RICO Act
1
7.2
- noun
- /ˈriːkoʊ ækt/
- Formal
:
Ley RICO
- I've read the RICO Act, and I can tell you it's more appropriate for some of those guys over in Washington than it is for me or any of my fellas here.
Examples
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Prosecutors used the RICO Act to charge several gang members involved in organized crime activities.
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- You know, not for nothing, Judge, but I thought this was the RICO Act, not the Puerto Rico Act.
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Passed in 1970 as a measure for combating organized crime, the RICO Act had never before been applied to a political group.
Academic text (1999) -
But have we reached a point under the RICO Act where we indict a man for past crimes he's already done time for?
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It awarded $85,926 as compensation for higher security costs; the RICO Act, however, provides for an automatic tripling of that amount.
Academic text (1999) -
The New York Times (23 April 1998) reported that a federal district court jury in Chicago convicted three anti-abortion leaders of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Academic text (1999) -
The FBI launched an investigation under the RICO Act to dismantle the large drug trafficking organization.
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The attorney filed a lawsuit claiming damages under the RICO Act against the corrupt company.
Synonyms
1
8.8
A U.S. law that lets prosecutors punish and take money and property from organized crime groups
1
8.8
United States law from 1970 used to fight organized crime by giving stronger punishments
Surface Forms
Morphology
The headword 'RICO' denotes a specific law targeting organized crime and 'act' means a statute, so the combination simply names that statute. This is a straightforward compositional naming pattern (X Act = the law called X) found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
RICO Act comes from the law's full title, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, made by using the first letters of those words. The image to remember is a law that reaches into a whole criminal group to charge leaders and take money gained from crime, so RICO Act now means the U.S. law used to fight organized crime.