Interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises
Official text prohibited actmental stateif conditionpenaltylegal term
(a) Whoever travels in or uses the mail or any facility in , with intent to—
(1) distribute the proceeds of any unlawful activity; or
(2) commit any crime of violence to further any unlawful activity; or
(3) otherwise promote, manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on, of any unlawful activity,
and thereafter performs or to perform—
(A) an act described in paragraph (1) or (3) shall be , imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both; or
(B) an act described in paragraph (2) shall be , imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(b)
As used in this section (i) "unlawful activity" means (1) any business enterprise involving gambling, liquor on which the Federal excise tax has not been paid, narcotics or controlled substances (as defined in section 102(6) of the Controlled Substances Act), or prostitution offenses in violation of the laws of the State in which they are committed or of the United States, (2) extortion, bribery, or arson in violation of the laws of the State in which committed or of the United States, or (3) any act which is indictable under subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, or under section 1956 or 1957 of this title and (ii) the term "State" includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
(c) Investigations of violations under this section involving liquor shall be conducted under the supervision of the Attorney General.
(d) If the offense under this section involves an act described in paragraph (1) or (3) of subsection (a) and also involves a pre-retail medical product (as defined in section 670), the punishment for the offense shall be the same as the punishment for an offense under section 670 unless the punishment under subsection (a) is greater.
(e)
(1)
This section shall not apply to a savings promotion raffle conducted by an insured depository institution or an insured credit union.
(2)
In this subsection—
(A) the term "insured credit union" shall have the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752);
(B) the term "insured depository institution" shall have the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813); and
(C) the term "savings promotion raffle" means a contest in which the sole consideration required for a chance of winning designated prizes is obtained by the deposit of a specified amount of money in a savings account or other savings program, where each ticket or entry has an equal chance of being drawn, such contest being subject to regulations that may from time to time be promulgated by the appropriate prudential regulator (as defined in section 1002 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481)).
History: (Added Pub. L. 87–228, §1(a), Sept. 13, 1961, 75 Stat. 498; amended Pub. L. 89–68, July 7, 1965, 79 Stat. 212; Pub. L. 91–513, title II, §701(i)(2), Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1282 (PDF, 11 MB); Pub. L. 99–570, title I, §1365(a), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207 (PDF, 30 MB)–35; Pub. L. 101–647, title XII, §1205(i), title XVI, §1604, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4831 (PDF, 27 MB), 4843; Pub. L. 103–322, title XIV, §140007(a), title XXXIII, §330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2033 (PDF, 52 MB), 2147; Pub. L. 107–296, title XI, §1112(h), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2277; Pub. L. 112–186, §4(b)(1), Oct. 5, 2012, 126 Stat. 1429; Pub. L. 113–251, §5(1), Dec. 18, 2014, 128 Stat. 2890.)
Simplified explanation
It is a federal crime to travel between states or countries, or use the mail or other interstate facilities, intending to spread profits from, promote, or carry on illegal activity, or to commit violence to help it, and then to do or attempt such an act. Illegal activity here includes gambling, drug, prostitution, or untaxed liquor businesses, plus extortion, bribery, arson, and money laundering.