On October 15, 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (), commonly referred to as the "RICO Act", became United States law. The RICO Act allows federal 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. (10) 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 lies with the agency having jurisdiction over the violations constituting the pattern of racketeering activity listed in . To prove a RICO charge, the prosecution must prove that a pattern of racketeering activity occurred within a ten year period. Racketeering activity includes the act or threat of
murder,
kidnapping,
gambling,
arson,
robbery,
bribery,
extortion,
dealing in a controlled substance, and additional serious crimes punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year. In the United States, civil racketeering laws are also used in
federal and
state courts. ==See also==