<p>Federal appeals court judges are questioning the legitimacy of the federal racketeering convictions of two Atlanta pimps.</p><p>During arguments on Thursday, three federal appeals court judges quizzed the U.S. attorneys office about their use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, to convict Charles Sir Charles Pipkins and Andrew Batman Moore two years ago.</p><p>The appeals court is expected to issue a ruling in the case before the end of the year.</p><p>If the RICO convictions are tossed out, the prison terms for Pipkins and Moore could be cut nearly in half. Moore was sentenced to 40 years in prison and Pipkins to 30 years.</p><p>One of the judges said he was doubtful that RICO should apply in the case. In January 2001, when federal prosecutors indicted 15 people for running a violent child prostitution ring, it was believed to be the first time in the nation that RICO was used in such a way.</p><p>After obtaining guilty pleas from most of the defendants, prosecutors obtained jury convictions of Pipkins and Moore under the 1970 racketeering law, passed by Congress as a way to go after organized crime.</p><p>Atlanta lawyer Jim Jenkins, appointed to represent Moore, told the three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that RICO prosecutions require an organized group of people acting together, with a leader overseeing the enterprise.</p><p>In this case, Jenkins said, the pimps competed against each other, without a recognized leader.</p><p>Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson, one of the courts most conservative members, expressed the most discomfort with the racketeering case.</p><p>I am doubtful about the enterprise aspect of the RICO charge, Edmondson said.</p><p>Edmondson cited the terrible conduct committed by Pipkins and Moore, but wondered if federal prosecutors overstepped their boundaries.</p><p>I have the impression that this case is unprecedented, and this case does represent a very innovative approach, the chief judge said. I am very worried about the law. I am very worried that RICO was ever intended to reach this.</p><p>Judge Emmett Cox wondered why the government chose to prosecute all the pimps in one case, instead of prosecuting each separate pimping operation as distinct RICO enterprises.</p><p>Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Weil, defending the prosecutions, said the convictions put Pipkins and Moore in prison for decades, in contrast with the minimal time they served in county jails after repeated arrests on state charges.</p><p>Weil maintained that the pimps also ran an organized enterprise, trading prostitutes and warning each other when police were coming and using violence and intimidation to keep their prostitutes in line.</p><p>The pimps werent ships passing in the night, she said. They werent parallel actors.</p>
