B. Pattern of Racketeering Activity, Element Two

In order to establish a "pattern of racketeering activity," the government must implicate the defendant in at least two predicate acts of racketeering. RICO provides an exhaustive list of predicate acts, which include both state and federal crimes involving violence, fraud, counterfeiting, drugs, and immigration. The defendants need not be convicted of the underlying predicate acts; offenses of which the defendant has been acquitted may serve as the basis of a RICO offense. In the empirical study, the government almost always established this element through multiple allegations of violent, drug, and immigration crimes.