Section 460.00. Legislative findings

The legislature finds and determines as follows:
    Organized  crime  in  New  York  state  involves highly sophisticated,
  complex and widespread  forms  of  criminal  activity.  The  diversified
  illegal conduct engaged in by organized crime, rooted in the illegal use
  of  force,  fraud,  and  corruption,  constitutes a major drain upon the
  state's economy, costs citizens and businesses of the state billions  of
  dollars each year, and threatens the peace, security and general welfare
  of the people of the state.
    Organized  crime  continues  to  expand its corrosive influence in the
  state through illegal enterprises engaged in such criminal endeavors  as
  the  theft  and fencing of property, the importation and distribution of
  narcotics and other dangerous drugs, arson for profit, hijacking,  labor
  racketeering,  loansharking, extortion and bribery, the illegal disposal
  of  hazardous  wastes,  syndicated  gambling,  trafficking   in   stolen
  securities, insurance and investment frauds, and other forms of economic
  and social exploitation.
    The  money  and  power  derived by organized crime through its illegal
  enterprises and endeavors is increasingly being used to  infiltrate  and
  corrupt  businesses,  unions  and  other  legitimate  enterprises and to
  corrupt our democratic processes. This infiltration takes several  forms
  with legitimate enterprises being employed as instrumentalities, injured
  as  victims,  or taken as prizes. Through such infiltration the power of
  an enterprise can be diverted to criminal ends, its resources looted, or
  it can be taken over entirely, either on paper or de  facto.  Thus,  for
  purposes  of  making  both criminal and civil remedies available to deal
  with the  corruption  of  such  enterprises,  the  concept  of  criminal
  enterprise  should  not be limited to traditional criminal syndicates or
  crime families, and may include persons who join together in a  criminal
  enterprise,  as  defined  by subdivision three of section 460.10 of this
  article, for the purpose of corrupting such  legitimate  enterprises  or
  infiltrating and illicitly influencing industries.
    One  major  cause  of  the  continuing  growth  of  organized criminal
  activities within the state is the  inadequacy  and  limited  nature  of
  sanctions  and  remedies  available  to  state and local law enforcement
  officials to deal with  this  intricate  and  varied  criminal  conduct.
  Existing   penal   law  provisions  are  primarily  concerned  with  the
  commission of specific and limited criminal acts without regard  to  the
  relationships of particular criminal acts or the illegal profits derived
  therefrom,  to  legitimate or illicit enterprises operated or controlled
  by organized crime.  Further,  traditional  penal  law  provisions  only
  provide for the imposition of conventional criminal penalties, including
  imprisonment,  fines  and  probation,  for  entrenched  organized  crime
  enterprises. Such penalties are not adequate  to  enable  the  state  to
  effectively  fight  organized crime. Instead, new penal prohibitions and
  enhanced sanctions, and new civil and criminal remedies are necessary to
  deal with the unlawful activities of persons and enterprises engaged  in
  organized  crime.    Comprehensive statutes enacted at the federal level
  and in a  number  of  other  states  with  significant  organized  crime
  problems,  have provided law enforcement agencies with an effective tool
  to fight organized crime. Such laws permit law  enforcement  authorities
  (i)  to  charge  and  prove  patterns  of  criminal  activity  and their
  connection to ongoing  enterprises,  legitimate  or  illegal,  that  are
  controlled  or  operated  by organized crime, and (ii) to apply criminal
  and civil penalties designed to prevent and eliminate organized  crime's
  involvement  with such enterprises. The organized crime control act is a
  statute of comparable purpose but tempered by reasonable limitations  on
  its applicability, and by due regard for the rights of innocent persons.

  Because  of  its  more  rigorous definitions, this act will not apply to
  some  situations  encompassed  within  comparable  statutes   in   other
  jurisdictions.  This  act  is  vital  to the peace, security and general
  welfare of the state.
    In  part  because  of  its  highly diverse nature, it is impossible to
  precisely define what organized crime is. This  article,  however,  does
  attempt  to  define  and  criminalize  what  organized  crime does. This
  article focuses upon criminal enterprises because  their  sophistication
  and organization make them more effective at their criminal purposes and
  because  their  structure  and  insulation protect their leadership from
  detection and prosecution.
    At the same time, this article is  not  intended  to  be  employed  to
  prosecute  relatively minor or isolated acts of criminality which, while
  related to an enterprise and arguably part of a pattern  as  defined  in
  this  article,  can be adequately and more fairly prosecuted as separate
  offenses. Similarly, particular defendants may play so minor a role in a
  criminal enterprise that their culpability would be  unfairly  distorted
  by prosecution and punishment for participation in the enterprise.
    The  balance  intended  to  be  struck  by  this act cannot readily be
  codified in the form of restrictive definitions or a categorical list of
  exceptions. General,  yet  carefully  drawn  definitions  of  the  terms
  "pattern  of  criminal  activity"  and  "criminal  enterprise" have been
  employed.   Notwithstanding the  provisions  of  section  5.00  of  this
  chapter  these  definitions  should  be  given  their plain meaning, and
  should not be construed either liberally or strictly, but in the context
  of the legislative purposes set forth  in  these  findings.  Within  the
  confines  of  these  and  other applicable definitions, discretion ought
  still be exercised. Once  the  letter  of  the  law  is  complied  with,
  including the essential showing that there is a pattern of conduct which
  is  criminal  under existing statutes, the question whether to prosecute
  under those statutes or for the pattern itself  is  essentially  one  of
  fairness.  The  answer  will  depend on the particular situation, and is
  best  addressed  by  those  institutions  of   government   which   have
  traditionally  exercised  that  function:  the  grand  jury,  the public
  prosecutor, and an independent judiciary.