BILL NUMBER:S7862

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the penal law, in relation to including certain computer
offenses, criminal use of an access device, identity theft and unlawful
possession of personal identification information or a skimmer device
within the definition of "criminal act" for purposes of enterprise
corruption

PURPOSE:
Updates New York State's Enterprise Corruption Statute, which is used
to prosecute gangs and organized crime syndicates, by including
increasingly common white-collar fraud and technology crimes.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends NY Penal Law § 460.10(1)(a) to include: section
156.10 relating to computer trespass; sections 156.25, 156.26, and
156.27 relating to computer tampering; section 156.30 relating to
unlawful duplication of computer related material; section 156.35
relating to Criminal possession of computer related material; section
190.76 relating to criminal use of an access device; sections 190.79,
190.80, and 190.80-a relating to identity theft; sections 190.82 and
190.83 relating to unlawful possession of personal identification
information; and section 190.86 relating to unlawful possession of a
skimmer device within the list of predicate criminal acts in the
              

definition section of New York's Enterprise Corruption statute,

Section 2 establishes the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
According to the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center "gangs are
becoming more involved in white-collar crime, including identity
theft, bank fraud, credit card fraud, money laundering, fencing
stolen goods, counterfeiting, and mortgage fraud, and are recruiting
members who possess those skill sets." Along with Florida, New York
is one of the twin epicenters of this troubling new development in
organized crime.

In 2011, an identity theft ring spearheaded by the Crips, Bloods, and
a Brooklyn-based gang called The Outlaws stole more than $2 million
from New York charities. In 2012, the cyber-theft of ten million
credit and debit card records was attributed to a New York City based
street gang with ties to Central America. Also in 2012, a Romanian
man with ties to organized crime was charged with stealing at least
$1.5M by installing "skimmer" devices at ATM machines across New
York City and Long Island. Along with these high profile incidents,
there are countless other such crimes, many of which go undetected.

New York law enforcement is increasingly devoting greater resources to
this new breed of organized crime and the efforts are paying

dividends. Unfortunately, the law has not kept up with its enforcers.
Despite the increasing prominence of these crimes, New York's Enterprise
Corruption statute, which targets organized crime, does not include a
wide variety of cyber and identity crimes within its predicate
felonies. In order to give law enforcement the tools they need to
crack down on organized white-collar crime, the law needs to be
updated to reflect current realities. This legislation makes the
changes necessary to bring New York's Enterprise Corruption law into
the 21st Century and give prosecutors the means to fight the
unchecked spread of new-age gang crime.

Additionally, including crimes such as identity theft in the
Enterprise Corruption statute would both provide the state with
potentially large-scale savings by eliminating duplicative legal
proceedings and protect defendants from having to be tried twice for
the same conduct For instance, under current law, when a defendant
commits the crime of Enterprise Corruption by committing larceny
through identity theft, he must be indicted twice for the same
underlying actions--one indictment for Enterprise Corruption and
Larceny and a second indictment for the identity theft charges. This
means that a defendant gets two arrest numbers, has two indictments,
gets arraigned twice, has bail set twice (once on each indictment),
has two sets of motions, and eventually gets tried for the same
conduct not once, but twice. This also means that a defendant likely
needs to pay two retainers to defense counsel. This current system is
both inequitable to defendants and unnecessarily costly to the state.

This commonsense legislation will make it easier to go after gangs and
organized crime syndicates, save money for the state, and protect
defendants' legitimate, lawful rights.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
May provide significant saving to the state by eliminating duplicative
legal proceedings.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become law.