Continuing Criminal Enterprise: Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, Title II, sec. 408 (Public Law 91-513), 84 Stat. 1265-1266

Section 408 of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 set a sentence of ten years to life, a fine of up to $100,000 and forfeiture for a person who organizes, supervises or manages five or more others in a continuing series of drug felonies and obtains substantial income from it.

Date

1970-10-27

Kind

case-file

Source

U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo), United States Statutes at Large, vol. 84

Retrieved

2026-10-12

Docket

84 Stat. 1265-1266 (Pub. L. 91-513; H.R. 18583), Title II (Controlled Substances Act), sec. 408

Rights

An Act of Congress, a federal work in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The text was read from the Statutes at Large PDF published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office on govinfo.

Public Law 91-513 (H.R. 18583), dated October 27, 1970, begins at page 1236 of volume 84. Section 100 of its Title II provides: “This title may be cited as the ‘Controlled Substances Act’.” Section 408, headed “Continuing Criminal Enterprise”, is at pages 1265 and 1266.

Section 408(a)(1) provides that any person who engages in a continuing criminal enterprise “shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 10 years and which may be up to life imprisonment, to a fine of not more than $100,000, and to the forfeiture prescribed in paragraph (2)”; after a prior final conviction under the section, the terms are twenty years to life and a fine of up to $200,000. Paragraph (2) requires forfeiture of the profits obtained in the enterprise and of interests in it.

Under section 408(b), a person is engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise if he violates a felony provision of the title as part of a continuing series of violations undertaken “in concert with five or more other persons with respect to whom such person occupies a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management” (84 Stat. 1266), and from which he obtains substantial income or resources.

This is a separate Act from the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-452, October 15, 1970), though the two are often named together. No agency history page that discusses section 408 was found during research.