United States v. William Aubrey Thompson, Thomas Edward Sisk and Charles Frederick Taylor

GEORGE CLIFTON EDWARDS, Jr., Chief Judge.

This ease was heard en banc on April 26, 1982. The en banc hearing was preceded by a decision of a panel consisting of three thoughtful and experienced judges of this court who had reversed and vacated conditional pleas of guilty tendered by the three defendants in this case. The panel’s reasoning was that the United States Attorney’s indictment of these three individuals under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq. (1976), (popularly known as RICO), was fatally defective in the fact that it alleged that…