Federal · Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

18 U.S.C. § 1952: Interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises

Felony

What this law says, in plain English

Federal law prohibits interstate or foreign travel to promote racketeering enterprises involving unlawful activities like gambling, drugs, extortion, or bribery. Violations carry imprisonment up to 5–20 years, or life if death results.

Read the full statutory text
distribute the proceeds of any unlawful activity; or commit any crime of violence to further any unlawful activity; or otherwise promote, manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on, of any unlawful activity, an act described in paragraph (1) or (3) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both; or an act described in paragraph (2) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life. 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. Investigations of violations under this section involving liquor shall be conducted under the supervision of the Attorney General. 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. This section shall not apply to a savings promotion raffle conducted by an insured depository institution or an insured credit union. 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 ); 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 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 )).

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