and I have very different definitions for "illegal coordinated scheme," " repeatedly or consistently collect a profit through coercion, fraud or extortion," and also "conducting what amounts to traditional terrorism"

a 503c charity and then funnel money in and out of it, track expenses and receipts, and perform reimbursements for supplies

You mean a 501c3 charity. Those are all required activities for a 501c3. That is not an criminal enterprise.

conducting what amounts to traditional terrorism

Do you actually support our democratic government powers being corrupted into authoritarianism sprinkled with fascism?

They also created and internally published their own educational materials to indoctrinate new recruits to the inner core of the cause.

That's what all organizations do, be they religious, charitable, or political.

The entire indictment reads like propaganda piece, carefully crafted as to focus on political 'anarchist militant' rhetoric like this is the late 1960s and 70s, to create a false narrative bubble so that it includes any and all of the community organizers involved.

This is an egregious abuse of power through the use of RICO, and it's not the first time GA has employed it against activist types.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

They created booby traps on public property and took at least one completely innocent nonrealted person hostage at gunpoint. Get the fiuck out of here with "egregious abuse of power". Right to protest doesn't give you a blank check to maim other people or hold them at gunpoint and it doesn't threaten democracy to indict them for that.

[–] dogslayeggs 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Your entire argument hinges on whether the organization had a role to play in the illegal activities vs whether the illegal activities were done by individuals in the organization. If someone in my company does something illegal, there should not be a RICO case against me unless I conspired with them to specifically do that illegal thing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Your entire argument hinges on whether the organization had a role to play

Well, let's be real here. It's the prosecution's argument. And they obviously believe the organization played a role or they wouldn't have named those individuals in the indictment.

After reading through it, it does appear that the prosecution believes that senior individuals inside the organization were promoting the illegal behavior without actually getting their hands dirty.

[–] dezmd 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The RICO case is literally targetting everyone it can and certainly will affect everyone willing to protest. Its called the chilling effect and its a common strategy of authoritarians in government. It's not actually prosecuting the explicitly henious criminal activity you are trying to reference to justify your support of an obvious egregious abuse of power.

Your position is sophmoric cognitive dissonance, you are demanding to shrink the context of the discussion to justify your pitchfork waving.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

RICO is intended to prosecute wealthy and powerful puppeteers who hide behind their disposable pawns to do their dirty work. If this case was only about lawful protest, you have a reasonable argument, but it wasn't, and you don't. The fact that they broke laws and harmed innocent bystanders and took action that could have harmed more is OK for you because they did it in the name of a cause you happen to support. Call me whatever you want, you aren't going to be able to justify the coordinated misdeeds when it infringes on the rights of the innocent.

[–] dezmd 4 points 10 months ago

RICO is intended to prosecute any group of individuals attempting to profit from running a criminal enterprise. The charged individuals as a group having a 501c3 with verbose open records and a verbose paper trail of spending in the first place may even been seen as a possible mitigating factor against finding a RICO conspiracy.

Yes, the case is not about lawful protest, it's about criminality, and in that context it's being used to prosecute more than just criminality as it sweeps in leaders among the protestors not involved in criminality. It amounts to suppression of protestors and is a dangerous precedent to support from any level of government prosecution. This RICO case ends up being used in a way to prevent people from exercising First Amendment rights, a public protest is a form of petitioning the Government for a redress of grievances. What specific evidence has put all of these people into a category of criminality that isn't just a sweeping catch all attempt using 'anarchist' activity (which is protected speech activity until acts occur, acts that are criminal activities done for protest are individually prosecuted)?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Who would or is actually profiting from the alleged criminal activity? That alone makes the RICO charges dubious.

You have no basis in support of prosecution beyond conjecture, and/or you are intentionally ignoring any larger context that doesn't support your pitchfork desire for prosecution. There is nothing you have put forth that has any forethought or consideration of anything but the prosecutorial indictment claims alone.

I called out your position as bullshit, I didn't call you an idiot asshole as a person. Learn to recognize the difference, and do better.

[–] rez_doggie 16 points 10 months ago

Further proof that all cops are bastards

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

Here is the indictment.

[–] FuglyDuck 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The worst part of this is that the facility isn’t even in Atlanta. So the people directly affected don’t have a say in the city’s decisions

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Atlanta is in DeKalb county. Well, partially - Atlanta is in DeKalb and Fulton. The land being rented to build Cop City is owned by the city of Atlanta.

I’m actually from DeKalb county, so this quite literally hits home for me.

[–] FuglyDuck 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

correct me if I'm wrong, but even though the land itself is owned by the city, it's in unincorporated land, meaning the neighbors to it don't get to have a voice on the city council to represent them?

I'm not sure what use dekalb county would be here, though.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Unfortunately, all that matters is that the city owns the land, and they can do what they want with it. Since Atlanta owns the land, it’s the Atlanta City Council that decides what to do with it.

As for DeKalb, it’s in DeKalb county and DeKalb county is the one that’s issued the building permits for it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Holy shit. 🍿

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I hope 120 people replace them.