Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino confirmed his administration is studying United States anti racketeering legislation as a model for a new organized crime law. The proposed legislation would target criminal networks operating both within Panama and across international borders. Mulino announced the initiative on Thursday, November 20, stating his team is seeking international advice and reviewing legal frameworks from the US, France, and Italy.
The explicit mention of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act holds particular significance due to its historical impact on dismantling complex criminal enterprises. This US law, passed in 1970, fundamentally changed how prosecutors pursued organized crime syndicates. It emerged during an era when criminal groups deeply infiltrated labor unions, legitimate businesses, the construction industry, and port operations.
My team is studying this legal model to structure a Panamanian proposal, aimed at confronting criminal organizations that operate inside and outside the country. [Translated from Spanish]
The transformative element of RICO was its ability to charge criminal leaders not just for direct crimes, but for running or participating in a criminal enterprise. This marked a radical shift, allowing the justice system to prosecute the entire structure of an organization rather than just the individuals who committed isolated crimes. The legal concept of a pattern of racketeering activity proved decisive. Prosecutors only needed to demonstrate that members of an organization had committed at least two serious crimes within a ten year period to justify a RICO indictment.
Historic Prosecutions Under RICO Framework
New York witnessed the peak application of RICO during the so called Mafia Commission Trial between 1985 and 1986. Federal prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani successfully brought the bosses of the five powerful crime families to trial. He argued the Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno, Lucchese, and Colombo families constituted a single criminal enterprise controlling extortion, murder, illicit businesses, and local corruption.
This represented the first time the US judicial system dared to attack the entire mafia leadership simultaneously. The case concluded with historic convictions, delivering prison sentences exceeding 100 years for seven of the accused. These prosecutions severely weakened the power of La Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian originated Italian Mafia that had expanded globally. In addition to century long sentences, courts imposed massive fines, including penalties of $240,000 and $50,000 against individual defendants.
Prosecutors acknowledged RICO provided unprecedented tools for complex investigations. The statute permitted the use of wiretaps, cooperating witness testimony, and financial evidence to demonstrate the existence of a coherent criminal structure beyond specific crimes. This comprehensive view of organized crime is precisely the type of approach President Mulino seeks to adapt for Panama’s context.
Adapting an American Legal Model for Panama
The Mulino administration’s intention involves studying how these foreign legal models can apply within Panama’s unique legal and security environment. Officials plan to develop a solid proposal for presentation to the National Assembly. Adapting a broad statute like RICO or similar European models would present significant challenges for the Central American nation.
Panama would need to strengthen investigative capabilities, witness protection programs, and complex evidence management. Legal experts suggest any proposal must include safeguards ensuring the law does not become an instrument vulnerable to political or discretionary misuse. The reference to RICO introduces an important debate within Panama about constructing a legal framework capable of confronting criminal organizations with the same force the US used against one of the twentieth century’s most powerful mafias.
If the proposal advances, it will initiate a deep discussion about state capabilities, procedural guarantees, and public security direction. These considerations represent some of the most substantial challenges currently facing the country. The administration has not provided a specific timeline for presenting legislation to the assembly, but the president has characterized the effort as a priority for his security agenda.
How Criminal Organizations Operated Under RICO’s Scope
The criminal enterprises targeted by RICO, particularly New York’s five mafia families, operated under a strict hierarchical and highly structured model. This system allowed them to control large scale illicit activities without directly exposing their leadership figures. These families maintained a pyramidal structure composed of bosses, underbosses, consiglieri, capos, and soldiers who executed crimes including extortion, illegal gambling, usurious loans, drug trafficking, and union control.
The network design ensured orders originated from the top echelon while subordinates carried out criminal acts. This separation historically made it difficult to hold leaders criminally responsible for the organization’s activities. Beyond their vertical structure, these organizations systematically infiltrated economic sectors and trade guilds to secure constant revenue streams and institutional protection. They controlled construction contracts, transportation networks, port operations, and key labor unions like the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Their coordinating body, known as The Commission (mafia), resolved disputes and authorized criminal activities across family lines. This sophisticated corporate like structure enabled their criminal dominance for decades until prosecutors began applying RICO’s enterprise theory of prosecution. The law’s powerful provisions finally provided the legal architecture needed to connect leadership decisions to criminal actions throughout the organization.
Panama’s consideration of similar legislation signals a potential strategic shift in how the country confronts modern criminal networks. These groups often mirror the structural sophistication of their historical predecessors while operating across digital and globalized landscapes. The proposed law would aim to address not just street level crime but the financial and command systems that make large scale criminal operations possible.
Legal analysts will closely watch how Panama adapts the RICO model’s core principles to its civil law system and constitutional framework. The development of any proposed legislation will require careful balancing of prosecutorial power with fundamental rights protections. As the Mulino administration continues its review of international models, the emerging proposal could redefine Panama’s legal arsenal against organized crime for decades to come.