Racketeering Law Comes Under Attack

Introduction

The Wall Street Journal called it a “monster.” 1 A high Justice Department official, on the other hand, called it a “thermonuclear weapon” in the war on organized crime.2 “It” is RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Passed in 1970, the federal racketeering law was scarcely used during its first decade of existence, but prosecutors and private lawyers alike have made up for that during the last 10 years. Gangsters and drug dealers, politicians and pornographers, securities firms and labor unions—all have been caught in its web. And as the law has expanded its reach, calls to rein it in have grown louder. Here's what is behind all the noise.

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