Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GLASSER, District Judge: This is a civil action brought by the United States of America under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961 et seq. (“RICO”). As filed, the complaint sets forth 47 claims for relief against 112 defendants who are alleged to have committed 486 acts of racketeering through 46 separate enterprises. In a transparent endeavor to lay claim to “the largest civil RICO case ever,” the government attorneys who drafted this complaint have multiplied defendants, enterprises, and predicate acts as though numbers were ends in themselves; and, yet, unfortunately, those draftsmen have also attempted to present the elements of their claims in the most summary form. The result — in derogation of the spirit of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) — is a complaint that is neither “short” nor “plain.” Indeed, at all too many points, the result is a complaint as to which persons “of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning.” Confronted with this obscure pleading, most of the defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint; for the reasons indicated below, their motions are granted in part and denied in part. FACTS The facts that underlie this transaction are, for the purposes of this motion, assumed to be true as set out in the complaint. The government alleges that, for several decades, the solid waste disposal industry in the New York counties of Nassau and Suffolk has been “infiltrated, controlled, influenced, corrupted and run by organized crime.” Complaint II1. The complaint states that the Lucchese Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra and the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra have been the principal sources of such Mafia influence. Id. According to the government, this “[c]ontrol of the industry by organized crime has eliminated competition and [has] cost the residents and [the] businesses of those counties millions of dollars.” Id. Furthermore, the presence and the influence of the Mafia “has been accomplished through the use of threats and violence, through the infiltration and [the] control of labor unions, and through the bribery and [the] corruption of local government officials and employees.” Id. Finally, “[m]embers and associates of organized crime families were and are directors, officers, employees and ... shareholders of various carting companies” that do business in Nassau County and in Suffolk County. Id. 115. The government alleges that the carting business on Long Island is conducted through an “illegal customer allocation agreement.” Id. 117. No member of this cartel “seek[s] or accept[s] business from customers [allocated to] another carter who is a member of the cartel.” Id. Additionally, the members of this cartel “rig” bids on public carting contracts. Id. ¶[ 8. This “agreement among the carting companies and their principals is enforced by members and associates of organized crime families, and any attempt by rebel carters [that is, non-cartel carters] to compete for existing customers or [to] submit competitive bids is met with immediate threats of violence ... or [of] economic harm.” Id. 119. In order to facilitate their illegal control of the carting industry, the cartel members corrupt public officials whose duties include the oversight of various aspects of the industry. Id. If 15. And, in return for the power and the influence of the organized crime families, the members of the cartel “make periodic payments in cash” to the Lucchese Family and to the Gambino Family. Id. II13. Over time, the government contends, these activities have virtually eliminated “all competition from the [carting] industry ... [and have made it] impossible for any non-corrupt businesses to enter the industry and [to] compete for work. The consumer, in turn, [has been] forced to pay inflated prices for garbage disposal services.” Id. 1114. The defendants in this action include the Private Sanitation Industry Association of Nassau/Suffolk, Inc. (“PSIA”) — “a trade association of individuals and entities engaged in the business of solid waste collection, transportation, ... or disposal,” id. ¶ 23 — and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Private Sanitation Local 813 (“Local 813”) — the union that represents workers employed by companies engaged in the solid waste industry on Long Island. The complaint also names as defendants the following 44 corporate entities (all of which are alleged to participate in the solid waste disposal industry on Long Island): A-l Carting Corporation (“A-l Carting”); AA & M Carting Company (“AA & M Carting”); Ace Garbage & Rubbish Removal, Inc. (“Ace Garbage”); All Weather Carting Corporation (“All Weather Carting”); Associated Waste Disposal Company, Inc. (“Associated Waste”); B & D Carting, Inc. (“B & D Carting”); Bonsera, Inc. d/b/a Star Carting Corp. (“Star Carting”); Budget Roll-Off Systems, Inc. (“Budget Roll-Off”); C & C Refuse Carting Corporation (“C & C Carting”); Ciano and Sons Carting Co., Inc. (“Ciano Carting”); Comet Carting Company (“Comet Carting”); Daniel Finley Allen & Co., Inc. (“Daniel Allen Carting”); Delta Carting Company (“Delta Carting”); Dependable Sanitation Corp. (“Dependable Sanitation”); Detail Carting Corporation (“Detail Carting”); Enviro Carting Company d/b/a Island Carting Company (“Enviro Carting”); Ever Ready Sanitation Corporation (“Ever Ready Sanitation”); Harbor Carting Corporation (“Harbor Carting”); Hickey’s Carting, Inc. (“Hickey’s Carting”); Hillside Carting Company (“Hillside Carting”); Jamaica Ash & Rubbish Removal Company (“Jamaica Ash”); Long Island Rubbish Removal Corporation (“Long Island Rubbish”); Maggio’s M & P Carting Services, Inc. (“Maggio’s Carting”); MCM Sanitation, Inc. (“MCM Sanitation); Metro Waste, Inc. (“Metro Waste”); Mets Roll-Off Service, Inc. (“Mets Roll-Off”); Monb-ro Sanitation Service, Inc. (“Monbro Sanitation”); Prudential Waste Disposal, Inc. (“Prudential Waste”); Sail Carting & Recycling Corporation (“Sail Carting”); Salem Sanitary Carting Corporation (“Salem Carting”); South Side Carting Co., Inc. (“South Side Carting”); SSC Corporation; Standard Commercial Cartage, Inc. (“Standard Cartage”); Sun Carting, Inc. (“Sun Carting”); Sunset Sanitation Corporation (“Sunset Sanitation”); Superior Waste Systems, Inc. (“Superior Waste”); TWA Carting Corporation (“TWA Carting”); II Cousins Carting Corp. (“II Cousins Carting”); U-Need-A-Roll-Off Corporation (“U-Need Corp.”); Unique Sanitation Corp. (“Unique Sanitation”); Vigliotti Brothers Carting Corporation (“Vigliotti Carting”); Vinnie Monte’s Waste Systems, Inc. (“Vinnie Monte’s Waste”); V & J Rubbish Removal, Inc. (“V & J Rubbish”); and Wayside Carting, Inc. (“Wayside Carting”). Finally, the complaint names as defendants the following 64 individuals: Michael Acquafredda (a principal of AA & M Carting); Bernard Adelstein (an officer of Local 813); John Allen (a principal of Daniel Allen Carting); Sarah Allen (a principal of Daniel Allen Carting); James Allesandria (a principal of V & J Rubbish); Vito Aniello (a principal of Dependable Sanitation); Salvatore Avellino, Jr. (a principal of Salem Carting and of SSC Corporation); Joseph Bonsera (a principal of Star Carting); Michael Bonsera (a principal of Star Carting); Charles Cannizzaro (a principal of MCM Sanitation and of Enviro Carting); Richard Carey (a former employee of the town of Islip, New York); Pasquale Casagrande (a principal of Hillside Carting); Richard Ci-ano (a principal of Ciano Carting); Raniero Colatosti (a principal of Harbor Carting); Craig Comerford (a former employee of the town of Oyster Bay, New York); Antonio Corallo; James J. Corrigan, Jr. (an executive director of PSIA); Edward DeMatteo (a principal of Sail Carting); Ernest DeMat-teo (a principal of Sail Carting); Emedio Fazzini (a principal of Jamaica Ash); Joseph Ferrante (a principal of U-Need Corp. and of Unique Sanitation); Nicholas Fer-rante (a principal of U-Need Corp. and of Unique Sanitation); John Guglielmo (a principal of II Cousins Carting); John Haynes (a principal of Standard Cartage); Dennis Hickey (a principal of Hickey’s Carting); Robert Husak (a principal of B & D Carting); Jerome Kowalski (a former employee of the town of Oyster Bay, New York); Vincent Maggio (a principal of Maggio’s Carting); Michael Malena (a principal of Salem Sanitary and of SSC Corporation); John Maratea (a principal of Comet Carting); Peter Marcello (a principal of Metro Waste and of Mets Roll-Off); Anthony Miello (a principal of Enviro Carting and of MCM Sanitation); Anthony Montesano (a principal of Associated Waste and of Monb-ro Sanitation); Vincent Montesano (a principal of Vinnie Monte’s Waste); Anthony Natale (a principal of Dependable Sanitation); Frank Notarantonio (a principal of All Weather Carting); John Pagano (a principal of Ace Garbage); Frank Palopoli (a principal of Sunset Sanitation); Salvatore Palopoli (a principal of Budget Roll-Off and of Superior Waste); David Pamlanye (a former employee of the town of Islip, New York); Steven Pamlanye (a former employee of the town of Islip, New York); Ralph Pantony (a principal of Delta Carting); Joseph Petrizzo (a principal of Ace Garbage, of Metro Waste, of Mets Roll-Off, and of TWA Carting); Joseph Pezza (a principal of A-l Carting); Pasquale Pezza (a principal of A-l Carting); Peter Reali (a principal of Hillside Carting); Robert Renna (a principal of Prudential Waste and of TWA Carting); Arthur Romersa (a former official of the Huntington Department of Environmental Control in the town of Huntington, New York); Thomas Ronga (a principal of Detail Carting); Franco Rotundo (a principal of Wayside Carting); Salvatore Santo-ro; Robert Sehuman (a principal of Standard Cartage); John Senia (a former employee of the town of Islip, New York); Pat Sesti; Peter Stramiello (a former employee of the town of Oyster Bay, New York); Glenn Thweatt (a principal of C & C Carting); Orlando Velocci (a principal of South Side Carting); Anthony Vespucci; Allen Vesting (a former employee of Hickey’s Carting); Arnold Vigliotti (a principal of Vigliotti Carting); Glen Vilchek (a principal of Sun Carting); Joseph Vittorio (a former employee of the town of Oyster Bay, New York); Michael Walstrum (a former employee of the town of Islip, New York); and James Winters (a principal of Ever Ready Sanitation). Almost all the defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint; some have moved also for summary judgment or for sanctions. Many of these motions present similar or identical grounds for dismissal, and many of the defendants have expressly sought leave of the court to join in the motions of their codefendants. For the conveniénce of all parties, then, the court will — to the extent applicable — consider a motion made on behalf of one to be a motion made on behalf of all. The principal grounds on which the complaint is attacked are that the government has failed to plead essential elements of its causes of action, that the complaint does not provide adequate notice to the defendants of the claims against them, and that the relief sought by the government is inappropriate under the governing' substantive law. Other bases on which the defendants seek dismissal of the complaint include the untimeliness with which it was filed, the bar of double jeopardy,' claim and issue preclusion, state sovereignty, divestment of subject matter jurisdiction by federal labor law, and the unconstitutionality of the RICO statute. DISCUSSION I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) provides that a complaint shall contain “a short and plain statement” of the jurisdiction of the court over the action, “a short and plain statement of the [plaintiffs] claim,” and a demand for judgment. The objective of this rule is to ensure that a defendant be provided with “fair notice of what the plaintiff’s claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). These liberal standards of Rule 8(a) embody the principle that pleadings should be simple and concise. United States v. Rivieccio, 661 F.Supp. 281, 289 (E.D.N.Y.1987). As the Supreme Court indicated: [T]he Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not require a claimant to set out in detail all the facts upon which he bases his claim_ Such simplified “notice pleading” is made possible by the liberal opportunity for discovery and the other pretrial procedures established by the Rules to disclose more precisely the basis of both claim and defense and to define more narrowly the disputed facts and issues. Conley, 355 U.S. at 47-48, 78 S.Ct. at 102-103. See also Wade v. Johnson Controls, Inc., 693 F.2d 19, 21 (2d Cir.1982) (under Rule 8(a), complaint “need not state ‘facts’ or ‘ultimate facts’ or ‘facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action’ ”). Thus, contrary to the argument of many of the defendants in this action, the exceptional mandate of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) that allegations of fraud and of mistake be pleaded with particularity is inapplicable to RICO actions that do not involve claims of fraud. United States v. Bonanno Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra, 683 F.Supp. 1411, 1428 (E.D.N.Y.1988), aff'd on other grounds, 879 F.2d 20 (2d Cir.1989). Nevertheless: [The] [n]otice pleading requirements of [Rule 8(a)] are applicable to RICO, and “it is imperative that the court and the defendants be placed on clear notice as to what is being alleged, and what the substance of the claim is, in order to facilitate a decision on the merits of the case.” Id. (emphasis added) (quoting Ralston v. Capper, 569 F.Supp. 1575, 1581 (E.D.Mich.1983)). Failure to comply with Rule 8(a)— that is, failure to place a defendant and the court on adequate notice of the plaintiff’s claim — generates a basis for dismissing the complaint. Id. Similarly, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) provides that a court may dismiss a complaint for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” This provision is “a lineal descendent of the common law general demurrer.” Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d § 1355. On a motion under Rule 12(b)(6), “the complaint is construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff,” id. at § 1357; or, as Judge Friendly remarked, the complaint is read “with great generosity,” Yoder v. Orthomolecular Nutrition Institute, Inc., 751 F.2d 555, 558 (2d Cir.1985). Although the court “need not assume [the truth of] conclusory statements as to legal effects or conclusions, deductions, or opinions as to factual allegations,” Bonanno, 683 F.Supp. at 1428 (citing Wright & Miller at Section 1357), “a court is required to accept the material facts alleged in the complaint as true_” Easton v. Sundram, 947 F.2d 1011, 1014-15 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1943, 118 L.Ed.2d 548 (1992). As such, a motion under 12(b)(6) “cannot present any question of fact; rather, [it] presents only the question of whether or not the complaint has set forth a legally cognizable claim.” Roundtree v. City of New York, 778 F.Supp. 614, 617 (E.D.N.Y.1991). Hence, a complaint should not be dismissed “unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley, 355 U.S. at 45-46, 78 S.Ct. at 101-102. II. THE SUBSTANTIVE RICO CLAIMS The complaint alleges forty-four claims for relief under the substantive RICO provision of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). The first claim for relief alleges that certain defendants are employed by or are associated with PSIA, a RICO enterprise, and that these defendants have conducted or have participated in the conduct of the affairs of PSIA through a pattern of racketeering activity. Complaint 1111200-04. The second claim for relief alleges that certain defendants are employed by or are associated with the “Carting Industry Enterprise”, a RICO enterprise, and that these defendants have conducted or have participated in the conduct of the affairs of the carting industry enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. Id. 1T1T 205-09. The third claim for relief alleges that the defendants Bernard Adelstein, Salvatore Avellino, Jr., Antonio Corallo, Joseph Petrizzo, and Salvatore Santoro are employed by or are associated with Local 813, a RICO enterprise, and that these defendants have conducted or have participated in the conduct of the affairs of Local 813 through a pattern of racketeering activity. Id. 1111 210-14. The fourth through the forty-fourth claims for relief allege that certain individual defendants are employed by or are associated with at least one of forty-one different corporations — each corporation constituting a separate RICO enterprise— and that these defendants have conducted or have participated in the conduct of the affairs of the corporations by which they are employed or with which they are associated through separate patterns of racketeering activity. Id. 1111215-20. Furthermore, the defendant PSIA is alleged to have conducted or to have participated in the conduct of the affairs of each of the corporate enterprises through a pattern of racketeering activity. Id. The defendants argue that each of these claims must be dismissed insofar as each fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted. More specifically, the defendants argue that, in each of these first forty-four claims for relief, the government has failed to allege adequately all the elements required by Section 1962(c) for a substantive RICO claim. That section provides in its entirety: It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt. A violation of this provision, then, occurs when a “person” engages in the “(1) conduct (2) of an enterprise [by which the person is employed or with which he is associated] (3) through a pattern (4) of racketeering activity.” Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co., 473 U.S. 479, 496, 105 S.Ct. 3275, 3285, 87 L.Ed.2d 346 (1985) (footnote omitted). Or, as the Second Circuit has parsed the relevant text: [The plaintiff must allege:] (1) that the defendant (2) through the commission of two or more acts (3) constituting a “pattern” (4) of “racketeering activity” (5) directly or indirectly ... participates in (6) an “enterprise” (7) the activities of which affect interstate or foreign commerce. Moss v. Morgan Stanley Inc., 719 F.2d 5, 17 (2d Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1025, 104 S.Ct. 1280, 79 L.Ed.2d 684 (1984). Further, a plaintiff “must, of course, allege each of these elements to state a claim.” Sedima, 473 U.S. at 496, 105 S.Ct. at 3285. Failure to allege an element of a substantive RICO violation as to any one cause of action requires dismissal of that part of the complaint. See, e.g., Albany Insurance Co. v. Esses, 831 F.2d 41, 44 (2d Cir.1987) (complaint dismissed for failure to plead “enterprise” adequately). It is necessary, then, for the court to examine each of these first forty-four claims for relief under Section 1962(c) in order to determine whether the government has properly pleaded each of the required elements. A. Enterprise Section 1962(c) provides that a defendant is not liable for a substantive RICO violation unless he is “employed by” or is “associated with” an “enterprise” (the affairs of which implicate interstate or foreign commerce). Section 1961(4) of Title 18 of the United States Code provides that: “[Enterprise” includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity[.] Under this provision — which includes both corporations and unions as “enterprises”— it is immediately apparent that the government has adequately alleged the “enterprise” element for the first, third, and fourth through forty-fourth claims for relief. As to the first claim for relief, PSIA is alleged to be “an association ... existing and operating for the purpose of controlling the solid waste disposal industry on Long Island_” Complaint 11132. The court notes further that PSIA is alleged to be an incorporated entity, ¶ 23; as such, it is plainly an “enterprise” under Section 1961(4). As to the third claim for relief, Local 813 is alleged to be a “union ... existing and operated for the purpose of, inter alia, taking part in the control of the solid waste disposal industry on Long Is-land_” Id. ¶ 135. Again, under the plain meaning of Section 1961(4), the government has properly alleged the enterprise element for this claim. See Bonan-no, 683 F.Supp. at 1424 (labor union may constitute RICO enterprise). Next, as to the fourth through the forty-fourth claims for relief, thirty-nine of the corporate defendants as well as two non-defendant corporations are each alleged to constitute “a corporation organized, existing and operating for the purpose of enabling the defendant officers, directors, employees, shareholders and operators of the corporation ... to take part in the control of the solid waste disposal industry on Long Is-land_” Complaint ¶ 134. For each of these claims, then, the government has adequately pleaded the requisite enterprise. As to the second claim for relief, the required enterprise element is also properly pleaded; however, the adequacy of that part of the pleading is slightly less obvious in that the enterprise pleaded there is not (as with those listed above) a “legal entity.” Rather, for the second claim, the enterprise is alleged to be “a group composed of, but not limited to” all the named defendants “associated in fact for the purpose of controlling the waste disposal industry on Long Island_” Id. ¶ 133. As a matter of pleading, this allegation is adequate to assert that the carting industry enterprise is indeed an “enterprise” for purposes of RICO. See United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 583, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 2528, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981) (RICO “enterprise” is “group of persons associated together for a common purpose of engaging in a course of conduct”); see also Procter & Gamble v. Big Apple Industrial Buildings, Inc., 879 F.2d 10, 15 (2d Cir.1989) (same), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1022, 110 S.Ct. 723, 107 L.Ed.2d 743 (1990); Beauford v. Helmsley, 865 F.2d 1386, 1391 (2d Cir.) (en banc) (“all ... defendants in association with one another [for common purpose]” may constitute RICO enterprise), vacated and remanded for further consideration in light of H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 492 U.S. 229, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 106 L.Ed.2d 195, original decision adhered to, 893 F.2d 1433 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 992, 110 S.Ct. 539, 107 L.Ed.2d 537 (1989). At least one defendant has argued that the government has not adequately pleaded that this carting industry enterprise exists as an association independent of a pattern of racketeering activity; accordingly, the defendant argues, the complaint must be dismissed under Procter & Gamble, 879 F.2d at 15 (“[W]hen facing a RICO count in ... a complaint, a district court must determine whether it independently alleges both an enterprise ... and a pattern of racketeering activity_”) (emphasis added). See Memorandum of Enviro Carting at 33-34. This distinction between the elements of enterprise and of pattern was recognized as fundamental by the Supreme Court in Turkette, 452 U.S. at 583, 101 S.Ct. at 2529: While the proof used to establish these separate elements may in particular cases coalesce, proof of one does not necessarily establish the other. The “enterprise” is not the “pattern of racketeering activity”; it is an entity separate and apart from the pattern of activity in which it engages. The existence of an enterprise at all times remains a separate element which must be proved by the Government. At this point, however, the government has indeed adequately alleged the independent element of enterprise for this count; further, it does not appear “beyond doubt that the [government] can prove no set of facts in support” of that allegation. Hence, whether or not the government will be able to demonstrate .that the carting industry enterprise is such an association that exists independently of any pattern of racketeering activity is a matter that must await either the production of proof at trial or at least the probing test of a timely motion for summary judgment. Many defendants have argued, as a collateral matter, that the complaint improperly alleges that certain “persons” (as used in Section 1962(c)) are also “enterprises” (as used in that same section). See, e.g., Memorandum of AA & M Carting at 20-21. The principle to which these defendants allude is that “the RICO ‘person’ engaged in the proscribed conduct ... and the ‘enterprise’ must be different from one another, i.e. they must be separate entities.” Jacobson v. Cooper, 882 F.2d 717, 719 (2d Cir.1989). It is certainly true that many of the RICO enterprises in the complaint are also alleged to be defendants. However, the relevant inquiry is not whether an entity named as a RICO enterprise in one count of the complaint may be named as a RICO person in another count; rather, the test is whether an entity named as an enterprise is also named as a person that conducted the affairs of itself (as an enterprise) through a pattern of racketeering activity. As stated in Bennett v. United States Trust Co. of New York, 770 F.2d 308, 315 (2d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1058, 106 S.Ct. 800, 88 L.Ed.2d 776 (1986): An “entity may not be simultaneously the ‘enterprise’ and the ‘person’ who conducts the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity” (emphasis added). Although the government refers to this as “complete” identity, Memorandum of Government at 141, it is perhaps more accurate to refer to the prohibited allegation as one of “simultaneous” identity. In any event, the complaint at no point alleges that a defendant is simultaneously a person and the enterprise through which that person acts. Thus, for example, the defendant A-l Carting is a person that allegedly acts through the PSIA and the carting industry enterprises (first and second claims for relief); and A-1 Carting is also alleged to be an enterprise through which other persons (the defendants PSIA, Joseph Pezza, and Pasquale Pezza) allegedly act (fourth claim for relief). Hence, the superficial identity of defendants as both persons and enterprises does not vitiate the otherwise adequately pleaded enterprise elements of the first forty-four claims for relief. Finally, as noted above, each of these RICO enterprises is alleged to be an enterprise “engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.” See Complaint if 201 (PSIA enterprise), if 206 (carting industry enterprise), 11211 (Local 813 enterprise), and If 216 (the corporate enterprises). As such, the government has properly pleaded under Section 1962(c) the required element of enterprise — as well as the jurisdictional requirement of “interstate or foreign commerce” with respect to those pleaded enterprises. B. Pattern of Racketeering Activity Section 1962(c) further provides that a defendant incurs RICO liability only if he “conduces] or participate^], directly or indirectly, in the conduct of [a RICO] enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity” or through the collection of unlawful debt. At this point, a threshold observation must be made about United States v. Minicone, 960 F.2d 1099 (2d Cir.1992), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 1511, 117 L.Ed.2d 648 (1992). There, the Second Circuit stated that “[p]roof of a RICO violation pursuant to § 1962(c) requires a showing that an ‘enterprise’ engaged in a ‘pattern’ of racketeering activity.” Minicone, 960 F.2d at 1106. This statement is almost certainly an inadvertence: Section 1962(c) declares it illegal for a person — not for an enterprise — to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity. As previously stated by the Second Circuit in United States v. Persico, 832 F.2d 705 (2d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1022, 108 S.Ct. 1995, 100 L.Ed.2d 227 (1988): The focus of section 1962(c) is on the individual patterns of racketeering engaged in by a defendant, rather than the collective activities of the members of the enterprise, which are proscribed by [the RICO conspiracy statute of] section 1962(d). Persico, 832 F.2d at 714 (emphasis added). To the extent that Minicone thus suggests that a RICO claim requires proof of only one pattern of racketeering activity by the RICO enterprise rather than of separate patterns by each named defendant, the case is inconsistent both with the text of Section 1962(c) and with established RICO case law. Accordingly, this observation in Minicone, believed to be an inadvertence, will be disregarded. In this case, the forty-four substantive RICO counts of the complaint allege that the defendants did conduct or did participate in the conduct of the affairs of the various RICO enterprises through patterns of racketeering activity (but not through the collection of unlawful debt). As to the meaning of this element, 18 U.S.C. § 1961(5) provides that: “[P]attern of racketeering activity” requires at least two acts of racketeering activity, one of which occurred after the effective date of this chapter and the last of which occurred within ten years (excluding any period of imprisonment) after the commission of a prior act of racketeering activity[.] This provision sets forth at least two minimal components of the “pattern of racketeering activity” element of Section 1962(c): First, a defendant must have committed “at least two” acts of racketeering activity; and, second, the defendant must have committed those acts within a certain period of time. The Supreme Court, however, has had occasion to observe that Section 1961(5) requires more than these two sub-elements in order to establish a pattern of racketeering activity. Sedima, 473 U.S. at 496 n. 14, 105 S.Ct. at 3285 n. 14. The Court has even had occasion to attempt to articulate precisely what “more” is required. H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 492 U.S. 229, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 106 L.Ed.2d 195 (1989). In this case, the defendants raise no dispute about the adequacy of the complaint with respect to the time frame set out in Section 1961(5); however, they vigorously contest the legal sufficiency both of the acts alleged to be acts of racketeering and of the patterns those acts are alleged to constitute. It is necessary, then, for this court to review both the individual racketeering acts that are alleged and also the pleading of “pattern” with respect to those acts. 1. Racketeering Acts Section 1961(1) of Title 18 of the United States Code provides in relevant part that “racketeering activity” means: (A) any act or threat involving ... arson, robbery, bribery, [or] extortion ... which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; (B) any act which is indictable under any of the following provisions of title 18, United States Code: ... section 1951 (relating to interference with commerce, robbery, or extortion) [and] section [] 2312 ... (relating to interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles).... That is, “racketeering activity” is any act that is chargeable and punishable under certain state law felony classifications or indictable under specific federal criminal provisions. Any act that does not fall within the purview of Section 1961(1) is not an act of racketeering activity. The complaint collects as one unit the first 195 alleged racketeering acts. Essentially, these acts concern five alleged attempts by thirty-nine of the defendants to prevent successful competition by certain rebel carters, Jerry and Robert Kubec-ka, with the carting cartel. Those five acts involved compelling the Kubeckas to surrender certain garbage stops in Nassau County and in Suffolk County to certain defendants, to refrain from bidding on a public disposal contract, to take part in a bid-rigging scheme, to surrender garbage stops at the Cold Spring Harbor School District, and not to solicit certain garbage disposal contracts. Complaint It 139. Thirty-three of the defendants are alleged to have committed these acts, to have conspired to commit these acts, or to have attempted to commit these acts, id. ¶ 138; six of the defendants are alleged to have aided and abetted these acts, id. ¶ 140. Notwithstanding that there are only five transactions that underlie this part of the complaint, the government has multiplied each of the five transactions by the thirty-nine defendants to arrive at the total of 195 acts of racketeering. Hence, rather than simply name thirty-nine defendants five times over for a sum of five acts of racketeering, the government has expanded these five events into the impressive count of 195 racketeering acts. However, the complaint unfortunately fails to correlate any one defendant to any one racketeering act: It merely provides a list of the thirty-three principal defendants, id. 11138, a list of the five acts against the Kubeckas, id. 11139, and a list of the six aiding-and-abetting defendants, id. 11140. It is only by guesswork that one is able to match any numbered racketeering act with any particular defendant or with any particular event involving the Kubeckas. The lack of clarity as to which defendants are alleged to have engaged in particular acts plagues almost every page of the complaint. This problem would by itself have certainly required dismissal of many of the alleged racketeering acts under Rule 8(a) simply for failure to put each defendant on notice as to the claim against him. However, in response to a directive from this court, the government has submitted a 70-page supplementary document to cure those defects (the “complaint supplement” or the “supplement”), and this court will treat that supplement as a “more definite statement” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(e). This supplement indicates precisely what predicate act each defendant is alleged to have committed or to have aided and abetted. See, e.g., Supplement at 1-2 (listing six specific predicate acts alleged to have been committed by defendant Local 813) and at 29-30 (listing five specific predicate acts alleged to have been aided and abetted by defendant Bernard Adelstein). Thus, however onerous it may be for the parties and for the court to have to integrate the 132-page complaint and the 70-page supplement in order to determine that which the complaint alone should have made clear, the court finds that this newer document satisfies Rule 8(a) with respect to providing notice to each defendant of the particular racketeering acts he is alleged to have committed. As indicated, the first 195 alleged acts of racketeering concern five alleged incidents directed at certain rebel carters. In order to plead that these acts are instances of “racketeering activity” as defined in Section 1961(5), the government states that: [The defendants named in these 195 acts] did knowingly, willfully and intentionally commit acts chargeable under state law at the time of their commission as Coercion in the First Degree and Attempted Coercion in the First Degree, New York Penal Law, Sections 20.00, 110.05 and 135.65, which acts are punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, as set forth in Title 18, United States Code, Section 1961(1)(A), and did knowingly, willfully and intentionally commit acts, attempt to commit acts, or conspire to commit acts which are indictable under Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1951 and 2, as set forth in Title 18, United States Code, Section 1961(1)(B). Complaint ¶ 137. The defendants challenge the adequacy of this part of the complaint on several points. First, they argue that the New York State offense of coercion is not “racketeering activity” as defined by Section 1961(1)(A). The government concedes that, as a literal matter, Section 1961(1)(A) does not define racketeering activity to include state law offenses that involve coercion as such; however, the government argues, Section 1961(1)(A) does encompass state law offenses that involve extortion. The government submits that coercion under New York law falls within “extortion” as used in Section 1961(1)(A). Under the New York Penal Law, extortion is proscribed as a type of larceny: Larceny includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or withholding of another’s property, with the intent prescribed in subdivision one of this section, committed in any of the following ways: (e) By extortion. A person obtains property by extortion when he compels or induces another person to deliver such property to himself or to a third person by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the property is not so delivered, the actor or another will: (i) Cause physical injury to some person in the future; or (ii) Cause damage to property; or (iii) Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or New York Penal Law Section 155.05. By contrast, the New York Penal Law defines the offense of “coercion in the second degree” (a misdemeanor) as follows: A person is guilty of coercion in the second degree when he compels or induces a person to engage in conduct which the latter has a legal right to abstain from engaging in, or to abstain from engaging in conduct in which he has a legal right to engage, by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the demand is not complied with, the actor or another will: 1. Cause physical injury to a person; or 2. Cause damage to property; or 3. Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or New York Penal Law Section 135.60. Finally, “coercion in the first degree” (a felony), the offense alleged in the complaint for the first 195 acts of racketeering, is defined as follows: A person is guilty of coercion in the first degree when he commits the crime of coercion in the second degree, and when: 1. He commits such crime by instilling in the victim a fear that he will cause physical injury to a person or cause damage to property; or 2. He thereby compels or induces the victim to: (a) Commit or attempt to commit a felony; or (b) Cause or attempt to cause physical injury to a person; or (c) Violate his duty as a public servant. New York Penal Law Section 135.65. Thus, it is clear that the offense alleged in the indictment, coercion in the first degree, is grounded in the conduct proscribed as coercion in the second degree. The offense of coercion in the second degree, by turn, is parallel to the offense of larceny by extortion. However, the offenses of coercion and of larceny by extortion are clearly distinct under New York Law: Coercion is the compelling of a person (by instilling fear in him) to do an act (or not to do an act) which that person has a legal right not to do (or to do); but larceny by extortion is the compelling of a person (by instilling fear in him) to surrender property. Thus, although larceny by extortion may analytically fall within the definition of coercion — in that to compel a person to surrender property is also to compel a person to do an act which that person has a legal right not to do — it is not the case that every act of coercion is also an act of larceny by extortion. Rather, larceny by extortion requires the particular element of forcing a person to Surrender property — an element not required by the offense of coercion. The government argues that, although larceny by extortion and coercion are distinct offenses under New York law, Section 1961(1)(A) is broad enough to encompass both crimes: The legislative history of section 1961(1)(A) plainly states that “State offenses are included by generic designation.” H.[R.]Rep. No. 91-1549, 91st Cong. 2d Sess., reprinted in 1970 [U.S.C.C.A.N.] 4007, 4032. “This statement manifests the legislative intent to incorporate the Supreme Court’s holding in United States v. Nardello, 393 U.S. 286 [89 S.Ct. 534, 21 L.Ed.2d 487] ... (1969), into the RICO statute.” United States v. Forsythe, 560 F.2d 1127, 1137 (3d Cir.1977). In Nardello, the Supreme Court held that alleging a state violation which falls within the generic category of the predicate offense of extortion is adequate to charge the violation of the federal statute incorporating the offense. Memorandum of Government at 43. Hence, the government argues, because larceny by extortion and coercion fall within the genus of crimes designated by the term “extortion” in Section 1961(1)(A), acts chargeable as coercion may properly be alleged as racketeering activity. Accordingly, the reliance by the defendants on the “fine distinctions” between larceny by extortion and coercion, the government argues, “is simply irrelevant.” Id. The government errs, however, in its contention that the difference between coercion and larceny by extortion is an “irrelevant” distinction. As demonstrated above, the difference between these two offenses is that larceny by extortion requires the taking of property from a person whereas coercion simply requires the forcing of a person to do something against his will. The distinction is not trivial: Section 1961(1)(A) refers to an “act ... involving ... extortion ...” (emphasis added), and it is of the essence of extortion — not only in New York law but, more importantly, in the law generally — that one compel another to surrender property. See United States v. Nardello, 393 U.S. 286, 296, 89 S.Ct. 534, 539, 21 L.Ed.2d 487 (1969) (“[T]he indictment encompasses a type of activity generally known as extortionate since money was to be obtained from the victim by virtue of fear and threats....”) (emphasis added); United States v. Enmons, 410 U.S. 396, 406 n. 16, 93 S.Ct. 1007, 1013 n. 16, 35 L.Ed.2d 379 (1973) (“conventional definition of extortion” qua “ ‘the obtaining of property from another ... with his consent, induced by a wrongful use of force or fear, or under color of official right”) (emphasis added); United States v. Bagaric, 706 F.2d 42, 58 (2d Cir.) (referring to extortion as “classic economic crime”) (emphasis added), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 840, 104 S.Ct. 133, 78 L.Ed.2d 128 (1983). Compare with 18 U.S.C. § 1951(b)(2) (for purposes of Hobbs Act, “extortion” denotes “the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right”) (emphasis added); see also Black’s Law Dictionary at 525 (5th ed. 1979) (defining “extortion” as “[t]he obtaining of property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right”) (emphasis added). Along these lines, the government cites Rose v. Bartle, 871 F.2d 331 (3d Cir.1989), for the proposition that “the taking of property is [not] a necessary element of the general term extortion in section 1961(1)(A).” Memorandum of Government at 44. In that case, the court held that a Pennsylvania statute that proscribed “ ‘threatening] unlawful harm to any public servant with intent to influence his decision, opinion, recommendation, ... or other exercise of discretion in a judicial and administrative proceeding’ ” as well as “ ‘threatening] unlawful harm to any public servant ... with intent to influence him to violate his known legal duty' ” could constitute extortion under Section 1961(1)(A). Rose, 871 F.2d at 363 (quoting Section 4702(a)(2), (3) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated). However, two aspects of that case undermine the position of the government. First, the court in Rose recognized that the Supreme Court in Nardello had “characterized [extortion] as [activity] by which ‘funds are obtained from the victim with his consent produced by the use of force, fear, or threats.’ ” Rose, 871 F.2d at 362 (quoting Nardello, 393 U.S. at 295, 89 S.Ct. at 539) (emphasis added). Thus, even the Rose court understood that extortion is preeminently a crime that involves the taking of property. Second, although the Third Circuit in that ease specifically declined to apply the “Nardello generic extortion standard,” id. at 363, the court completely failed to set forth any rationale for its finding that the Pennsylvania statute fell within the purview of Section 1961(1)(A). For this reason, Rose does not provide compelling authority for this court to ignore the indications of Nardello and of other authorities that extortion — as used in Section 1961(1)(A) — requires the obtaining of property. Because an essential element of extortion is not required by the New York offense of coercion, the two offenses are not, as urged by the government, effectively identical. Further, because Section 1961(1)(A) includes in the definition of racketeering activity a state offense involving extortion but not one involving coercion, the New York Penal Law felony of coercion in the first degree is not racketeering activity for purposes of RICO. Accord: Center Cadillac, Inc. v. Bank Leumi Trust Company of New York, CV-91-7776, slip op., 1992 WL 84576 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 13, 1992) (“New York’s ‘coercion’ statute, N.Y.P.L. § 135.65, is not among the state criminal laws specified as providing a basis for RICO liability, and the allegations as to this statute are dismissed.”). Accordingly, to the extent that the first 195 alleged acts of racketeering state that the defendants named there have committed acts chargeable as coercion in the first degree, those acts of racketeering activity are improperly pleaded and must be dismissed. The complaint also alleges that these 195 alleged acts of racketeering are acts that are “indictable” under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951 and 2; accordingly, the government argues, these 195 acts are alternatively maintainable as racketeering activity under Section 1961(1)(B). Section 1951(a) of the Hobbs Act provides: Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. The defendants argue that the government has not adequately alleged violations of this provision. Before considering the specific objections of the defendants, however, two initial observations are necessary in order to clarify precisely what is alleged against the defendants in this part of the complaint. First, in order to constitute a predicate act under Section 1961(1)(B), the conduct that is the subject of the allegation must be “indictable” under one of several federal criminal provisions specifically listed in Section 1961(1)(B). United States v. Ruggiero, 726 F.2d 913, 920 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 831, 105 S.Ct. 118, 83 L.Ed.2d 60 (1984). Because Section 371 (which prohibits conspiracy to commit an offense) is not listed in Section 1961(1)(B) as one of the sections of Title 18 under which a predicate act must be “indictable,” a conspiracy to commit one of the acts listed in Section 1961(1)(B) is not itself a predicate act. Id. at 919-20; see also Bonanno, 683 F.Supp. at 1431 (conspiracy to commit predicate act listed in Section 1961(1)(B) not itself a predicate act). Thus, at first, it may appear that the allegations of the complaint that the thirty-three principal defendants “did knowingly, willfully and intentionally commit ... or conspire to commit ” these acts against the Kubeckas, complaint 11137 (emphasis added), would fail to state a predicate act. However, Section 1951(a) itself proscribes conspiring to violate the substantive provisions of the Hobbs Act. Accordingly, to the extent that the defendants here are charged with conspiring to commit these acts against the Kubeckas, they are alleged to have committed acts that are “indictable” under Section 1951. As such, they are alleged to have committed acts cognizable as racketeering activity under Section 1961(1)(B). Second, as noted above, the government alleges that six of the defendants are accountable for these. acts against the Kubeckas because they aided and abetted the commission of the acts. Section 2(a) of Title 18 of the United States Code provides that “[wjhoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission is punishable as a principal ” (emphasis added). Unlike Section 371, Section 2 does not provide an independent offense under which certain conduct is “indictable.” See, e.g., United States v. Kegler, 724 F.2d 190, 200 (D.C.Cir.1984) (“[Ajiding and abetting ... is not an independent crime under 18 U.S.C. § 2.”). Rather, Section 2 provides that one who aids or abets an offense is punishable as though he himself committed the offense. Because Section 2 provides that an aider and abettor will be treated as a principal, “[a] defendant’s aiding and abetting the commission of a predicate act [listed in Section 1961(1)(B) ] may constitute a predicate act itself.” Bonanno, 683 F.Supp. at 1428. Hence, the allegations that several defendants are accountable for these acts as aiders and abettors are not invalid as a matter of law. The defendants challenge this part of the complaint on the ground that Section 1951(a) requires that the actor obtain from his victim “property” (either by robbery or by extortion); the defendants argue that there is no allegation in the complaint of this element of a Section 1951 offense. However, the government correctly points out that the Second Circuit has construed this aspect of the Hobbs Act quite broadly: The concept of property under the Hobbs Act [i.e., under Section 1951], as devolved from its legislative history and numerous decisions, is not limited to physical or tangible property ... but includes, in a broad sense, any valuable right considered as a source of wealth.... United States v. Tropiano, 418 F.2d 1069, 1075 (2d Cir.1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1021, 90 S.Ct. 1258, 25 L.Ed.2d 530 (1970). See also United States v. Local 560 of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 780 F.2d 267, 281-82 (3d Cir.1985) (“property” in Hobbs Act includes intangible property rights), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1140, 106 S.Ct. 2247, 90 L.Ed.2d 693 (1986); United States v. Zemek, 634 F.2d 1159, 1174 (9th Cir.1980) (same), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 916, 101 S.Ct. 1359, 67 L.Ed.2d 341 (1981); United States v. Santoni, 585 F.2d 667, 673 (4th Cir.1978) (same), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 910, 99 S.Ct. 1221, 59 L.Ed.2d 459 (1979). Hence, the “right to pursue a lawful business including the solicitation of customers necessary to the conduct of such business” constitutes “property” within the meaning of the Hobbs Act. Tropiano, 418 F.2d at 1076. In this case, the complaint does allege that the named defendants took from the Kubeckas a “valuable right considered as a source of wealth....” That is, the complaint alleges that: The[se] defendants attempted to and did obtain property from the Kubeckas, to wit: the right to pursue a lawful business including seeking income, profits, sales and contracts; the right to make business decisions free from outside pressure; and the right to compete with these defendants and others in the collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste on Long Island. Complaint 11138. Under the broad construction of Tropiano, these allegations satisfy the “property” element of Section 1951. For this reason, the government has properly pleaded the first 195 racketeering acts under Section 1961(1)(B) insofar as it has pleaded those acts as “indictable under ... section 1951.” The next unit of alleged predicate acts are those enumerated as racketeering acts 196 through 199. The complaint here alleges that the defendant Pat Sesti and the now-dismissed defendant Gambino Family extorted money from the Kubeckas in connection with certain contracts held by the Kubeckas for waste removal (racketeering acts 196 and 198 as to the Gambino Family and as to Sesti, respectively) and that Sesti and the Gambino Family compelled the Ku-beckas to sell their carting business (racketeering acts 197 and 199 as to the Gambino Family and as to Sesti, respectively). Complaint Ml 145, 147. The complaint further alleges that these acts were chargeable under New York Penal Law Sections 20.00 (criminal liability for conduct of another), 105.10 (conspiracy), 110.05 (attempt), 135.65 (coercion in first degree), and 155.42 (grand larceny in the first degree); also, the complaint alleges that these acts are indictable under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951 and 2. For the reasons indicated above with respect to the first 195 racketeering acts, this part of the complaint is dismissed to the extent that it sets out alleged violations of the New York coercion statute as predicate acts. However, because these acts are alternatively indictable under the Hobbs Act, the predicate acts are nonetheless properly pleaded. Racketeering act 200 alleges that the defendant Local 813 compelled Reuter Incorporated (“Reuter”), a rebel carting company, to desist from performing work on a carting contract with the town of Islip, New York; the complaint alleges that this act was chargeable as coercion under New York law and indictable under 18 U.S.C. § 1951. Complaint iff 149-150. Again, the complaint alleges that the “property” taken from the rebel carter was, under the broad definition of Tropiano, the right to pursue a business as a source of wealth. Id. 11150. For the reasons set forth above, the allegations concerning coercion are dismissed, but the racketeering act itself is found to be sufficiently pleaded. Similarly, racketeering acts 201 through 221 allege that the defendants AA & M Carting, A-l Carting, Delta Carting, Envi-ro Carting, Jamaica Ash, MCM Sanitation, Sun Carting, Unique Sanitation, Vinnie Monte’s Waste, Michael Acquafredda, Charles Cannizzaro, Emedio Fazzini, Joseph Ferrante, Nicholas Ferrante, Anthony Miello, Anthony Montesano, Jr., Vincent Montesano, Ralph Pantony, Joseph Pezza, Pasquale Pezza, and Glen Vilchek compelled Arthur T. Mott and Freeport Gardens, Inc, d/b/a Apple Carting (“Apple Carting”) to participate in an illegal restraint of competition and also not to participate in competitive solicitation of carting business. Complaint H 152. These acts are alleged to be chargeable as coercion under New York State Law and. indictable under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951 and 2. For all the reasons set forth above, these alleged acts of racketeering are adequately pleaded insofar as they allege racketeering activity by virtue of Sections 1961(1)(B) and 1951; they are not adequately pleaded to the extent that they are predicated on the New York coercion statute. Alleged racketeering acts 222 through 278 claim that certain named defendants took property from the town of Islip, New York “by unlawfully placing garbage in the Islip town dump, thereby taking garbage disposal space, without paying the required fees” and also bribed officials of the town of Islip “in order to allow these defendants and others to dispose of solid waste at the Islip Town Landfill in Haup-pauge, New York without paying the required fees.” Complaint MI 155, 157. The complaint alleges that these acts are chargeable under New York Penal Law Sections 20.00 (criminal liability for conduct of another), 110.05 (attempt), 155.35 (grand larceny in the third degree), 200.00 (bribery in the third degree), and 200.20 (rewarding official misconduct in the second degree)— offenses punishable by imprisonment for more than one year. Plainly, to the extent that these racketeering acts allege that certain named defendants committed acts chargeable as bribery or as rewarding official misconduct, they allege acts “involving ... bribery” under Section 1961(1)(A). As such, these acts are properly pleaded as acts of racketeering. However, this part of the complaint also alleges acts of grand larceny in the third degree by certain named defendants. “Larceny” is not listed in Section 1961(1)(A) among the state offenses that may constitute acts of racketeering. Nonetheless, the government argues that it denoted these alleged instances of grand larceny in the complaint as “grand larceny ... involving bribery,” complaint ¶ 154 (emphasis added); accordingly, the government argues, these are acts “involving ... bribery” under Section 1961(1)(A). This argument is not persuasive: The government has simply devised an offense that does not otherwise exist either in state law or in federal law — “grand larceny ... involving bribery” — in order to bring within the literal purview of Section 1961(1)(A) an offense — grand larceny — that is not otherwise an act of racketeering activity. If these alleged acts of grand larceny do in fact involve bribery, the government may plead them (as, indeed, it has) to be acts of bribery under Section 1961(1)(A). The government refers the court to Beth Israel Medical Center v. Smith, 576 F.Supp. 1061 (S.D.N.Y.1983), as authority for its position. There, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had committed racketeering acts that were chargeable under New York Penal Law Section 190.65 and punishable by more than one year of imprisonment. The defendants argued that Section 190.65 refers only to the criminal offense of fraud, and they noted that fraud is not listed in Section 1961(1)(A). As here, the plaintiffs in Beth Israel Medical Center argued that the “defendants’ violation of § 190.65 was accompanied by an act of bribery_” Beth Israel Medical Center, 576 F.Supp. at 1065. Thus, the plaintiffs reasoned, the violation of Section 190.65 by the defendants was a predicate act under Section 1961(1)(A). The district court accepted the position of the plaintiffs: [The defendants] argue that the fact that bribery is alleged to have occurred in the course of the violation of § 190.65 does not convert that offense into an “act ... involving ... bribery” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1)(A).... According to [the defendants], the statute refers to “act[s] ... involving ... bribery” (rather than to “bribery” only) to assure that violations of state statutes not specifically using the word “bribery” would be potential predicate RICO offenses as long as the offense falls into the generic category of bribery. While [the defendants’] interpretation of the statute is not fanciful, we find more persuasive the argument that a state-law offense in which bribery is alleged to have played a major role, and which is punishable by more than a year’s imprisonment, is an “act ... involving ... bribery” which may serve as a predicate RICO offense. The literal language of the statute supports this conclusion, and movants have cited nothing in the legislative history demonstrating that their more narrow interpretation of the statute is correct. Id. at 1067. The conclusion of Beth Israel Medical Center, however, is simply untenable. A “state-law offense in which bribery is alleged to have played a major role” is simply bribery (or whatever name the penal code of a particular state should happen to apply to conduct that is denoted in the law generally by the word “bribery”). To permit a plaintiff to plead “fraud involving bribery” or “grand larceny ... involving bribery” as a predicate act is, at best, to legitimate careless pleading and thereby to frustrate the objectives of Rule 8(a). At worst, it is to allow a plaintiff to plead one transaction as two (or more) predicate acts: For instance, under Beth Israel Medical Center, a plaintiff could plead one