Congress enacted the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, as part of 1970’s Organized Crime Control Act. Since then, the statute has been applied well beyond the organized-crime context. Its most commonly used provision, § 1962(c) of Title 18, generally prohibits any person employed by or associated with an enterprise engaged in interstate commerce from conducting the enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity.

RICO provides for both...