Racketeering

“Racketeering” is most popularly defined as what happens when we illegally create an unnecessary problem for someone and then offer to fix it…for a price. For example, if we decide to kidnap our boss’s daughter and then demand a million dollar ransom (don’t do this, btw), that’s racketeering. Or...let’s say our friend owns a restaurant, and one day a bunch of hoodlums vandalize the place. The next day, they come into the restaurant and say that the vandalism will never happen again, as long as our friend pays them $500 every week. That’s extortion, which is a form of racketeering. And yes, if anyone out there is curious, racketeering is highly illegal.

Probably many of us associate racketeering with gangsters like Al Capone. And while it’s true that organized crime has seen its share of racketeering charges, especially after the RICO Act became a thing in 1970, mobsters aren’t the only ones who can collude in the commission of crimes. In fact, in 2017, seven Baltimore PD officers were arrested for racketeering, which is a little disturbing.

Anyway, we already mentioned kidnapping and extortion, but the following crimes can also be considered racketeering: fencing (as in stolen goods, not swords), money laundering, money counterfeiting, prostitution rings, illegal gambling operations, drug distribution, human trafficking…basically, if we conspire to create and profit from some kind of illegal business, we’re racketeering.