Racket (crime)

(Redirected from Racketeering)

A racket is a service that is fraudulently offered to solve a problem, such as for a problem that does not actually exist, will not be affected, or would not otherwise exist. Conducting a racket is racketeering. Particularly, the potential problem may be caused by the same party that offers to solve it, although that fact may be concealed, with the specific intent to engender continual patronage for this party. A prototype is the protection racket, wherein a person or group indicates that they could protect a store from potential damage, damage that the same person or group would otherwise inflict, while the correlation of threat and protection may be more or less deniably veiled, distinguishing it from the more direct act of extortion.

Racketeering is often associated with organized crime, and the term was coined by the Employers' Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the Teamsters union.

The RICO Act

Main article: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

On October 15, 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968), commonly referred to as the "RICO Act", became United States law. The RICO Act allowed law enforcement to charge a person or group of people with racketeering, defined as committing multiple violations of certain varieties within a ten-year period. The purpose of the RICO Act was stated as "the elimination of the infiltration of organized crime and racketeering into legitimate organizations operating in interstate commerce". S.Rep. No. 617, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 76 (1968). However, the statute is sufficiently broad to encompass illegal activities relating to any enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce.

Section 1961(10) of Title 18 provides that the Attorney General of the United States may designate any department or agency to conduct investigations authorized by the RICO statute and such department or agency may use the investigative provisions of the statute or the investigative power of such department or agency otherwise conferred by law. Absent a specific designation by the Attorney General, jurisdiction to conduct investigations for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1962 lies with the agency having jurisdiction over the violations constituting the pattern of racketeering activity listed in 18 U.S.C. § 1961.

In the U.S., civil racketeering laws are also used in federal and state courts. The National Federation of Independent Business challenged these civil laws in 2006 for being excessively abusive.

See also

Alleged criminal organizations

• American Mafia


• Camorra


• Chechen mafia


• Dixie Mafia


• Irish mob


• 'Ndrangheta


• Russian mafia


• Sacra Corona Unita


• Sicilian Mafia


• Triad (underground societies)


• Yakuza


• Mexican Mafia

Law enforcement and other administrative organizations in the United States

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives


• Drug Enforcement Administration


• Federal Air Marshal Service


• Federal Bureau of Investigation


• Internal Revenue Service


• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement


• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission


• United States Border Patrol


• United States Marshals Service


• United States Postal Inspection Service


• United States Secret Service

Other

• Arms trafficking


• Drug cartel


• Organized crime


• Organized retail crime


• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act


• Rum-running


• Scam, con artist


• Terrorism


• Tobacco industry


• Underground economy