Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
This article is about U.S. federal law. For the Georgia state law, see Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act.Long title
An Act relating to the control of organized crime in the United States
- OCCA
- RICO
Organized Crime Control Act of 1970
October 15, 1970
RICO was enacted by Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Pub. L. 91–452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted October 15, 1970), and is codified at 18 U.S.C. ch. 96 as 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968.
This article primarily covers the federal criminal statute, but since 1972, 33 U.S. states and territories have adopted state RICO laws, which although similar, cover additional state crimes and may differ from the federal law and each other in several respects.
History[edit]
G. Robert Blakey, an adviser to the United States Senate Government Operations Committee, drafted the law under the close supervision of the committee's chairman, Senator John L. McClellan.
It was signed into law by US President Richard Nixon. Prosecutors in the 1970s used it to prosecute the Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime. In later years prosecutors have applied the law more broadly.
Since 1972, 33 states have adopted state RICO laws. This article deals primarily with the federal act.
State laws[edit]
As of 2014, 33 states as well as Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands had adopted state RICO laws to cover state offenses under a similar scheme.[13]
Under the law, the meaning of racketeering activity is set out at 18 U.S.C. § 1961. As currently amended it includes:
Pattern of racketeering activity requires at least two acts of racketeering activity, one of which occurred after the effective date of this chapter and the last of which occurred within ten years (excluding any period of imprisonment) after the commission of a prior act of racketeering activity. The US Supreme Court has instructed federal courts to follow the continuity-plus-relationship test in order to determine whether the facts of a specific case give rise to an established pattern. The illegal acts forming a pattern are called "predicate" offenses.[14] Predicate acts are related if they "have the same or similar purposes, results, participants, victims, or methods of commission, or otherwise are interrelated by distinguishing characteristics and are not isolated events."[15] Continuity is both a closed and open ended concept, referring to either a closed period of conduct, or to past conduct that by its nature projects into the future with a threat of repetition.