It's the latest in a trend by federal prosecutors across the country to use the 1970 Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act -- commonly called RICO -- to prosecute street gangs.

But lawyers for the accused say the so-called gangs are nothing more than ragtag operations with little in common.

Criminologists say the distinctions are important in how such cases affect the influence of street gangs in a community.

"If the police have good intelligence and information of a formal criminal organization, RICO has been very effective in prosecuting street gangs," said Michael Birzer, associate professor of criminal justice at Wichita State University.

But prosecuting small "wannabe" groups under RICO can strengthen their resolve and ability to organize and recruit new members.

"There's literature that shows if RICO is used to go after these small gangs that don't really have any organized structure, it can exacerbate the problem," Birzer said.

Past trials, pleadings

Prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Wichita wouldn't comment about the upcoming trial, set to begin Tuesday before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten.

But in court filings, prosecutor Deb Barnett has described the defendants as members of a violent band of Crips that has engaged in organized crime.

"These acts include robberies, murder, attempted murder and drug distribution," Barnett wrote in a recent pleading.

Barnett said her case will show "the existence of the enterprise and the defendants' membership in and association with it."

There were 20 people involved in the original indictment.

Four had pleaded guilty by Friday to significantly reduce prison sentences from what they would face if convicted at trial.

Another man, Jason Tisdale, faces the federal death penalty if convicted and will go to trial separately in June.

Three men were convicted at a similar trial in November in a case that originally charged eight defendants.

Defense attorney Laura Shaneyfelt argued in that case the government was overreaching in prosecuting small-time street offenders as big-time organized crime syndicates.

"These are small neighborhood groups," Shaneyfelt said.

Shaneyfelt's client, Clinton A.D. Knight, was found guilty on two counts of racketeering and drug distribution. He was also acquitted on some drug and gun charges.

Kurt Kerns' client, Tracy Harris, was found not guilty of racketeering but guilty of conspiracy. Harris was also acquitted of nine other charges.

"Basically, the jury thought he agreed to be a Crip but wasn't actually a part of any racketeering by the Crips," Kerns said.

Part of the evidence in this week's trial, court records show, revolves around past crimes. The defendants in the upcoming trial have already been convicted of those crimes and served their sentences, records show.

The defense lawyers claimed that this amounted to "double jeopardy," the constitutional guarantee that a person cannot be charged for the same crime twice.

Prosecutors argued, and won, the point that the RICO charges are new crimes, although they involved past activity.

Gangs as organized crime?

No one is arguing there are dangerous people calling themselves gang members -- or that there are highly organized street gangs operating across America.

Wichita police say there are 3,310 documented gang members in the city.

Each year, police report numerous gang-related killings, including two shooting deaths during a wake last month in south Wichita.

Wichita gang members have been convicted of drive-by shootings that killed children. Others have gone to prison for years for selling drugs.

But some question whether RICO is the proper way to stop the violence.

Al Valdez, a former supervisor for the gang unit at the Orange County (Calif.) District Attorney's Office, wrote in his book "Gangs Across America" of violent drug wars in Los Angeles between the Crips and Bloods over the past two decades.

But Valdez research also shows hybrid gangs developed across the nation, naming themselves after the well-known operations in bigger cities.

"The association seems to be in name only," Valdez writes.

That's what Kerns argued in November.

"You could just as easily call yourselves the Cowboys," Kerns said.

"Well, you've got the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the University of Wyoming Cowboys and the Dallas Cowboys. Under the government's theory, if you're a member of the University of Wyoming Cowboys, you're also a member of the Oklahoma State and Dallas Cowboys."

People behind names like Crips aren't playing games, prosecutors say, and by dealing in illegal drugs they are disrupting interstate commerce.

RICO convictions also bring heavier sentences to federal prison where, unlike the state penitentiary, there is no parole. If convicted, defendants could face decades-long sentences.

Jury selection is expected to last several days, and the trial could take weeks.