Justice Manual § 9-110.812

In deciding whether to approve a prosecution under Section 1959, the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section will analyze the prosecution memorandum and proposed indictment to determine whether there is a legitimate reason the offense cannot or should not be prosecuted by state or local authorities. For example, federal prosecution may be appropriate where local authorities do not have the resources to prosecute, where local authorities are reasonably believed to be corrupt, where local authorities have requested federal participation, or where the offense is closely related to a federal investigation or prosecution. A prosecution will not be authorized over the objection of local authorities in the absence of a compelling reason. Accordingly, every prosecution memorandum must state the views of local authorities with respect to the proposed prosecution, or the reasons for not soliciting them. In addition, the specific factors set forth in the following sections will be considered with respect to all proposed prosecutions.

Section 1959 was enacted to combat "contract murders and other violent crimes by organized crime figures." See S.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 1st Sess. 304-307, 306 (1983), reprinted in 1984 U.S. Code & Admin. News (U.S.C.A.N.) 3182, 3483-3487. The statutory language is extremely broad, in that it covers such conduct as a threat to commit an assault, and other relatively minor conduct normally prosecuted by local authorities. Thus, although the involvement of traditional organized crime will not be a requirement for approval of proposed prosecutions, a prosecution will not be authorized unless the violent crimes involved are substantial because of the seriousness of injuries, the number of incidents, or other aggravating factors.

The statutory definition of "enterprise" also is very broad; it is closely related to the definition of the same term in the RICO statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4). (It should be noted that the definition in section 1959, unlike the RICO definition, includes a requirement of an effect on interstate commerce as part of the definition, and does not include an "individual" within the definition.) No prosecution under section 1959 will be approved unless the enterprise has an identifiable structure and purpose apart from the racketeering activity and crimes of violence it is engaged in, and otherwise meets the standards for a RICO prosecution.

The term "racketeering activity" is borrowed directly from the RICO statute, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(1). It will be construed in the same way under Section 1959 as it is under RICO, for purposes of approval. See JM 9-110.100, et seq.