Opinion ID: 2966477
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: provides, in pertinent part:

Text: It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of 6 racketeering activity . . . to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. . . . Subsection (d) makes it a crime to conspire to violate any of the section's substantive provisions, including Subsection (a). Racketeering activity refers to an assortment of crimes, one of which is federal mail fraud. See 18 U.S.C.A.§ 1961(1) (West Supp. 1996). A pattern requires, at a minimum, two acts of racketeering activity within ten years. 18 U.S.C.A. § 1961(5) (West 1984); Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co., Inc., 473 U.S. 479, 496 n.14 (1985). The appellants assert that TranSouth committed mail fraud each time that it notified a defaulting borrower that his or her repossessed vehicle would, if not redeemed, be disposed of at a privatesale. According to the appellants, the notice was intentionally misleading because TranSouth knew that a transfer of collateral under a repurchase agreement was not a sale at all. See note 3, supra. RICO provides that [a]ny person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation of section 1962 of this chapter may sue therefor . . . and shall recover threefold the damages he sustains and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee. . . . 18 U.S.C.A. § 1964(c) (West Supp. 1996). The government need not prosecute a RICO violation as a prerequisite to the filing of a civil suit against the alleged violator. Sedima, 473 U.S. at 493.