Introduction:

The term racketeering broadly refers to criminal acts, typically those involving extortion. It is usually used in reference to patterns of illegal activity specified in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). This is a U.S. federal law that makes it illegal to acquire or control a business through certain crimes or income from those crimes. It is also illegal to participate, even indirectly, in certain crimes committed by a business or to conspire to do any of the above under the act. Originally and often still specifically, racketeering may refer to an organized criminal act in which the perpetrators offer a service that will not be put into effect, offer a service to solve a nonexistent problem, or offer a service that solves a problem that would not exist without the racket. In many other cases, however, traditional racketeering may also involve perpetrators or racketeers offering an ostensibly effectual service (such as protection from other criminals) that may in fact solve an actual existing problem, with the racketeers offering to protect and actually protecting a business from robbery or vandalism; however, these racketeers will themselves coerce or threaten the business into accepting this service, often with the threat (implicit or otherwise) that failure to acquire the offered services will lead to the racketeers themselves contributing to the existing problem. Particularly, in many cases, the potential problem may be caused by the same party that offers to solve it, but that fact may be concealed, with the specific intent to engender continual patronage for this party.

Some forms of Racketeering:

Cyber Extortion:

This occurs when a hacker pushes malware onto someone's computer, blocking all computer and data access. The hacker then demands money to restore access to the user.

Protection Rackets:

A criminal entity threatens to cause harm to a business or individual unless they are paid a protection fee.

Kidnapping:

This is considered racketeering when an individual is illegally detained and their captors agree to set the kidnapped individual free once a ransom is paid.

Fencing Rackets:

Individuals act as intermediaries to buy stolen goods from thieves at low rates. They resell them for a profit to unsuspecting buyers.