Opinion ID: 3173815
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Relatedness Under RICO

Text: RICO makes it unlawful for an individual to conduct or conspire to conduct an enterprise by engaging in ʺa pattern of racketeering activity.ʺ 18 ‐ 11 ‐ U.S.C. § 1962(c); see id. § 1962(d). A pattern of racketeering activity involves, at minimum, two predicate racketeering activities ‐‐ including, for example, murder, drug traﬃcking, and illegal gambling ‐‐ that occur within ten years of one another. Id. § 1961(1), (5). But RICO does not apply to ʺthe perpetrators of ʹisolatedʹ or ʹsporadicʹ criminal acts.ʺ United States v. Indelicato, 865 F.2d 1370, 1383 (2d Cir. 1989) (en banc) (quoting Sun Savings & Loan Assʹn v. Dierdorﬀ, 825 F.2d 187, 192 (9th Cir. 1987)). Criminal conduct only ʺforms a pattern if it embraces criminal acts that have the same or similar purposes, results, participants, victims, or methods of commission, or otherwise are interrelated by distinguishing characteristics and are not isolated events.ʺ H.J. Inc. v. Nw. Bell Tel. Co., 492 U.S. 229, 240 (1989) (emphasis added) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3575(e) (1982)). That is, predicate acts ʺmust be related to each other (ʹhorizontalʹ relatedness), and they must be related to the enterprise (ʹverticalʹ relatedness).ʺ United States v. Minicone, 960 F.2d 1099, 1106 (2d Cir. 1992). Vertical relatedness requires ʺthat the defendant was enabled to commit the oﬀense solely because of his position in the enterprise or his involvement in or control over the enterpriseʹs aﬀairs, or because the oﬀense ‐ 12 ‐ related to the activities of the enterprise.ʺ United States v. Burden, 600 F.3d 204, 216 (2d Cir. 2010). ʺ[I]t is not necessary,ʺ however, ʺthat the oﬀense be in furtherance of the enterpriseʹs activities for the oﬀense to be related to the activities of the enterprise.ʺ United States v. Bruno, 383 F.3d 65, 84 (2d Cir. 2004). Further, ʺthe same or similar proof [that] establish[es] vertical relatednessʺ may also establish horizontal relatedness, because ʺthe requirements of horizontal relatedness can be established by linking each predicate act to the enterprise.ʺ United States v. Daidone, 471 F.3d 371, 375 (2d Cir. 2006) (per curiam); see also Indelicato, 865 F.2d at 1382 (considering evidence of ʺtemporal proximity, or common goals, or similarity of methods, or repetitionsʺ).