Federal Law and Organized Crime: A Discussion on the Khalil Case

This discussion post analyzes the Khalil case, focusing on Michael Khalil, the national president of the Avengers Motorcycle Club (AMC), who was convicted of racketeering and drug distribution. The FBI infiltrated the AMC using an informant, Dale Frederick, who agreed to cooperate after being caught with marijuana, and later introduced an undercover agent, Donald Barker, to gather evidence. The purpose of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) section is to prosecute individuals involved in criminal enterprises through racketeering activities. The evidence presented was sufficient to prosecute Khalil, as he was involved in multiple racketeering activities. Khalil's defense could argue he was improperly targeted, but his involvement in illegal practices undermines this argument. Undercover agents are infrequently used due to high costs and the inherent dangers involved, including the risk of exposure and violence from criminal organizations.

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Organized Crime Discussion
The Khalil Case

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Methods used by the FBI to infiltrate AMC and Purpose of the RICO
In order to collect data regarding the crimes of Khalil and infiltrate the Avengers
Motorcycle Club (AMC), the FBI used an informant. This information was directly involved
in the operations of the AMC that provided relevant information to the FBI (FindLaw, 2002).
Dale Frederick agreed to become the informant in this case after he was found in possession
of nine pounds of marijuana when his home was searched by the FBI (FindLaw, 2002).
Frederick agreed to become the informant in order to reduce the charges that were imposed
on him for possessing marijuana. He became a member of AMC and helped in introducing an
undercover FBI agent to the club named Donald Barker (Albanese, 2014). Later, Barker
becomes a member of the AMC himself that assisted the FBI in the investigation process by
collecting relevant evidence to support the case.
The aim of the RICO section focuses providing provisions that assist the FBI in
prosecuting and penalizing those individuals that are involved in racketeering activities which
is performed by them while being a part of an ongoing criminal enterprise (Justia, 2019). As
per this section, these activities can include murder, drug trafficking, bribery, money launder,
kidnapping, illegal gambling and other unsavory business practices.
Whether the evidence was enough to prosecute Khalil
As per my opinion, the evidence presented in this case was enough to impose
penalties on Khalil as per the provisions gave under the RICO federal law. The reason for my
opinion is that Khalil was involved in a number of activities, and there was no way for him to
deny the proof. In order to impose the provisions of the RICO law, the government required
proof of him involved in two racketeering activities (Justia, 2019). Based on the evidence, it
was proved that Khalil was directly involved, participated and invested in the maintenance of

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a criminal enterprise. There was also evidence regarding the use of violence by the club
against its rival club.
Arguments in defense of Khalil
Based on the facts of this case, Khalil did not have any real defense available to avoid
the charges put on him and his club. An argument was made by Khalil and his attorney that
he is improperly targeted since he was acting as the president of the AMC; however, they did
not realize that the fact that he is the president did not matter if he engages in illegal practices
himself (Albanese, 2014).
Reason for infrequent use of undercover agents
In organized crimes, the use of undercover agents is infrequent is that the costs of keeping
them on the clock are substantially high, and this practice is very dangerous as well. The
government has to invest heavily in ensuring that someone is available on-call, and the
money is taken out of their budget (Kowalczyk & Sharps, 2017). Moreover, the whole
investigation process is dangerous since criminal organizations kill undercover agents if they
find out their true identity; thus, they are used infrequently.

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References
Albanese, J. S. (2014). Organized crime: From the mob to transnational organized crime.
Abingdon: Routledge.
FindLaw. (2002). United States v. Khalil. Retrieved from https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-
circuit/1019238.html
Justia. (2019). Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Law. Retrieved from
https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/rico/
Kowalczyk, D., & Sharps, M. J. (2017). Consequences of undercover operations in law
enforcement: A review of challenges and best practices. Journal of Police and
Criminal Psychology, 32(3), 197-202.