**Racketeering** refers to illegal activities carried out as part of an organized effort to make money, often through coercion, fraud, or other criminal means. The term originally described **"protection rackets,"** where criminals would offer protection services to businesses for a fee, but the catch was that the very people offering protection were the ones causing the threats in the first place.
Today, racketeering covers a wide range of crimes under laws like the **RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act)** in the U.S. Some examples include:
- **Extortion:** Forcing someone to give up money through threats or intimidation.
- **Money laundering:** Hiding illegally obtained money to make it appear legitimate.
- **Bribery:** Offering or receiving something of value to influence decisions.
- **Fraud:** Deceiving people to gain money or property.
- **Drug trafficking, human trafficking, gambling, and loan sharking** can also fall under racketeering if tied to organized crime.
Basically, if a group of people is running a criminal enterprise to consistently make illegal profits, it's likely racketeering.