October 15, 1970: The Organized Crime Control Act of 1970

Senator John McClellan

October 15, 1970: President Richard Nixon signs the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 into law. It revolutionized the way organized crime is prosecuted in America.

From 1957 to 1960, Senator John McClellan, Democrat of Arkansas, had chaired the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management, nicknamed the McClellan Committee in his honor. It was directed to study the extent of criminal or other improper practices in the field of labor-management relations or in groups of employees or employers, and to recommend changes in the laws of the United States that would provide protection against such practices or activities.

One of the members of this committee was Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. His brother, Robert F. Kennedy, was one of the legal counsels to the committee. As part of its investigations, there were hearings at which RFK interrogated Jimmy Hoffa, the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The brothers proved adept at "playing good-cop, bad-cop": Jack, who was already working behind the scenes to get himself elected President in 1960, would ask "softball" questions, while Bobby would be the "attack dog." His interrogation proved so intense, that he and Hoffa became bitter enemies. A 1983 TV miniseries would be titled Blood Feud, and, when the film got to the point of November 22, 1963, and Hoffa was told, "Kennedy's been shot," he said, "Which Kennedy?" He was hoping it was Bobby. It wasn't, and in 1964, the federal Department of Justice finally had enough evidence on him to indict him. He was convicted and imprisoned in 1967, sentenced to 13 years.

From 1962 to 1964, McClellan chaired the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, under the Committee on Government Operations. This new "McClellan Committee" led to the revelations of organized crime figure Joseph Valachi, exposing many of the secrets of the American Mafia.

Both McClellan Committees had led to new laws, and led to the more comprehensive Act of 1970. Among other things, it gave grand juries new powers, permitted detention of unmanageable witnesses, and gave the U.S. Attorney General authorization to protect witnesses, both State and federal, and their families. This last measure helped lead to the creation of WITSEC, an acronym for witness security.

Title IX of the Act created the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or the RICO Act. It was drafted by G. Robert Blakey, by that point counsel to the Committee. It passed the Senate on January 23, 1970, by a vote of 74 to 1. Only Lee Metcalf, Democrat of Montana, voted against it, on the grounds that it might abridge civil liberties.

It took the House of Representatives until October 7, including more hearings, to hold a floor vote, on which it passed 341 to 26. Nixon, always looking to appear tough on "law and order," signed it into law 8 days later.

The Act has been used many times to bring down organized crime bosses, most effectively in 1986, when Rudy Giuliani, the U.S. Attorney for New York, used the RICO Act to indict and prosecute the heads of all of New York's "Five Families." Although Paul Castellano, head of the Gambino family, was assassinated before he could get to trial, Giuliani got convictions of the other four heads. (Or so he thought: Tony Salerno was just a front for the real head of the Genovese family, Vincent Gigante. A later prosecutor used the RICO Act to bring him down.)

With a touch of irony -- but also reflecting his animus toward the Kennedys, because he thought Hoffa might be able to raise money on his behalf, in case the surviving brother, Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts, ran against him in 1972 (he didn't) -- Nixon commuted Hoffa's sentence in 1971. As part of the deal, Hoffa had to refrain from union activities until 1980, which was when his sentence would have ended.

Nixon could have let Hoffa stay in prison. Or, Hoffa could have kept his word on the deal, and stayed out of union activities. Either way, he would have been better off: In 1975, he said he was going to a meeting with men who might get him back into union leadership. He called home, saying the men hadn't shown up. No one ever heard from him again.

First elected to the Senate in 1942, McClellan died in office in 1977. As of October 15, 2022, G. Robert Blakey is still alive, 86 years old, and a professor emeritus at the law school at his Alma Mater, the University of Notre Dame. Yes, the football Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana.

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October 15, 1970 was a Thursday. Singer Eric Benét and rapper Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, named for a basketball star but renaming himself Ginuwine, were born on this day.

The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, in Game 5, to win the World Series. It was a Series marked by the heroics of Brooks Robinson, who not only sparked the O's with his bat, but practically redefined the position of third base with spectacular fielding. I have a separate entry for that event.

Football was in midweek. There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Phoenix Suns beat the Boston Celtics, 119-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Pittsburgh Condors, 105-102 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Miami Floridians beat the Carolina Cougars, 105-97 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

* And the Indiana Pacers beat their arch-rivals, the Kentucky Colonels, 127-95 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

And there were 4 games in the NHL:

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the expansion Buffalo Sabres, 3-0 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. This was the Sabres' 3rd regular-season game, and their 1st home game at "The Aud." They'd debut by beating Pittsburgh on October 10, before losing to Los Angeles on October 14.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-4 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. This was the expansion Canucks' 5th regular-season game, and, although they had had a tighter schedule than the Sabres, so far, they'd won 2 of their 1st 4. Their opener, on October 9, was a 3-1 loss to Los Angeles, at home at the Pacific Coliseum.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the New York Rangers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins, the Los Angeles Kings, the California Golden Seals and the St. Louis Blues were not scheduled.