Task: songer_appel2_1_2

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Intervenors who participated as parties at the courts of appeals should be counted as either appellants or respondents when it can be determined whose position they supported. For example, if there were two plaintiffs who lost in district court, appealed, and were joined by four intervenors who also asked the court of appeals to reverse the district court, the number of appellants should be coded as six.
When coding the detailed nature of participants, use your personal knowledge about the participants, if you are completely confident of the accuracy of your knowledge, even if the specific information is not in the opinion. For example, if "IBM" is listed as the appellant it could be classified as "clearly national or international in scope" even if the opinion did not indicate the scope of the business. 

Your task concerns the second listed appellant. The nature of this litigant falls into the category "private business (including criminal enterprises)". Your task is to classify the scope of this business into one of the following categories: "local" (individual or family owned business, scope limited to single community; generally proprietors, who are not incorporated); "neither local nor national" (e.g., an electrical power company whose operations cover one-third of the state); "national or multi-national" (assume that insurance companies and railroads are national in scope); and "not ascertained".

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff Genesco, Inc., (Genesco), a manufacturer of tailored clothing, brought this damage action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Lowe, J.), against two of its principal fabric suppliers, alleging essentially that they had conspired with one of its high-ranking employees to supply it with overpriced, damaged, and unsuitable goods. Defendants T. Kakiuchi & Co., Ltd. (Kakiu-chi-Japan) and T. Kakiuchi America, Inc. (Kakiuchi-America), moved to stay the proceedings pending arbitration, which the district court denied except as to two claims against Kakiuchi-America. Both Kakiuchi defendants appeal the denial of their stay motions, and Genesco cross-appeals from the grant of the stay as to Kakiuchi-Amer-ica’s two claims.
FACTS
Genesco is an American corporation engaged in the manufacture and distribution of tailored clothing throughout the United States. Kakiuchi-Japan, a Japanese corporation, exports fabric or “piece goods” to textile manufacturers and distributors. Kakiuchi-America, an American corporation wholly owned by Kakiuchi-Japan, is Kakiuchi-Japan’s agent in the United States. Genesco obtains fabric for its manufacturing operations from Japan, Korea, and Great Britain, and began purchasing piece goods from Kakiuchis Japan and America, both of which have contacts in the textile business in those areas. These piece goods were purchased pursuant to a series of written orders and confirmation notices, together forming the parties’ purchase and sales agreements. Each sales agreement contained an arbitration provision.
In 1979 the Kakiuchi defendants allegedly entered into a conspiracy with Genes-co’s vice-president of purchasing. In exchange for substantial payments, this official allegedly arranged to purchase all of Genesco’s Japanese or English-origin piece goods solely from Kakiuchi-Japan or its affiliates. Genesco maintains that its employee also improperly approved the purchase of overpriced, damaged, unsuitable, or noncompetitive piece goods. Upon discovering this scheme, Genesco filed suit against Kakiuchis Japan and America raising fraud, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a), (c), and (d) (1982), Robinson-Patman Price Discrimination Act, 15 U.S.C. § 13(c) (1982), unjust enrichment, tortious interference with contractual relations, money had and received, and unfair competition claims. Kakiuchis Japan and America then moved pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-14 (1982) and the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 21 U.S.T. 2517, T.I.A.S. No. 6997, reprinted at 9 U.S.C.A. § 201 note (West Supp. 1986), to stay the action pending arbitration. The district court judge referred the motions to a federal magistrate who issued his Report and Recommendation on March 5, 1986. On July 30, 1986, based on this recommendation, the district court granted Kakiuchi-America’s motion to stay the fraud and RICO claims, denied its motion to stay the other claims, and denied Kakiu-chi-Japan’s motion in toto. On September 23, 1986, the district court certified the arbitration question for immediate appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) (1982). We have jurisdiction over the legal claims on this appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1), see Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, Inc. v. Chase Manhattan Bank, 728 F.2d 577, 579 n. 2 (2d Cir.1984) and over the equitable claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).
DISCUSSION
The United States Arbitration Act (the Act), codified at 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-14, reflects a legislative recognition of “the desirability of arbitration as an alternative to the complications of litigation.” Wilko v. Swan, 346 U.S. 427, 431, 74 S.Ct. 182, 185, 98 L.Ed. 168 (1953). The Act, “reversing centuries of judicial hostility to arbitration agreements,” Scherk v. Alberto-Culver Co., 417 U.S. 506, 510, 94 S.Ct. 2449, 2453, 41 L.Ed.2d 270 (1974), was designed to allow parties to avoid “the costliness and delays of litigation,” and to place arbitration agreements “upon the same footing as other contracts...” H.R.Rep. No. 96, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. 1, 2 (1924); see also S.Rep. No. 536, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. (1924). To achieve these goals, it provides that written provisions to arbitrate controversies in any contract involving commerce “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” 9 U.S.C. § 2. Section 2 is “a congressional declaration of a liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements____” Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 24, 103 S.Ct. 927, 941, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983). The Act also provides in § 3 for a stay of proceedings where the court is satisfied that the issue before it is arbitrable under the agreement, and § 4 of the Act directs a federal court to order parties to proceed to arbitration if there has been a “ ‘failure, neglect, or refusal’ of any party to honor an agreement to arbitrate.” Scherk, 417 U.S. at 511, 94 S.Ct. at 2453. These provisions are mandatory: “[b]y its terms, the Act leaves no place for the exercise of discretion by a district court, but instead mandates that district courts shall direct the parties to proceed to arbitration on issues as to which an arbitration agreement has been signed.” Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. v. Byrd, 470 U.S. 213, 218, 105 S.Ct. 1238, 1241, 84 L.Ed.2d 158 (1985) (original emphasis).
Given these statutory directives, a court asked to stay proceedings pending arbitration in a case covered by the Act has essentially four tasks: first, it must determine whether the parties agreed to arbitrate, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth Inc., 473 U.S. 614, 105 S.Ct. 3346, 3354, 87 L.Ed.2d 444 (1985); second, it must determine the scope of that agreement; third, if federal statutory claims are asserted, it must consider whether Congress intended those claims to be nonarbitrable, see Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3355; and fourth, if the court concludes that some, but not all, of the claims in the case are arbitrable, it must then determine whether to stay the balance of the proceedings pending arbitration. With these tasks in mind, we consider first whether Genesco and the Kakiuchi defendants agreed to arbitrate their disputes.
I The Agreement to Arbitrate
In each sales transaction Genesco submitted a written purchase order to Kakiu-chi-Japan which then returned to Genesco a written sales confirmation form. On the back of the form is set forth a comprehensive list of terms and conditions. Among these terms and conditions, Clause 14 provides, in relevant part:
All claims and disputes of whatever nature arising under this contract shall be settled amicably as far as possible, but in case of failing it shall be referred to [arbitration in Japan before the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association].
Genesco received these forms without objection, and returned a number of them to Kakiuchi-Japan with the initials or signature of a high-ranking officer. When it returned items Genesco also acknowledged the sales confirmation forms by referring to them in the return notices.
Genesco and Kakiuchi-America transacted business through a similar exchange of purchase orders and confirmation notes. On the bottom of the front side, Kakiuchi-America’s sales confirmation note states: “THIS CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ON THIS AND THE REVERSE SIDE THEREOF, INCLUDING THE PROVISIONS OF PARAGRAPH 7 PROVIDING FOR ARBITRATION OF ALL DISPUTES.” The arbitration clause on the reverse side states in relevant part:
Any controversy arising out of or relating to this contract or any modification or extension thereof, including any claim for damages and/or rescission shall be settled by arbitration before a panel of three arbitrators in New York City.
Again Genesco received these forms without objection and returned a number of them with its signature.
Based on these exchanges and after a detailed review of the voluminous eviden-tiary submissions, the district court found that Genesco had agreed to arbitrate its disputes under both the signed and unsigned agreements with both the Kakiuchi defendants. We see no reason to disturb this factual finding. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a); see In re Hart Ski Manufacturing Co., 711 F.2d 845, 846 (8th Cir.1983) (whether the parties have agreed to arbitrate is a factual question); Hanes Supply Co. v. Valley Evaporating Co., 261 F.2d 29, 34-35 (5th Cir.1958) (same).
In enacting the federal Arbitration Act, Congress created national substantive law governing questions of the validity and the enforceability of arbitration agreements under its coverage. See Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3354; Moses H. Cone, 460 U.S. at 24, 103 S.Ct. at 941; Varley v. Tarrytown Associates, Inc., 477 F.2d 208, 209 (2d Cir.1973). Hence whether Genesco is bound by the arbitration clause of the sales confirmation forms is determined under federal law, which comprises generally accepted principles of contract law. See Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388 U.S. 395, 404, 87 S.Ct. 1801, 1806, 18 L.Ed.2d 1270 (1967); In re Hart Ski Manufacturing, 711 F.2d at 846; Fisser v. International Bank, 282 F.2d 231, 233 (2d Cir.1960); Robert Lawrence Co. v. Devonshire Fabrics, Inc., 271 F.2d 402, 406 (2d Cir.1959), cert. dismissed, 364 U.S. 801, 81 S.Ct. 27, 5 L.Ed.2d 37 (1960); but see Supak & Sons Manufacturing Co. v. Pervel Indus., Inc., 593 F.2d 135, 137 (4th Cir. 1979).
Under general contract principles a party is bound by the provisions of a contract that he signs, unless he can show special circumstances that would relieve him of such an obligation. See Coleman v. Prudential Bache Securities, Inc., 802 F.2d 1350, 1352 (11th Cir.1986) (per cu-riam); N & D Fashions, Inc. v. DHJ Industries, Inc., 548 F.2d 722, 727 (8th Cir. 1976). Here, the district court found that Genesco was an experienced textile concern with economic power equal to that of Kaki-uchi-Japan. It also found no impediment to the validity of the agreement. On the contrary, the widespread use of arbitration clauses in the textile industry puts a contracting party, like Genesco, on notice that its agreement probably contains such a clause. See N & D Fashions, 548 F.2d at 726 & n. 8; Avila Group, Inc. v. Norma J. of California, 426 F.Supp. 537, 541 n. 10 (S.D.N.Y.1977). Thus, the district court properly concluded that Genesco' was bound to arbitrate disputes arising under the signed sales confirmation forms. Gen-esco does not contest these findings, but claims instead that it never specifically agreed to the arbitration clauses. Such misapprehends our inquiry. We focus not on whether there was subjective agreement as to each clause in the contract, but on whether there was an objective agreement with respect to the entire contract. See N & D Fashions, 548 F.2d at 727.
As to the unsigned forms it is well-established that a party may be bound by an agreement to arbitrate even absent a signature. See, e.g., McAllister Brothers, Inc. v. A & S Transportation Co., 621 F.2d 519, 524 (2d Cir.1980). Further, while the Act requires a writing, it does not require that the writing be signed by the parties. See 9 U.S.C. § 3; Medical Development Corp. v. Industrial Molding Corp., 479 F.2d 345, 348 (10th Cir.1973); Fisser, 282 F.2d at 233. Thus, the district court did not err in finding that in this long standing and on-going relationship Genesco agreed to arbitrate disputes arising under the unsigned sales confirmation forms as well. See Imptex International Corp. v. Lorprint Inc., 625 F.Supp. 1572 (S.D.N.Y. 1986). In short, Genesco agreed to arbitrate all disputes arising from purchase agreements with both Kakiuchis. We turn now to examine the scope of that agreement.
II The Scope of The Arbitration Agreement
Relying on the magistrate’s recommendations — which only discussed the arbitrability of the fraud and RICO claims — the district court found that none of the claims against Kakiuchi-Japan fall within its arbitration provision. As to Kakiuchi-America, it determined that only the common law fraud and RICO claims were within its arbitration clause. Hence, it concluded that Genesco’s other claims against Kakiuchi-America were not subject to arbitration. We review these rulings de novo. Mediterranean Enterprises, Inc. v. Ssangyong, 708 F.2d 1458 1462-63 (9th Cir.1983); see Lorber Industries of California v. Los Angeles Printworks Corp., 803 F.2d 523 (9th Cir.1986) (denial of motion to compel arbitration is subject to de novo review); Zolezzi v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 789 F.2d 1447, 1449 (9th Cir.1986) (order compelling arbitration is subject to de novo review).
In determining whether a particular claim falls within the scope of the parties’ arbitration agreement, we focus on the factual allegations in the complaint rather than the legal causes of action asserted. See Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3352 n. 9, 3353 n. 13. If the allegations underlying the claims “touch matters” covered by the parties’ sales agreements, then those claims must be arbitrated, whatever the legal labels attached to them. See id. at 3353 n. 13. Applying this test, the parties each paint a different picture of the controversy: Genesco maintains that conspiracy and bribery are at the heart of its complaint, while the Kakiuchi defendants claim that overcharges and defective goods — all relating to the contract — are the crux of Genes-co’s suit. An examination of the factual allegations in the complaint reveals that both are essentially correct.
Genesco brought eight separate common law and statutory claims for relief against Kakiuchi-Japan and seven against Kakiu-chi-America, all based on the same central factual allegations. These allegations state that the defendants overcharged Gen-esco over an extended period of time for the piece goods it had purchased from them under the purchase and sale agreements. Genesco claims that it later discovered that the prices paid were substantially above fair market value and that the piece goods were unsuitable, obsolete, out-of-season, or damaged. Defendants accomplished these overcharges and inappropriate sales, Gen-esco asserts, by conspiring with and bribing its vice-president for purchasing. Both conspiracy and damaged goods are asserted throughout the complaint, suggesting both tort and contract causes of action. This dual contractual and tortious nature of the action creates a difficult arbitrability question. Hence, we look to recent Supreme Court precedent for guidance.
Where, as here, a determination has been made that parties have entered into binding and enforceable agreements to arbitrate their disputes, the Supreme Court has made it evident that questions regarding the scope of the arbitration provision must be addressed:
With a healthy regard for the federal policy favoring arbitration... the Arbitration Act establishes that, as a matter of federal law, any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration, whether the problem at hand is the construction of the contract language itself or an allegation of waiver, delay, or a like defense to arbitrability.
Moses H. Cone, 460 U.S. at 24-25,103 S.Ct. at 941. This “emphatic federal policy in favor of arbitral dispute resolution” “applies with special force in the field of international commerce.” Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3356-57.
We expressed the same view in S.A. Mineracao da Trindade-Samitri v. Utah Int’l, Inc. (“Samitri”):
The federal policy favoring arbitration requires us to construe arbitration clauses as broadly as possible. “[DJoubts as to arbitrability should be ‘resolved in favor of coverage,’... language excluding certain disputes from arbitration must be ‘clear and unambiguous’ or ‘unmistakably clear’ and... arbitration should be ordered ‘unless it may be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute.’ ”
745 F.2d 190, 194 (2d Cir.1984) (quoting Wire Service Guild v. United Press Int’l, 623 F.2d 257, 260 (2d Cir.1980) (quoting International Ass’n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. General Electric Co., 406 F.2d 1046, 1048 (2d Cir. 1969))). We now examine the specific claims for relief raised in the complaint more closely, mindful that doubts must be resolved in favor of arbitrability.
A. The Statutory Claims
To determine the arbitrability of Genes-co’s statutory claims under RICO and Robinson-Patman, we must first decide whether these claims are included within the scope of the arbitration clauses and then whether these claims are arbitrable as a matter of law.
1. Scope of the Arbitration Clauses as to RICO
In Count III, Genesco alleges that defendants Kakiuchis Japan and America conspired with others to defraud and injure Genesco in its business through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of the civil RICO statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a), (c), and (d). Genesco asserts wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, mail fraud, § 1341, and illegal interstate and foreign transportation as the predicate acts for this claim. More specifically, Count II states that the defendants caused to be delivered “confirmations, invoices and other documents relating to transactions necessary to defraud, or unlawfully obtain money and property, from Genesco” and caused to be sent in interstate and foreign commerce telexed messages, telephone calls, and wire transfers of funds from Genesco in furtherance of the conspiracy. The complaint also explains that the mailed invoices were fraudulent because they were “at prices substantially in excess of the fair market value” of the piece goods, for piece goods “unsuitable for use [by Genesco] in its tailored clothing operations”, and for “obsolete, out-of-season, defective or damaged” piece goods. Because the specific language of the two arbitration provisions differ, we consider the arbitrability of the claims against Kakiuchis Japan and America separately.
We find that the parties’ arbitration clause encompasses Genesco’s RICO claim against Kakiuchi-Japan. The wire, mail, and transportation fraud allegations which form the predicate acts of Genesco’s RICO claim all derive from the parties’ transactions under the sales agreements. Genesco’s theory is, in essence, that Kakiuchi-Japan, through the improper use of the mails, telephone, and other modes of communication, fraudulently sold it piece goods which did not meet the standards and prices of the parties’ sales agreements. Examining the complaint and bearing in mind that ambiguities in scope should be resolved in favor of coverage, Moses H. Cone, 460 U.S. at 24-25, 103 S.Ct. at 941, particularly in the international context, Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3357, we conclude that Genesco’s RICO claim against Kakiuchi-Japan “arises under” the parties’ sales agreements. Because Kakiuchi-America’s arbitration clause is even broader than Kakiuchi-Japan’s clause, Genesco’s RICO claim against Kakiuchi-America a fortiori is one “arising out of” or “relating to” the parties’ sales agreements.
2. Arbitrability of RICO Claims
Having determined that Genesco’s civil RICO claims fall within the arbitration clauses, we must next decide as a matter of law whether Congress intended RICO claims to be nonarbitrable. This question has generated much controversy in recent years, resulting in both intercircuit, compare, e.g., Mayaja, Inc. v. Bodkin, 803 F.2d 157 (5th Cir.1986) (arbitrable), petition for cert. filed, 55 U.S.L.W. 3523 (Jan. 14, 1987) (No. 86-1160) with, e.g., Page v. Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook & Weeden, Inc., 806 F.2d 291 (1st Cir.1986) (nonarbitrable), and intracircuit conflicts. Compare, e.g., Rhoades v. Powell, 644 F.Supp. 645 (E.D.Cal.1986) (nonarbitrable) with Sacks v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 627 F.Supp. 377 (C.D.Cal.1985) (arbitrable) and compare also Preston v. Kruezer, 641 F.Supp. 1163 (N.D.Ill.1986) (nonarbitrable) with Steinberg v. Illinois Co. Inc., 635 F.Supp. 615 (N.D.Ill.1986) (arbitrable). The debate has come, in large part, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Mitsubishi, which signaled a new approach to the arbitrability of statutory claims. Thus, Mitsubishi prompted many courts to rethink their stance on the arbitrability of RICO claims. For example, the Fifth Circuit at first held RICO claims to be nonarbitrable, Smoky Greenhaw Cotton Co. v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 785 F.2d 1274 (5th Cir.1986) (Green-haw I), but then remanded the issue to the district court for full briefing on the ground that Mitsubishi cast doubt on its initial decision. Id. at 1282 (per curiam) (Greenhaw II). On later appeal, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court and held RICO claims to be arbitrable. Smoky Greenhaw Cotton Co. v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 805 F.2d 1221 (5th Cir.1986) (Greenhaw III); see also Development Bank of the Philippines v. Chemtex Fibers Inc., 617 F.Supp. 55, 56-57 (S.D.N.Y.1985) (rethinking holding of district court in Samitri that RICO claims are nonarbitrable in light of Mitsubishi).
In Mitsubishi, the Supreme Court held that nothing in the nature of the federal antitrust laws prohibits parties from agreeing to arbitrate antitrust claims arising out of international commercial transactions. 105 S.Ct. at 3355-61. In so holding, the Supreme Court stated that there is no per se presumption against arbitration of statutory claims. Id. at 3353. The Court warned against “disfavoring agreements to arbitrate statutory claims” and ignoring the “hospitable inquiry into arbitrability”, and explained that the parties, having made the bargain to arbitrate, should be bound by it unless Congress itself has evinced an intention to preclude arbitration of the statutory rights at issue. Id. at 3355. Thus, rather than drawing presumptions regarding the arbitrability of statutory claims as courts have done in the past, see, e.g., American Safety Equip. Corp. v. J.P. Maguire & Co., 391 F.2d 821 (2d Cir. 1968), examined in Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3355-61, we now must deduce from the text or legislative history of the federal statute in question evidence of an affirmative congressional protection of the right to a judicial forum. Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3355. Absent that evidence, nothing prevents a court from concluding that Congress aimed to allow the arbitration of these claims.
Genesco argues that we have already held RICO claims to be nonarbitrable in both McMahon v. Shearson/American Express, Inc., 788 F.2d 94 (2d Cir.), cert. granted, — U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 60, 93 L.Ed.2d 20 (1986) and Samitri, 745 F.2d 194. We cannot fully agree. McMahon held that RICO claims asserted in the context of domestic commercial transactions are nonarbitrable as a matter of law. 788 F.2d at 98-99. McMahon did not decide the arbitrability of RICO claims in the international context. In fact, McMahon explicitly distinguished the domestic case before it from the Supreme Court’s teachings in the international arena. Thus, the McMahon court implicitly recognized Mitsubishi ’s applicability to RICO claims arising in an international context. See id. Indeed, the Supreme Court has drawn a similar distinction between international and domestic contexts in the area of securities claims. Compare Scherk, 417 U.S. 506, 94 S.Ct. 2449 (international securities claim arbitrable) with Wilko, 346 U.S. 427, 74 S.Ct. 182 (domestic securities claim non-arbitrable). Thus, while McMahon does in fact govern any domestic RICO claims Gen-esco may have, it does not apply to international RICO claims.
Nor did we squarely address the arbitra-bility of international RICO claims in Sam-itri. In Samitri, the district court held that RICO Act claims were not arbitrable. 576 F.Supp. 566, 574 (S.D.N.Y.1983), aff'd on other grounds, 745 F.2d 190 (2d Cir. 1984). The district court analogized RICO claims to antitrust claims which, before Mitsubishi, courts had long held to be nonarbitrable. See, e.g., Cobb v. Lewis, 488 F.2d 41, 47 (5th Cir.1974); Helfenbein v. International Indus., Inc., 438 F.2d 1068, 1070 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 872, 92 S.Ct. 63, 30 L.Ed.2d 115 (1971). Relying on the American Safety doctrine which states that the pervasive public interest in the enforcement of certain federal statutes makes claims arising under those statutes nonarbitrable, see American Safety, 391 F.2d at 827-28, the district court reasoned that, like antitrust laws, RICO Act enforcement not only affects the individuals involved, but also effectuates important societal policies, including the eradication of organized crime. 576 F.Supp. at 574-76. Because of this strong public interest, the district court concluded that RICO claims are nonarbitrable. Id. Because the parties did not challenge this portion of the district court’s opinion on appeal, see 745 F.2d at 193, we had no opportunity to review the lower court’s holding that international RICO claims are nonarbitrable under the American Safety doctrine. Therefore, though Samitri arose in an international context, we have yet to decide whether international RICO claims are arbitrable.
To determine whether RICO is arbitrable in the international context we must evaluate RICO under the Mitsubishi analysis. In order for a statutory claim to override the strong federal policy in favor of arbitration, the party opposing arbitration must show that Congress reserved a federal forum to vindicate rights under that statute. Mayaja, 803 F.2d at 161; see Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3355. In short, Genes-co must demonstrate that Congress planned to make an exception to the Arbitration Act for RICO claims, see Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3355, which must be deducible from either RICO’s text or legislative history. Id. We examine each in turn.
RICO provides a private civil action to recover treble damages for injury caused by a violation of its substantive provisions. § 1964(c). It contains no anti-waiver provision prohibiting parties from voluntarily relinquishing a judicial forum. Mayaja, 803 F.2d at 164; Jacobson v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 797 F.2d 1197, 1202 (3rd Cir.), petition for cert. filed, 55 U.S.L.W. 3259 (Sept. 25, 1986) (No. 86-487); cf. Wilko, 346 U.S. at 437, 74 S.Ct. at 188 (anti-waiver provision reveals congressional intent to bar arbitrability of securities actions under the Securities Act of 1933). Nothing in the statutory language suggests that RICO claims are to be excluded from the dictates of the Act. We turn then to the legislative history.
Added to the House version of the bill after the original bill had been passed by the Senate, the private treble-damages provision of RICO, codified as § 1964(c), received relatively little discussion in either House. Mayaja, 803 F.2d at 164; see Sedi-ma S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co., 473 U.S. 479, 105 S.Ct. 3275, 3280, 87 L.Ed.2d 346 (1985). Nor did the legislative debate address the arbitrability of claims brought under § 1964(c). Accord Mayaja, 803 F.2d at 164; Jacobson, 797 F.2d at 1202 (“[Tjhere is no legislative history suggesting that Congress ever considered whether RICO civil claims should be arbitrated.”).
Because Congress failed to comment on arbitrability, we examine the purposes underlying § 1964(c) to determine whether— due to an inherent conflict between those purposes and the arbitration of such claims — Congress implicitly intended RICO claims to be nonarbitrable. See Mitsubishi, 105 S.Ct. at 3355, 3358-60 (examining, in the absence of an explicit statement of congressional intent as to arbitrability, congressional policies behind § 4 of the Clayton Act); cf. McDonald v. City of West Branch, 466 U.S. 284, 290, 104 S.Ct. 1799, 1803, 80 L.Ed.2d 302 (1984) (holding that § 1983 claims are nonarbitrable because arbitration “cannot provide an adequate substitute for a judicial proceeding” in achieving § 1983’s objectives); Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight Sys., 450 U.S. 728, 742-45, 101 S.Ct. 1437, 1445-47, 67 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981) (finding congressional intent that Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 claims be nonarbitrable because of conflict between arbitration and FLSA’s purposes); Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 56, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 1023, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974) (“The purpose and procedures of Title YII indicate that Congress intended federal courts to exercise final responsibility for enforcement of Title VII; deferral to arbitral decisions would be inconsistent with that goal.”).
The legislative history of § 1964(c) reveals three recurrent congressional purposes: First, Congress’ primary purpose in enacting § 1964(c) was to compensate the victims of organized crime. Representative Steiger, who proposed the addition of a private treble-damages action, emphasized that “those who have been wronged by organized crime should at least be given access to a legal remedy.” Sedima, 105 S.Ct. at 3280 (quoting Hearings on S. 30, and Related Proposals, before Subcommittee No. 5 of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 2d Sess., 520 (1970) (hereinafter cited as House Hearings)). During the congressional debates on § 1964(c), Congressman Steiger made his point even more forcefully: “[i]t is the intent of this body, I am certain, to see that innocent parties who are the victims of organized crime have a right to obtain proper redress____ It represents the one opportunity for those of us who have been seriously affected by organized crime activity to recover.” Mayaja, 803 F.2d at 165 (quoting 116 Cong.Rec. 35,346-47 (1970)); see also Sedima, 105 S.Ct. at 3286 (Congress expressly admonished that RICO is to “be liberally construed to effectuate its remedial purposes” which are nowhere more evident than in § 1964(c) (quoting RICO, Pub.L. 91-452, § 904(a), 84 Stat. 947) (emphasis added)). The provision’s secondary purpose was to deter organized crime: “[i]n addition, the availability of such a remedy would enhance the effectiveness of title IX’s [i.e., RICO’s] prohibitions.” Mayaja, 803 F.2d at 164 (quoting House Hearings, supra, at 520). Thus, § 1964(c) is primarily a compensatory and secondarily a deterrent measure. The House passed the bill as proposed, 116 Cong.Rec. at 35,363-64; Sedima, 105 S.Ct. at 3281, and the Senate adopted the bill as amended in the House. 116 Cong.Rec. at 36,296; Sedima, 105 S.Ct. at 3281.
The third important congressional theme was to model § 1964(c) after § 4 of the Clayton Act. In fact, the RICO treble-damages language of § 1964(c) tracks virtually word for word the similar provision of § 4 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 15. As the Supreme Court observed: “[t]he clearest current in [RICO’s] history is the reliance on the Clayton Act model, under which private and governmental actions are entirely distinct.” Sedima, 105 S.Ct. at 3282; Mayaja, 803 F.2d at 165 (“[S]ection 4 of the Clayton Act... [was] recurrently invoked during the congressional discussion of RICO’s private treble damages provision.”).
Given Mitsubishi’s analysis, Congress’ reliance on § 4 of the Clayton Act is particularly relevant to the arbitrability question before us. In Mitsubishi, the Supreme Court examined the legislative purposes behind

Question: This question concerns the second listed appellant. The nature of this litigant falls into the category "private business (including criminal enterprises)". What is the scope of this business?
A. local
B. neither local nor national
C. national or multi-national
D. not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: C