Corrupt Cops As Racketeers?

In a case with implications for police departments nationwide, a federal judge Tuesday ruled that victims of police corruption in Los Angeles may use federal racketeering statutes in lawsuits against the LAPD.

As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, that would mark the first time the federal RICO law, which has been used against sprawling criminal empires like the Mafia, would be aimed at law enforcement.

The judge ruled the racketeering law can be used as a weapon in lawsuits filed by dozens of alleged victims of police corruption stemming from the Rampart scandal.

Current lawsuits filed against the LAPD ask for some $100 million dollars in damages; under the RICO law, those damages could be tripled.

"Tens of thousands of people who have been harmed by the brutality of the LAPD will be able to get compensation," said Stephen Yagman, an attorney who represents several of the plaintiffs.

Neither the LAPD, the Los Angeles mayor nor the city attorney's office wanted to talk about where that money might come from if the city loses the lawsuits.

"It really could come close to bankrupting the city," said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor who believes the bigger impact may be what a RICO conviction would say about the department as a whole.

"RICO sends the message of super conspiracy," Levenson said. "It wasn't just a few people, it wasn't just a little group, but that this was pervasive criminal racketeering activity."

It also could send a message to law enforcement agencies nationwide: From New York to Denver, departments facing similar allegations could find themselves being sued as organized criminals.

The Rampart affair is so called because that is the division where the suspect officers worked.

The scandal involves several officers who assaulted, stole drugs from or framed defendants. One f the officers, Raphael Perez, is cooperating with prosecutors in return for a reduced sentence on a conviction for stealing cocaine from the LAPD evidence locker.

In addition to Perez and the four other officers charged with criminal offenses, several dozen officers have been reprimanded and five have been charged with crimes in the ongoing investigation into the Rampart division's CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) unit.

Chief Parks disbanded all CRASH units in March.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's office, private attorneys and public defenders are examining case files to determine whether people were sent to jail on tainted evidence submitted by crooked cops.

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles County Public Defender announced that a more thorough review of criminal cases handled by the accused officers had expanded the pool of cases requiring review.

It revised its February estimate of 6,000 to an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 cases.

In March, a board of inquiry concluded that poor supervision and a clique culture encouraged officers to break the rules and caused the widespread corruption scandal.

The RICO ruling merely allows plaintiffs the option of using RICO (which stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) when they sue the police department. It does not mean that the LAPD actually violated the law. But it comes as legal problems grow for the department.

Forty-one current and former LAPD officers, claiming they were harassed or fired after reporting misconduct, filed suit Thursday to seek compensation and an injunction prohibiting department officials from retaliating against whistleblowers.

Their suit was not related to the Rampart scandal. But an attorney for 41 officers estimated that 300 to 500 officers could eventually join the case if it is certified as a class action.

The suit claims that officers who reported misconduct were taunted by supervisors, who said things such as "you better watch your back" and "I will demote you and then I will fire you."

Some of the plaintiffs also claim they suffered discrimination for other reasons, such as gender, race, disability or age.