Cite as: 521 U. S. 179 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
I
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U. S. C. §§ 1961-1968, among other things, makes it a crime "to conduct" an "enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity." § 1962(c). The phrase "racketeering activity" is a term of art defined in terms of activity that violates other laws, including more than 50 specifically mentioned federal statutes, which forbid, for example, murder-for-hire, extortion, and various kinds of fraud. § 1961(1). The word "pattern" is also a term of art defined to require "at least two acts of racketeering activity, . . . the last of which occurred within ten years . . . after the commission of a prior act of racketeering activity." § 1961(5).
A special RICO provision—commonly known as civil RICO—permits "[a]ny person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation" of RICO's criminal provisions to recover treble damages and attorney's fees. § 1964(c). RICO does not say what limitations period governs the filing of civil RICO claims. But in Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff & Associates, Inc., 483 U. S. 143, 156 (1987), this Court held that civil RICO actions are subject to the 4-year limitations period contained in § 4B of the Clayton Act (Antitrust), as added by 69 Stat. 283, and as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 15b—the statute of limitations that governs private civil antitrust actions seeking treble damages.
Marvin and Mary Klehr, the petitioners here, are dairy farmers. They filed this civil RICO action on August 27, 1993, claiming that A. O. Smith Corporation and A. O. Smith Harvestore Products, Inc. (whom we shall simply call "Harvestore"), had committed several acts of mail and wire fraud, 18 U. S. C. §§ 1341, 1343, thereby violating RICO and causing them injury. Their injury, they said, began in 1974, when Harvestore sold them a special "Harvestore" brand silo, which they used for storing cattle feed. The Klehrs alleged that they bought the silo in reliance on Harvestore's representations, made through advertisements and a local
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