2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FIVE - Internal Security (§§ 1 — 3356) › Subtitle 1 - Generally (§§ 1 — 1973) › PART VII - Prevention and Control of Crime (§§ 901-912 — 983f) › Chapter 94B - Action Against Organized Crime (§§ 971 — 971s) › § 971a - Definitions

The words and phrases contained in this chapter shall have the meaning set forth hereinbelow, unless otherwise inferred from the context:
(a) Organized crime.— Any violation of subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of § 971b of this title, whether individually or collectively.
(b) Organized criminal activity.— Any act or threat related to murder, kidnapping, gambling, prostitution laws, arson, illegal appropriation, robbery, obscenity, bribery, extortion, or the sale, possession and traffic of controlled substances or weapons, subject to criminal arraignment under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the laws of the United States of America.
(c) United States.— The states of the North American Union, its territories, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(d) Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.— Comprises its municipalities, agencies, public corporations, political subdivisions and the other dependencies and instrumentalities of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(e) Person.— Includes any individual or entity capable of having a legal interest or gain in any property.
(f) Enterprise or business.— Includes any partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity, and any union or group of associated individuals, even though it is not constituted into a legal entity, except those that are associated mainly for social, family or political purposes.
(g) Illegal debt.— Means any debt incurred or contracted in gambling or illegal business, or which is not collectible, in whole or in part, as to its principal or interest, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico due to the provisions of the Usury Act.
(h) Investigator.— Any lawyer, prosecuting attorney or investigator designated by the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
(i) Pattern of organized criminal activity.— Requires at least two (2) acts of organized criminal activity within a ten (10) year period, one of which must occur after the effective date of this subsection. To the effects of computing the ten (10) year period provided above, any jail term served by the accused shall be excluded.
(j) Recording.— The obtaining of the contents of any conversation, other than by telephone, through the use of any electronic, mechanical or other type of apparatus, whether used by an investigator, or an informer who is acting with the authority of the investigator, when he is a party to the conversation, or has received prior consent to record the communication from one of its participants. This recording may be carried out through a recording device that registers the conversation directly or by means of a device that transmits the coversation to some other place where the recording is made.
(k) Secretary of Justice.— The Secretary of Justice of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other official duly appointed or authorized by the Secretary.
(l) Assets.— Includes any share or shares, gold and other precious metals or stones, money, monetary instruments, and real property and chattels or rights acquired thereon.
(m) Monetary instrument.— Includes any currency negotiable in the United States of America and its territories, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; cashiers’ checks, travelers’ checks, post office or bank money orders[, stocks, negotiable instruments, precious metals and stones. Does not include those cashiers’ checks, travellers’ checks, post office or bank money orders that are] payable to the order of a stated person and which have not been endorsed.
(n) Financial institution.— Any institution authorized to carry out financial transactions in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, including, but not limited to any bank, savings and loan association, or financial entity or branch or division thereof, organized under the laws of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the federal government, its states and territories, or a foreign country; any person or business who carries out check exchanges, the sale or remitting of travelers’ checks, post office or bank money orders, or similar instruments; insurance companies, investment companies, and companies engaged in the sale of gold and other precious metals and stones.
(o) Financial transaction.— Comprises:
(1) Any movement or exchange of money or stock, including but not limited to transactions performed through electronic means or any other means of communication, such as telephones, fax machines, computers, cable or telegraph systems, and other analogous systems;
(2) the use of any financial, credit or savings institution; cooperative, brokerage firm, or mortgage institution to perform or facilitate a transaction;
(3) deposits, withdrawals, transfers, loans, payments, and currency or monetary instrument exchanges, including but not limited to the acquisition of bonds and other sureties, or
(4) purchase, sale, or disposal of any asset through the use of a monetary instrument.
(p) Specific illegal activity.— Means:
(1) Control over or possession of chattels or real property related to, or obtained, derived, or originating from, or in any other way linked to violations of the law, including the Penal Code of Puerto Rico; §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 24, also known as the “Controlled Substances Act”; §§ 455 et seq. of this title, also known as the “Puerto Rico Firearms Act”; §§ 1247 et seq. of Title 33, also known as the “Illegal Lottery Act” and other laws governing games of chance, fiscal laws, and the provisions contained in this chapter;
(2) financial transaction taking place totally or partially in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a crime committed in the United States of America or in a foreign country, which involves the manufacture, import, sale or distribution of a controlled substance as defined by the “Controlled Substances Act of Puerto Rico”, §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 24;
(3) to conceal assets or commit perjury, extortion, or bribery;
(4) to perform fraudulent banking transactions, or
(5) to commit acts constituting abduction.
(q) Derived income.— Includes all property that could be linked, directly or indirectly, with a specific illegal activity as defined in this chapter; or any property obtained or controlled, directly or indirectly, as a result of a violation of the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or of the Government of the United States of America.
(r) Money laundering or monetary instrument laundering.— Financial transaction that involves illegal goods or the transaction of which is destined in whole or in part to obtain a benefit from that transaction or to fail to inform income originating from or produced by said financial transaction; or to use or invest directly or indirectly, all or part of said income, or the product thereof, in the acquisition of an interest in, or in the establishment and operation of any other enterprise or business.
(s) Agent of law and order.— Means any agent of the Police of Puerto Rico, or any agent of the Bureau of Special Investigations, attached to the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico, or any agent attached to the Internal Revenue Bureau of the Department of the Treasury who is authorized to make arrests.
History —July 13, 1978, No. 33, p. 468, § 2; June 19, 1987, No. 36, p. 120, § 1; Aug. 30, 1992, No. 52, § 2, eff. 30 days after Aug. 30, 1992.