RICO Prosecution: What It Is and How It Works in U.S. Law

When the government goes after a criminal organization—not just one person, but the whole machine—it’s often using something called RICO prosecution, a federal law designed to dismantle organized crime by targeting patterns of illegal activity. Also known as Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, it lets prosecutors connect dots between crimes that might seem unrelated on their own. This isn’t about one theft or one fraud. It’s about showing a business-like structure built on crime: extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, bribery—all linked together over time.

What makes RICO prosecution different? Most laws punish individual acts. RICO punishes the system. If someone runs a gang, a corrupt union, or even a fake charity that’s a front for scams, RICO lets the government hit them for being part of a continuing criminal enterprise. You don’t need to prove every single crime. Just show at least two related illegal acts within ten years, and that they were part of a pattern tied to an organization. That’s enough to lock up leaders, freeze assets, and break the whole operation.

It’s not just for mob bosses. RICO has been used against drug cartels, corporate fraud rings, even street gangs and online scams. The key is structure and repetition. A single phishing email? Not RICO. A company running fake tech support for five years, using threats and stolen credit cards, with a clear hierarchy and profit flow? That’s textbook RICO.

And here’s the twist: RICO doesn’t just go after the people doing the crimes. It goes after the money. Any property bought with illegal gains—cars, houses, bank accounts—can be seized. That’s why so many cases end with defendants losing everything, not just jail time.

People often confuse RICO with regular criminal charges. But it’s not a crime itself—it’s a legal tool. Think of it like a net. You can’t catch a fish with a net if you only throw it once. RICO works because it casts wide and pulls in the whole pattern. That’s why it’s so feared by organized groups. One bad act? Maybe a fine. Ten bad acts linked together? That’s federal prison for decades.

You’ll find real examples of RICO in action in the posts below—from how prosecutors build cases using financial trails to how defendants fight back. Some posts look at how it’s used in white-collar crime. Others show how it’s applied in street-level gangs. All of them reveal the same thing: RICO prosecution isn’t about one person. It’s about tearing down the whole structure.