what is rico charges

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an enterprise that engages in a pattern of racketeering activity. Racketeering activity includes a wide range of criminal offenses such as bribery, extortion, money laundering, and wire fraud. The power of RICO lies in its conspiracy provision, based on an enterprise rationale, that allows tying together apparently unrelated crimes with a common objective into a prosecutable pattern of racketeering. In addition, RICO provides for severe penalties and permits a defendant to be convicted and separately punished for both the underlying crimes that constitute the pattern of racketeering activity and for a substantive violation of RICO. The consequences of a RICO conviction are serious, including up to 20 years of prison time, severe financial penalties, and forfeiture of the defendants entire interest in the enterprise. The law has been used to prosecute organized crime figures and those who work with them, and it has been used in civil lawsuits as well.