18 U.S.C. § 1959
Section 1959 · Violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 773 court decisions — leading case Leocal v. Ashcroft (2004)
Most recently applied in United States v. Shaheem Johnson (July 2025)
Applied most in the Second Circuit Circuit (101 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 924 · 18 U.S.C. § 1962 · 18 U.S.C. § 1961
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Whoever, as consideration for the receipt of, or as consideration for a promise or agreement to pay, anything of pecuniary value from an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity, or for the purpose of gaining entrance to or maintaining or increasing position in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity, murders, kidnaps, maims, assaults with a dangerous weapon, commits assault resulting in serious bodily injury upon, or threatens to commit a crime of violence against any individual in violation of the laws of any State or the United States, or attempts or conspires so to do, shall be punished—
(1) for murder, by death or life imprisonment, or a fine under this title, or both; and for kidnapping, by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or a fine under this title, or both;
(2) for maiming, by imprisonment for not more than thirty years or a fine under this title, or both;
(3) for assault with a dangerous weapon or assault resulting in serious bodily injury, by imprisonment for not more than twenty years or a fine under this title, or both;
(4) for threatening to commit a crime of violence, by imprisonment for not more than five years or a fine under this title, or both;
(5) for attempting or conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping, by imprisonment for not more than ten years or a fine under this title, or both; and
(6) for attempting or conspiring to commit a crime involving maiming, assault with a dangerous weapon, or assault resulting in serious bodily injury, by imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine of 1 under this title, or both.
(b) As used in this section—
(1) “racketeering activity” has the meaning set forth in section 1961 of this title; and
(2) “enterprise” includes any partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity, which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1994—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(2)(C), substituted “fine under this title” for “fine of not more than $250,000” in two places.
Pub. L. 103–322, §60003(a)(12), amended par. (1) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (1) read as follows:
“(1) for murder or kidnaping, by imprisonment for any term of years or for life or a fine of not more than $50,000, or both;”.
Subsec. (a)(2) to (4). Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(2)(C), substituted “fine under this title” for “fine of not more than $30,000” in par. (2), “fine of not more than $20,000” in par. (3), and “fine of not more than $5,000” in par. (4).
Subsec. (a)(5). Pub. L. 103–322, §330021(1), substituted “kidnapping” for “kidnaping”.
Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(2)(C), substituted “fine under this title” for “fine of not more than $10,000”.
Subsec. (a)(6). Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(1)(J), substituted “under this title” for “not more than $3,000” after “fine of”.
1988—Pub. L. 100–690 renumbered section 1952B of this title as this section.