Cite as: 517 U. S. 292 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
other eight. The four dissenters adopted, without comment, the proposition that conspiracy was a lesser included offense of CCE. See id., at 158, 159, n. 5. The remaining Justices joined Justice Blackmun's plurality opinion which, while declining to hold that conspiracy was a lesser included offense,9 nonetheless explained why the Government's argument was inconsistent with the statute's text, with the way the words "in concert" have been used in other statutes, and with the legislative history of this statute.10 Based on its understanding of the "more likely" interpretation of § 848, the plurality assumed, arguendo, "that § 848 does require proof of
9 The plurality did not need to hold that conspiracy was a lesser included offense because it found that even if it was, the petitioner waived whatever right he may have had to object to the second prosecution under § 848 when he opposed the Government's motion, brought before the first trial, to consolidate the proceedings. Id., at 149-150, 153-154.
10 The language of § 848 "restricts the definition of the crime to a continuing series of violations undertaken by the accused 'in concert with five or more other persons.' " Id., at 148. As a result, "a conviction [under § 848] would be impossible unless concerted activity were present. . . . Even if § 848 were read to require individual agreements between the leader . . . and each of the other five necessary participants, enough would be shown to prove a conspiracy." Ibid.
Furthermore, "[w]hen the phrase 'in concert' has been used in other statutes, it has generally connoted cooperative action and agreement. . . . This suggests that Congress intended the same words to have the same meaning in § 848. . . . Since the word 'concert' commonly signifies agreement of two or more persons in a common plan or enterprise, a clearly articulated statement from Congress to the contrary would be necessary before that meaning should be abandoned." Id., at 149, n. 14 (citations omitted); see 3 Oxford English Dictionary 658 (2d ed. 1989) (defining "concert" as "[a]greement of two or more persons or parties in a plan, design, or enterprise; union formed by such mutual agreement"; "esp[ecially] in phrase in concert"); Webster's Third New International Dictionary 470 (1981) (defining "concert" as "agreement in a design or plan: union formed by mutual communication of opinions and views: accordance in a scheme"). Thus, "[i]n the absence of any indication from the legislative history or elsewhere to the contrary, the far more likely explanation is that Congress intended the word 'concert' to have its common meaning of agreement in a design or plan." Jeffers, 432 U. S., at 148-149.
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