Earlier today, the Wall Street Journalreported that federal prosecutors are considering charging SAC Capital as "a criminal enterprise, using a powerful legal tool employed against the mafia and drug gangs," i.e. the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The use of RICO would give the government considerably more time to make a case against SAC, as it means prosecutors could "file charges in connection with crimes committed over the past decade, as long as any act that is part of the alleged enterprise occurred within the past five years," whereas this July marks the deadline for bringing securities fraud charges involving July 2008 trading in Elan and Wyeth by the fund.

The best part of this story, naturally, involves Charlie Gasparino, first to report the RICO angle yesterday, despite, he says, the denials of a SAC representative, whose legs CG is currently threatening to break, via Twitter.

Prosecutors Consider Use of Organized Crime Law Against SAC [WSJ]
CharlieGasparino [Twitter]