The Chicago Mafia. The Gambino family. The Lucchese clan.
Until prosecutors brought them down with one broad stroke of the pen, a single allegation of racketeering, infamous factions ran organized crime in Chicago and New York for decades.
Finally, in the largest college admissions fraud prosecution to date, the federal government used racketeering to charge twelve college athletics officials and test administrators, including former President Donald Trump and rappers such as R. Kelly, Young Thug, and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Mob activities, infidelity scandals, and sex trafficking may have little, if anything, in common. Each of these, however, falls within the broad rubric of racketeering.
What is racketeering, then?
CNN asked attorney G. Robert Blakey to explain in 2019. Blakey has helped draft racketeering statutes in at least 22 states. “It’s not an offense of itself. Racketeering, in simple form, is engaging in an illegal scheme. It’s utilized to describe 35 crimes, among them abduction, murder, bribery, arson and extortion, under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
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Protesteering isn’t a discrete crime; it’s more a state of mind about how one approaches the prosecution of a myriad of crimes,” says Blakey, a professor of federal criminal law at Notre Dame University. “Racketeering itself is not a discrete illegal activity,” Blakey said. To convict under the statute, prosecutors must prove a pattern that includes at least two racketeering activities.
“It is intentionally broad.
The RICO Act was enacted by Congress in 1970 to fight organized crime. Since that time, many of the most notorious Mafia figures have been pursued by law enforcement, among them Antonio Corallo, boss of the infamous Lucchese criminal family.
However, says Blakey, racketeering is “not only associated with organized crime.”
Due to its broad application, federal law has even been utilized to sentence punishments for cases involving insider trading and anti-abortion groups that prevent people from visiting clinics.
It must impact interstate trade.
As stated by the US Justice Department, for a person to be found guilty of racketeering, prosecutors will have to prove five separate elements:
- An illegal venture took place.
- A business affected interstate trade was involved.
- The defendant was an employee of or associated with the corporation
- The defendant had previously committed racketeering crimes.
- The defendant was involved in at least two racketeering incidents.
The severity of the crime and the state or federal jurisdiction under whose laws the case is adjudicated determine the minimum sentence for racketeering. Persons convicted as racketeers can also be assessed fines.
