Fulton County DA Fani Willis goes full “Michael Corleone” on Trump and his co-conspirators—and it’s beautiful!

Willis settled all "family business"

“Trump and 18 co-defendants charged with racketeering in Georgia 2020 election probe,” screamed the headlines Tuesday morning. That was followed by the names of those Trump henchmen and women indicted: Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and more.

Perhaps it’s because I’m half Sicilian and watched The Godfather dozens of times, but all I could think of when reading the list of those charged is that Fulton County DA Fani Willis went full Michael Corleone on Monday, where she “settled all family business.” 

For those unfamiliar, there’s a famous scene near the end of that famed Godfather movie when Michael Corleone—played by Al Pacino—sits down his brother-in-law who he suspects of double crossing him. Corleone first starts off by listing the other mob bosses who he had whacked that day: “Barzini's dead. So is Phillip Tattaglia, Moe Greene, Stracci, Cuneo.” Corleone then says to his visibly shaken brother-in-law, “Today, I settle all family business.”

And it’s not just the sweeping indictment that caused me to conjure up The Godfather when thinking of Willis. Last week, when Trump was running ads in Georgia despicably smearing Willis with lies, she sent an email to her staff, noting that the ads were “derogatory and false,” but she commanded her staff to not respond publicly.  Willis wrote, “We have no personal feelings against those we investigate or prosecute and we should not express any.”  Willis then added a line that is almost word for word from another famous scene in The Godfather, “This is business, it will never be personal.”

Michael Corleone stated almost these exact words when discussing with his family the idea of him whacking a corrupt cop who had punched Corleone in the face. After his brother Sonny (James Caan) told him, you are making this personal, Michael lays out why doing so would actually be good for the family business. He concludes by declaring, “It’s not personal–it’s strictly business.”

Willis is now showing us what business means with this detailed 98 page indictment that charges Trump with 13 new felonies—including violating  Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO law. This also fits perfectly with The Godfather theme given the federal RICO law was originally designed to prosecute mob bosses who were leading criminal enterprises.  

In Georgia, though, the state’s RICO law--enacted in 1980--is even more expansive than the federal version.  In this case, the 41-count indictment  alleges: “Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.” 

From there, the indictment lays out the “manner and methods” of the criminal enterprise including false statements to state legislatures and the creation and distribution of the false electoral college documents. These acts also include the actions of the defendants directed at election worker Ruby Freeman by smearing her with lies, which incited people to threaten and harass her in an effort pressure her to falsely confess to election fraud.

The indictment then details the 161 “overt acts” taken on behalf of the “criminal enterprise” that tried to “accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the president’s office.”  (Every one of the 19 defendants is charged with violating the RICO statue.)

Not to get overly wonky, but the state needs to prove Trump and the co-defendants committed two or more predicate crimes (aka racketeering related crimes set forth in the GA law) in furtherance of the illegal scheme. The penalty for RICO violations are harsh, with a MANDATORY minimum of 5 years in prison—and up to a maximum of 20 years.

Willis has used the state’s RICO law numerous times in the past to prosecute people as part of her nearly 20 years in the DA’s office before she ran to head the office in 2020. In fact, during a news conference in August 2022 as she announced a RICO indictment against more than two dozen alleged gang members, she stated, “I’m a fan of RICO," adding, “RICO is a tool that allows a prosecutor’s office or law enforcement to tell the whole story.”

And on Monday night when announcing the charges versus Trump and his criminal enterprise, she noted that this is the 12^th time her offices have charged people with RICO since she became the DA in January 2021.

Trump is also charged with 12 other felonies: Three counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; two counts conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit filing false documents; filing false documents; and two counts of false statements and writings.

One of the best-known pieces of evidence of Trump’s crimes cited in the indictment was his Jan 2, 2021, phone call to Georgia’s GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where he repeatedly pressured him to “find” one more vote than Joe Biden had received so he could overturn the 2020 results. That call is the basis for two criminal charges versus Trump: False statements and writings and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Willis also charged Trump with soliciting a public officer to violate their oath of office by pressuring Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R) to call a special session of the Legislature.

Overall, the alleged acts span a wide variety of conduct beginning the day after the election and extending as far as September 2021--months after Trump’s tenure in the White House ended-- when he sent a letter to Raffensperger demanding both a new investigation and that he “start the process of decertifying the Election, or whatever the correct legal remedy is, and announce the true winner.”

Some of these crimes-in addition to RICO-carry a mandatory minimum in prison. For example, Trump was charged with two counts of forgery conspiracy based on the fake electors scheme. The penalty under Georgia law for this crime is “imprisonment for not less than one nor more than 15 years.”

If Willis has her way, this trial will begin in six months as she stated Monday. She is not playing around.

When looking at all the evidence laid out against Trump, another line comes to mind from that famous scene near the end of The Godfather.  That is when Michael Corleone says to his brother-in-law Carlo after declaring that today was the fateful day to settle all family business: “Don't tell me that you're innocent. Because it insults my intelligence.”

Same goes for Trump claiming he’s innocent: It insults our intelligence.

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