Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 . § 1961 et seq.), commonly known as the RICO act, was passed by the . Congress in 1970. RICO was intended to provide a more effective means to prosecute members of organized crime. | R Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act RICO The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act 18 . 1961 et seq. commonly known as the RICO act was passed by the . Congress in 1970. RICO was intended to provide a more effective means to prosecute members of organized crime. In particular the RICO act enables the prosecution of those persons who do not personally commit any crimes but who control a criminal enterprise that engages in a pattern of racketeering activity. RICO also provides the government with broad power to cause the forfeiture of property belonging to any person convicted under the act. In addition RICO allows the victims of proscribed criminal activities to bring a civil suit against the wrongdoer. Under the act victims can recover three times their actual damages plus costs and attorneys fees. Between 1970 and the mid-1980s RICO was used almost exclusively by . prosecutors against the leaders of organized crime families throughout the United States. Defendants prosecuted under the act protested that it violated their due process rights arguing that convictions could be based upon mere conversations with known members of organized crime and that the act allowed for the forfeiture of all their assets even if the government had no proof that all of the defendant s assets were the proceeds of organized crime. The objections to the act s broad application however largely fell on deaf ears because the objections were a natural and necessary result of the act s intended scope that is a broad legislative enactment that would effectively eliminate the economic base of organized crime. In the mid-1980s civil litigators began to extend the act to areas that were previously thought beyond the reach of RICO. Instead of alleging that a Godfather figure was controlling a Mafia family for purposes of engaging in a pattern of extortion murder and arson plaintiffs in civil class actions alleged that a chief executive officer was .
