Second RICO Suit Filed Against Protesters

FCUSA PRESS RELEASE, AUGUST 8, 1999

Second RICO Suit Filed Against Fur Protesters

Special to Fur Commission USA by Simon Ward

IN WHAT MAY BECOME A TREND, a second lawsuit has been filed against animal rights campaigners accusing them of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.(1) This follows a ground-breaking suit filed in May by a Philadelphia furrier.

On Aug. 5, a group of New Jersey furriers filed a racketeering suit in Newark federal court against members of the Animal Defense League of New Jersey, and the New Jersey branch of the Animal Liberation Front.

The lawsuit seeks an order placing stiff restrictions on protesters outside the plaintiffs' fur stores, claiming that they regularly go beyond the tactics associated with peaceful demonstrations. Harassment and intimidation of staff and customers have become commonplace, and on occasion property has been damaged - windows have been spray-painted, truck tires have been slashed, and doors have been glued shut.

Attorney David Wadyka, who brought the action, told the New Jersey Star-Ledger (Aug. 6) that previous efforts to control the protests in state and municipal court had been ineffective. The RICO action, he said, was intended to show that what might appear to be isolated acts were actually part of a "conspiratorial web" orchestrated at the international level with the aim of closing down the fur industry.

Among the plaintiffs is John Guarino, owner of two fur stores that have been regular targets of demonstrations. Guarino joined the suit because the protesters were getting out of hand.

''We absolutely support free speech," he told the Star-Ledger. "But there have been times when they've crossed the line." He stressed, "we believe we are in a moral, ethical and legal business," and animal rights activists "don't have the right to try to stop us."

Other plaintiffs are Winters Fur Shoppe and Woodbridge Fur Shop.

Woodbridge manager Nick Sistasis told the Star-Ledger that the majority of protesters outside his store have been young people who have used the demonstrations as a "ticket to cause trouble."

''I respect everybody's opinion," he said, "but don't push your opinion on me by breaking windows."

Precedent

The New Jersey lawsuit follows a suit filed in May by a Philadelphia furrier against animal rights pressure groups and several individuals.

Jacques Ferber Inc., a furrier for over 75 years, and attorney Bruce Rodger, filed suit against three pressure groups and four individuals. Co-defendants are the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT), the Animal Defense League, and Vegan Resistance for Liberation, plus four of their members: Joseph Bateman, Julia Wilczynski, Darius Fullmer and Brett Wyker.(2) The suit is in limbo until the four individual defendants can all be served.

Following protests and illegal actions outside its store "on a more or less weekly basis'' since 1995, the final straw for Ferber reportedly came on April 24, when vandals wearing hoods smashed the store window (Philadelphia Weekly, June 2).

Ferber's complaint focuses on accusations of property damage and criminal acts such as throwing paint at the storefront, etching the window with acid, and gluing the door shut. But there are more serious charges, including extortion, defamation, terrorist threats such as threatening to burn employees' houses down, and verbal and physical intimidation of both staff and customers. These acts, says the suit, are intended "to ultimately force Ferber out of business.''

Ferber is seeking at least $50,000 in damages and an injunction against the pressure groups and affiliated individuals.

Organized Crime

RICO was designed to help law enforcement deal with criminal activity that was organized, methodical and brutal, in particular the use of intimidation to generate cash or control legal businesses for illegal gain. The Outfit, the Syndicate, La Cosa Nostra, the Family, Mafia, the Mob: these were the names given to organized crime in Chicago alone. Older citizens will recall the Black Hand, a secret society that engaged in acts of terrorism and blackmail across the US early this century.

The filing of criminal or civil RICO lawsuits against pressure groups has been anticipated since the Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that RICO could be used against anti-abortion pressure groups and individuals using excessive and illegal tactics.

Unlike the Mafia et al., anti-abortion extremists were not in the business of extorting cash from victims. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court ruled that advancement of an agenda or cause was sufficient grounds for a RICO action. By blocking entrances to clinics, protesters were guilty of extortion, a "predicate act" under RICO. Additionally, using blockades and threats in an attempt to close clinics was racketeering, an illegal enterprise in its own right. Whether the racketeering was conducted for money or some other motive was irrelevant.

The Supreme Court has also upheld the rights of states to establish "buffer zones" around abortion clinics, and to set time restrictions on protests.

The court's ruling has not been without controversy, however, with some viewing the application of RICO to pressure groups as a threat to the freedom of speech. Following the ruling, no less than Prof. G. Robert Blakely of Notre Dame, who wrote RICO, warned: "Everybody who loves the First Amendment has got to sleep uneasily tonight."

Complex Issue

It is vital, therefore, to guard against the use of RICO to stifle legal protest. Provided legal statutes are observed, we must all embrace the right of people to stage public protests, be they for or against fur, paving over habitat with cotton or vegetables, or any issue.

Complicating the matter, however, is the fact that a single protest involving multiple interested parties may involve both legal and illegal actions. Great care must therefore be taken in distinguishing between the legal protesters and the predatory criminals, otherwise the former will be penalized for the illegal actions of the latter.

That said, if properly applied, RICO has an important role to play in suppressing illegal actions associated with protests by compensating for inadequacies in other laws.

Protesters who employ direct force and intimidation, be it blockades, violence, damage to property or threats, have always been subject to arrest under state law. But RICO can be used to reach those behind the scenes, who do not commit such crimes themselves but incite others to do so, or provide organizational support or money to campaigns of terror. Such people should be considered racketeers and subjected to the full force of the law.

Inevitably, the defendants in the Ferber case are taking a different view. Said Brett Wyker to the Philadelphia Weekly, "I feel pretty confident it's a frivolous case." He added that the Animal Liberation Front, that convenient scapegoat for violence, "has accepted responsibility for most of the vandalism."

CAFT director J.P. Goodwin, meanwhile, is playing the innocent abroad. "The right to peacefully assemble is guaranteed," he said, referring to the protests outside Ferber's store. "Just because this furrier's business is hurting because people are choosing to not buy fur does not make peaceful demonstrators guilty of anything but wanting to stop animal cruelty. All of our civil rights are in jeopardy."

All of our civil rights are in jeopardy? Furriers, farmers and all other citizens have rights too. Let the courts decide.

NOTES:

(1) For information on RICO see US Code, Title 18 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Part I - Crimes, Chapter 96 - Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, Sec. 1961. Definitions at www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1961.html and Sec. 1962. Prohibited activities at www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1962.html.

(2) In January, Wyker e-mailed FCUSA's Teresa Platt: "hey, what did oyu think of the Fur Farmers convention in WI? FUR IS DEAD AND YOU'LL BE SOON!" He was referring to the International Mink Show in Milwaukee at which about a dozen masked people attempted to charge the convention hall. Leading them was a core of out-of-staters, including CAFT's J.P. Goodwin, and Gary Yourofsky, now jailed for charges relating to a 1997 fur farm raid.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, PMB 506, 826 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118-2698 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

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