Organized criminal activity?

[weplumcrazy]

What is the name of your state?
Texas

What is the legal definition of organized criminal activity?

How many people have to be involved to justify the charge of organized crime?

 

[angiesmom]

What is the name of your state?
Texas

What is the legal definition of organized criminal activity?
?

Texas 71.02. Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity
(a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to establish, maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination or as a member of a criminal street gang, he commits or conspires to commit one or more of the following:

(1) murder, capital murder, arson, aggravated robbery, robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, forgery, deadly conduct, assault punishable as a Class A misdemeanor, burglary of a motor vehicle, or unauthorized use of a motor vehicle;

(2) any gambling offense punishable as a Class A misdemeanor;

(3) promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, or compelling prostitution;

(4) unlawful manufacture, transportation, repair, or sale of firearms or prohibited weapons;

(5) unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation, or distribution of a controlled substance or dangerous drug, or unlawful possession of a controlled substance or dangerous drug through forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, or deception;

(6) any unlawful wholesale promotion or possession of any obscene material or obscene device with the intent to wholesale promote the same;

(7) any offense under Subchapter B, Chapter 43, depicting or involving conduct by or directed toward a child younger than 18 years of age;

(8) any felony offense under Chapter 32;

(9) any offense under Chapter 36;

(10) any offense under Chapter 34;

(11) any offense under Section 37.11(a); or

(12) any offense under Chapter 20A.

NOTICE: FIRST OF TWO VERSIONS OF SUBSECTION (b)
As added by Acts 1993, Ch. 761, § 3.

(b) Except as provided in Subsection (c) of this section, an offense under this section is one category higher than the most serious offense listed in Subdivisions (1) through (10) of Subsection (a) of this section that was committed, and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the offense is a felony of the third degree, except that if the most serious offense is a felony of the first degree, the offense is a felony of the first degree.

NOTICE: SECOND OF TWO VERSIONS OF SUBSECTION (b)
As added by Acts 1993, Ch. 900, § 1.01.

(b) Except as provided in Subsections (c) and (d), an offense under this section is one category higher than the most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that was committed, and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the offense is a state jail felony, except that if the most serious offense is a felony of the first degree, the offense is a felony of the first degree.

NOTICE: FIRST OF TWO VERSIONS OF SUBSECTION (c)
As added by Acts 1993, Ch. 761, § 3.

(c) Conspiring to commit an offense under this section is of the same degree as the most serious offense listed in Subdivisions (1) through (10) of Subsection (a) of this section that the person conspired to commit.

NOTICE: SECOND OF TWO VERSIONS OF SUBSECTION (c)
As added by Acts 1993, Ch. 900, § 1.01.

(c) Conspiring to commit an offense under this section is of the same degree as the most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that the person conspired to commit.

(d) At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may raise the issue as to whether in voluntary and complete renunciation of the offense he withdrew from the combination before commission of an offense listed in Subsection (a) and made substantial effort to prevent the commission of the offense. If the defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a preponderance of the evidence the offense is the same category of offense as the most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that is committed, unless the defendant is convicted of conspiring to commit the offense, in which event the offense is one category lower than the most serious offense that the defendant conspired to commit.

 

[angiesmom]

The modern notion of organized crime in the United States has expanded beyond the prototypical paradigm of family operations. Organized crime now refers to any collection of persons in a continuing operation of criminal activity, including street gangs. To combat the violence and other illegal activity of street gangs, federal and state legislatures have passed laws pertaining specifically to street gangs. Many states provide extra punishment for persons in street gangs who are convicted of certain crimes.

On the federal level, a street gang is defined as an ongoing group, club, organization, or association of five or more persons formed for the purpose of committing a violent crime or drug offense, with members that have engaged in a continuing series of violent crimes or drug law violations that affect interstate or foreign commerce (18 U.S.C.A. § 521). Any person in a street gang convicted for committing or conspiring to commit a violent federal crime or certain federal drug offenses receives an extra ten years in prison beyond the prison sentence for the actual crime.

http://www.answers.com/organized+crime&r=67

 

[weplumcrazy]

Do the Federal guidelines apply to the State laws as well? The Federal definition of organized criminal activity states that these groups maintain their position through the use of violence or threatened violence.
Does this mean that in order to be charged with organized criminal activity they would have to prove that violence and threats had occured?

Also, the federal definition states that for the purpose of obtaining warrants for arrests, searches and seizures, etc. probable cause that the business receives gross revenue in excess of $2000 in any single day shall be deemed to have been established.

Does this apply to Texas law too? If there is no proof of violence or threatened violence, and no proof of gross revenue exceeding $2000 in a single day, do they have a case against the defendant?