Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, generally known as RICO, is a United States federal law enacted as Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 and signed by President Richard Nixon on October 15, 1970. It allows prosecutors to bring charges against a person who has committed at least two acts of racketeering activity within a ten year period as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise, treating the pattern of conduct itself, rather than any single offense, as the basis of the crime. Conviction can carry a sentence of up to twenty years per count along with substantial fines and forfeiture of property gained through the racketeering activity, and the law also allows private citizens to bring civil suits seeking triple damages. Although drafted with organized crime in mind, RICO has since been used well beyond that original target, including in prosecutions for white collar crime, public corruption and securities fraud.