What is Extortion? The Crime Explained

By Michelle Lou, Brandon Griggs and Emily Smith, CNN

(CNN) — The Chicago Mafia. The Gambino family. The Lucchese family.

These notorious groups dominated organized crime in Chicago and New York for decades, until prosecutors brought them down with one all-encompassing charge: racketeering.

Since then, the federal government has sought racketeering charges to target a dozen college athletes and test administrators in the largest college admissions scandal ever prosecuted: former President Donald Trump and musicians including R. Kelly, Young Thug and Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Sex trafficking, fraud scandals and mafia activities may seem very different, but they all fall under the broad heading of extortion.

So what exactly is extortion? For an answer, CNN turned to attorney G. Robert Blakey in 2019. Blakey has helped draft extortion laws in at least 22 states

It is not a specific crime

Simply put, racketeering means participating in an illegal scheme. It is used in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, to describe 35 offenses, including kidnapping, murder, bribery, arson, and extortion.

“(Racketeering) is not a specific crime — it’s a way of thinking about and prosecuting different crimes,” said Blakey, a professor of federal criminal law at the University of Notre Dame.

Blakey added that extortion is not a single criminal act. Prosecutors must show a pattern of at least two instances of extortion activity to convict someone under the law.

It is intentionally broad

Congress passed the RICO Act in 1970 to combat organized crime. Since then, the law has been used to target some of the mob’s most prominent members, including Antonio Corallo, head of the notorious Lucchese crime family.

But extortion is “not just associated with organized crime,” Blakey says.

Federal law is quite broad and has even been used to prosecute insider trading cases and anti-abortion groups that block access to clinics.

It must affect trade between the states

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, prosecutors must demonstrate five different criteria to convict someone of racketeering:

• There was a criminal enterprise
• The company affected interstate commerce
• The defendant was affiliated with or employed by the company
• The suspect has engaged in a pattern of extortion activities
• The suspect participated in at least two forms of extortion activities

The minimum penalty for extortion varies by jurisdiction and severity of the crime. Convicted extortionists may also face fines.

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