U.S. Attorney Calls Surrogate Court “Racketeering Enterprise”

“The latest critical report comes as Federal investigators are pressing a separate investigation into operations of the Surrogate’s Court, including the public administrators’ office. Yesterday, a politically connected Manhattan lawyer, Melvyn Altman, was indicted on Federal racketeering, mail fraud and money-laundering charges in what the United States Attorney in Manhattan, Otto Obermaier, called a continuing investigation that identified the Surrogate’s Court as a “racketeering enterprise” used by the defendant.” – NY Times, July 24, 1992