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What is pattern of racketeering activity
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. At Spodek Law Group – we’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek. Our team brings over 40 years of combined experience defending federal cases that other lawyers won’t touch. We’ve handled high-profile cases that made national headlines – Anna Delvey’s Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case, and many, many others. If you’re researching RICO charges, you already know you’re facing something serious.
This article explains what “pattern of racketeering activity” actually means under federal law, why prosecutors love using this standard against defendants, and what the government must prove to turn two separate crimes into a life-destroying RICO charge. Pattern of racketeering is the bridge between individual criminal acts and organized crime prosecution – it’s how federal prosecutors transform garden-variety fraud or theft into 20-year mandatory minimums.
The Statutory Minimum That’s Never Enough
18 USC 1961(5) defines pattern of racketeering activity as at least two acts of racketeering within ten years of each other. That’s the floor. Two acts. Ten years. Sounds simple.
It’s not simple. The statute says “at least two acts” – prosecutors typically charge 10, 15, sometimes 30 predicate acts in a single RICO indictment. Why? Because they can. Each act of racketeering is called a “predicate offense” and the list of qualifying crimes is massive – mail fraud, wire fraud, drug trafficking, extortion, murder, kidnapping, bribery, money laundering. Over 30 federal crimes and multiple state felonies qualify as RICO predicates.
The ten-year window matters more than defendants realize. Federal prosecutors exclude any period you spent in prison when calculating whether two acts fall within ten years of each other. You commit wire fraud in 2015, serve six years in federal prison, commit mail fraud in 2024 – that’s technically within the ten-year window because the government doesn’t count the time you were locked up. This calculation alone can resurrect old convictions you thought were behind you.
Continuity Plus Relationship – The Real Standard Prosecutors Use
Two acts within ten years isn’t enough to prove a pattern. The Supreme Court established in H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. that prosecutors must prove two additional elements: relationship and continuity. This is the “continuity plus relationship” test that determines whether your conduct constitutes a RICO pattern.
Relationship means the predicate acts share common features – same purposes, same results, same participants, same victims, same methods of commission. Prosecutors establish relationship easily. Did you use the same bank account for two different frauds? Related. Did you and your co-defendant commit crimes together on separate occasions? Related. Did you target victims in the same industry using similar lies? Related. Courts interpret “relationship” broadly, federal prosecutors know this.
Continuity is where defendants sometimes win – but not often. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s 2025 RICO Primer, continuity comes in two forms: closed-ended and open-ended.
Closed-ended continuity means you committed related crimes over a substantial period of time. How long is “substantial”? Courts have found three months sufficient in some cases, though typically prosecutors prove patterns spanning years. A fraud scheme running from 2020 through 2024 – that’s closed-ended continuity. Multiple drug deals every month for two years – closed-ended continuity. The duration matters less than the regularity.
Open-ended continuity means the criminal activity threatens to continue into the future. This is easier for prosecutors to establish than you’d think. If your criminal conduct was part of your regular business operations – open-ended continuity. If the nature of the crime suggests you’d keep doing it absent arrest – open-ended continuity. A 2025 Eleventh Circuit case held that even a scheme targeting one victim can show open-ended continuity if the goal was destroying that person’s current and future business prospects. The threat of future activity, not just past repetition.
What Prosecutors Actually Prove in 2025 Cases
The theoretical standard is one thing. How prosecutors use RICO against real defendants in 2025 is something else entirely.
In New Orleans this year, federal prosecutors charged a marijuana smuggling ring with RICO violations. The conduct: moving 100 kilograms of cannabis across state lines and laundering the proceeds through shell companies. Multiple drug transactions, multiple wire transfers, multiple participants – pattern established. The enterprise was the smuggling operation itself, the pattern was the repeated transactions over 18 months.
A Midwest carjacking crew faced RICO charges for armed robberies coordinated through encrypted messaging apps. Prosecutors proved pattern by showing: same crew members, same methods (armed force), same type of victims (luxury vehicle owners), same means of coordination (Signal messages). Eight carjackings over seven months. Relationship? Obviously. Continuity? The crew’s organizational structure and planning suggested they’d continue until arrested.
These aren’t organized crime families – they’re street-level operations getting hit with RICO because federal prosecutors can establish patterns from repeated criminal conduct. The pattern requirement doesn’t protect defendants the way Congress originally intended.
One critical clarification from H.J. Inc.: prosecutors don’t need to prove multiple criminal schemes, just a pattern within one scheme or across related schemes. Some defendants argued that two acts within a single fraudulent scheme shouldn’t count as a pattern. The Supreme Court rejected that argument. Whether you ran one scheme with many acts or multiple schemes with several acts each, the government can establish a pattern if relationship and continuity exist.
How Federal Prosecutors Use This Against You
Federal prosecutors are using RICO aggressively in 2025. Street gangs, cryptocurrency fraud rings, corrupt businesses – any organization committing multiple related crimes over time becomes a RICO target. The pattern requirement was supposed to limit RICO to serious organized crime. In practice, it’s become a box-checking exercise for prosecutors who know courts interpret the standard broadly.
Why This Matters for Your Defense
Understanding the pattern requirement is critical if you’re charged with RICO or under investigation. Your attorney needs to attack both elements – relationship and continuity – because if either fails, the pattern fails.
Sometimes prosecutors overreach. They charge predicate acts that aren’t actually related – different victims, different purposes, different methods, no connection beyond the defendant’s involvement. Sometimes they can’t prove continuity – isolated incidents separated by years with no threat of future activity. These are defensible cases, you need experienced counsel who understands how to challenge pattern allegations specifically.
The worst strategy is assuming that because you only committed crimes on a few occasions, you can’t face RICO charges. Two acts within ten years – that’s the statutory minimum. If those acts are related and show continuity, prosecutors will bring RICO charges because RICO carries mandatory minimums and massive sentencing enhancements that individual charges don’t.
At Spodek Law Group, we’ve defended clients against federal RICO charges where prosecutors alleged patterns based on limited conduct over short time periods. Pattern allegations aren’t self-proving – they require careful analysis of the relationship between acts, the timing, the threat of future activity. We handle cases others won’t touch, complex federal prosecutions where the government has invested months building the case. Many of our most successful representations involved cases other lawyers called unwinnable.
If you’re facing RICO charges or under investigation, contact us immediately. The pattern requirement is often the most vulnerable element of a RICO charge. We’re available 24/7, with offices throughout Long Island and NYC, handling cases coast-to-coast. Call now for a consultation where we can assess whether the government can actually prove a pattern of racketeering activity in your case.