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. <br /> • <br /> Extent of Organized Crime Involvement in Pornography (1978). Sturman, who <br /> reportedly controls half of the $8 billion United States pornography industry, was <br /> recently indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas for racketeering violations and by <br /> a federal grand jury in Cleveland for income tax evasion and tax fraud. Newsweek, <br /> August 8, 1988, p. 3. <br /> Evidence of the vulnerability of sexually oriented businesses to organized crime <br /> s involvement underscores the importance of criminal prosecution of these businesses <br /> 1 when they engage in illegal activities, including distribution of obscenity and support of <br /> prostitution. Prosecution can increase the risk and reduce the profit margin of <br /> conducting illegal activities. It may also disclose organized crime association with local <br /> pornography businesses and increase the costs of criminal enterprise in Minnesota. <br /> In addition to prosecution, forfeiture of property used in the illegal activities related • <br /> to sexually oriented businesses can cut deeply into profits. Regulation to permit license <br /> ? revocation for conviction of subsequent crimes may also expose and increase control <br /> over criminal enterprises related to sexually oriented businesses. <br /> S <br /> PROSECUTORIAL AND REGULATORY ALTERNATIVES <br /> The regulation of many sexually oriented businesses, like other businesses dealing <br /> Iin activity with an expressive component, is circumscribed by the First Amendment of <br /> the United States Constitution.3/ Nonetheless, the First Amendment does not impose <br /> a barrier to the prosecution of obscenity, which is notprotected by the First <br /> Amendment, or to reasonable regulation of sexually oriented businesses if the <br /> 1 3/ The First Amendment provides: <br /> Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of <br /> 1 religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the <br /> freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably <br /> to assemble, or to petition the government for a redress of grievances. <br /> The constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, often the basis for challenges to <br /> regulation of sexually oriented businesses, restricts state as well as federal actions. <br /> See, e.o., Fiske v. Kansas, 274 U.S. 380, 47 S. Ct. 655 (1927). <br /> -20- <br />