A mafia organization is a certain kind of acquaintances that formed a "social group" and did not necessarily work for a single employer (or small set of employers), thus the paper trail did not exist. The FBI had to do a lot of careful investigation to document "business" relationships that were ongoing.
A law firm pursuing patent claims has to leave a paper trail. The more convoluted, the more likely jurors will be inclined to see fraud.
A valid point but I think the ability to determine criminality becomes harder because the business wraps itself in current legalities, being run by lawyers themselves.
Agreed. One has to prove that individual arguable mistakes are a purposeful pattern of fraud.
As the system exists, if I were to make, say, an incorrect bill or make some other factually incorrect assertion that you owe me money, it is assumed to not be a crime or even a civil offense. You would have to prove it.
The advantage of RICO is that it makes the pattern of behavior and therefore all my legal records a matter of possible interest to the judge. There is still a lot of work for you to do, and I can try to hide behind client-attorney privilege.
A law firm pursuing patent claims has to leave a paper trail. The more convoluted, the more likely jurors will be inclined to see fraud.