506.120 Engaging in organized crime. (1) A person, with the purpose to establish or maintain a criminal syndicate or to facilitate any of its activities, shall not do any of the following: (a) Organize or participate in organizing a criminal syndicate or any of its activities; (b) Provide material aid to a criminal syndicate or any of its activities, whether such aid is in the form of money or other property, or credit; (c) Manage, supervise, or direct any of the activities of a criminal syndicate, at any level of responsibility; (d) Knowingly furnish legal, accounting, or other managerial services to a criminal syndicate; (e) Commit, or conspire or attempt to commit, or act as an accomplice in the commission of, any offense of a type in which a criminal syndicate engages on a continuing basis; (f) Commit, or conspire or attempt to commit or act as an accomplice in the commission of, any offense of violence; (g) Commit, or conspire or attempt to commit, or act as an accomplice in the commission of bribery in violation of KRS Chapters 518 or 521, or KRS 119.205, 121.025, 121.055, 524.070, 156.465, 45A.340, 63.090, 6.080, 18A.145, or 244.600; (h) Commit, or conspire or attempt to commit, or act as an accomplice in the commission of more than one (1) theft of retail merchandise with the intent to resell the stolen merchandise; or (i) Acquire stolen retail merchandise for the purpose of reselling it where the person knew or should have known that the merchandise had been stolen. (2) Whoever violates this section is guilty of engaging in organized crime, which shall be a Class B felony, unless the offense involves only the theft or acquisition of retail merchandise for the purpose of reselling it, in which case it shall be a Class C felony. (3) As used in this section "criminal syndicate" means three (3) or more persons, or, in cases of merchandise theft from a retail store for the purpose of reselling the stolen merchandise, two (2) or more persons, collaborating to promote or engage in any of the criminal acts provided in subsection (4)(a) to (f) of this section on a continuing basis. (4) As used in this section, "criminal gang syndicate" means three (3) or more persons acting as a part of or members of a criminal gang and collaborating to promote or engage in any of the following on a continuing basis: (a) Extortion or coercion in violation of KRS 514.080 or 521.020; (b) Engaging in, promoting, or permitting prostitution or human trafficking in violation of KRS Chapter 529; (c) Any theft offense as defined in KRS Chapter 514; (d) Any gambling offense as defined in KRS 411.090, KRS Chapter 528, or Section 226 of the Constitution; (e) Illegal trafficking in controlled substances as prohibited by KRS Chapter 218A, in intoxicating or spirituous liquor as defined in KRS Chapters 242 or 244, or in destructive devices or booby traps as defined in KRS Chapter 237; or (f) Lending at usurious interest, and enforcing repayment by illegal means in violation of KRS Chapter 360. (5) Any person found to have been a member of a criminal gang syndicate while engaging in the criminal acts listed in subsection (4) of this section shall not be released on probation or parole until he or she has served at least eighty-five percent (85%) of the sentence imposed. Effective: April 26, 2018 History: Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 202, sec. 3, effective April 26, 2018. -- Amended 2009 Ky. Acts ch. 106, sec. 15, effective June 25, 2009. -- Amended 2007 Ky. Acts ch. 19, sec. 3, effective June 26, 2007. -- Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 417, sec. 16, effective December 1, 2000. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 121, sec. 37, effective July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 448, sec. 72, effective July 15, 1982. -- Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 188, sec. 306, effective July 15, 1980. -- Created 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 321, sec. 1, effective June 17, 1978. Legislative Research Commission Note (12/1/2000). The contingency on the effectiveness of this statute set by 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 417, sec. 18, was met, the voters of the Commonwealth having ratified at the general election on November 7, 2000, a constitutional amendment (see 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 399) abolishing the Railroad Commission.