Passed in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a federal law designed to combat organized crime in the United States. It allows prosecution and civil penalties for racketeering activity performed as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. Such activity may include illegal gambling, bribery, kidnapping, murder, money laundering, counterfeiting, embezzlement, drug trafficking, slavery, and a host of other unsavory business practices.
To convict a defendant under RICO, the government must prove that the defendant engaged in two or more instances of racketeering activity and that the defendant directly invested in, maintained an interest in, or participated in a criminal enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce. The law has been used to prosecute members of the mafia, the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, and Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, among many others.
- Man faces court after sale of $51k of drugs to undercover cops
- Police cracked down after thousands of bikers flooded the streets of New Haven for an event that was supposed to be canceled
- Andrew Glick Ex Pagan MC Member Turned Rat
- National Outlaws sergeant found with guns bombs and Ammo
- President of the Rhode Island chapter of the Hells Angels rejects a plea deal from prosecutors
