Racketeering has always seemed like a really weird thing to charge someone with to me.
Dictionary.com give the definition of racketeering as:
rack·et·eer ( P ) Pronunciation Key (rk-tîr)
n.
A person who commits crimes such as extortion, loansharking, bribery, and obstruction of justice in furtherance of illegal business activities.
Aren’t these all distinct crimes already. It sounds like they are just charging someone with “Um, real bad mafia type stuff and being a naughty, naughty person.”
My question is why is racketeering a formal charge rather than a general description of behavior and why don’t they just charge someone with the actual illegal activities engaged in rather than this vague description.