Legal Definitions - RICO

RICO stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

RICO is a powerful federal law in the United States designed to combat organized crime and other forms of widespread illegal activity. It targets individuals and groups who engage in a "pattern of racketeering activity" – meaning they commit at least two related criminal acts from a list of specific offenses (like extortion, bribery, fraud, money laundering, or drug trafficking) within a ten-year period. The law aims to prevent criminal enterprises from infiltrating legitimate businesses or using them as fronts for illegal operations, as well as to dismantle purely criminal organizations. RICO allows for severe criminal penalties, including long prison sentences and substantial fines, and also permits civil lawsuits where victims can sue for damages and the government can seize assets acquired through illegal means.

Here are a few examples illustrating how RICO might apply:

• A criminal syndicate systematically extorts local businesses and launders the proceeds through a chain of car washes.
  In this scenario, the syndicate engages in a pattern of racketeering (extortion) and uses the profits to acquire and operate legitimate businesses (the car washes) for illegal purposes (money laundering). RICO could be used to prosecute the individuals involved, seize the car washes, and recover damages for the extorted businesses.
• A group of medical professionals and administrators repeatedly submits fraudulent claims to insurance companies for services never rendered, using a network of shell corporations.
  Here, the group forms an "enterprise" that engages in a pattern of illegal activities, specifically insurance fraud and potentially mail/wire fraud, across multiple instances. Even without traditional "mafia" ties, their coordinated, repeated fraudulent acts to enrich themselves through a corrupt organization (the network of clinics and shell companies) could fall under RICO.
• Over several years, a corrupt public official accepts numerous bribes from different contractors in exchange for awarding them lucrative government contracts.
  This situation involves a pattern of bribery and honest services fraud, where the public official uses their position within a legitimate organization (the government agency) to engage in repeated illegal acts for personal financial gain. RICO could be used to prosecute the official and potentially others involved in the bribery scheme, as well as to recover the illicit gains.