Abstract
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) came into
the world in 1970, a time of great social upheaval that was accompanied by
shifting attitudes towards both crime and civil litigation. From the outset, the
statute’s complexity, ambiguity, and uncertain purpose have confounded courts
and commentators. At least some doubts as to the statute’s meaning and
application arise because it has criminal and civil components that subject it
to the twin—yet antithetical—social impulses to be “tough on crime” while
containing a perceived “litigation explosion.” In this Article, I situate RICO
in this larger context and offer that context as a partial explanation of how
RICO’s “meaning” has been shaped. Along the way, I synthesize many years
of my own legal scholarship and litigation experience into a retrospective of
where RICO interpretation and application have been—and where they still
must go.
Repository Citation
Randy D. Gordon,
RICO had a Birthday! A Fifty-Year Retrospective of Questions Answered and Open,
105 Marq. L. Rev. 131
(2021).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr/vol105/iss1/4