276
Opinion of the Court
ing is a unitary crime, which, once begun, does not end until the victim is free. It does not matter that respondent used the gun only in Maryland because he did so "during and in relation to" a kidnaping that began in Texas and continued in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. The kidnaping, to which the § 924(c)(1) offense is attached, was committed in all of the places that any part of it took place, and venue for the kidnaping charge was appropriate in any of them. Where venue is appropriate for the underlying crime of violence, so too it is for the § 924(c)(1) offense. Pp. 278-282.
121 F. 3d 841, reversed.
Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined. Scalia, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stevens, J., joined, post, p. 282.
Paul R. Q. Wolfson argued the cause for the United States. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Waxman, Assistant Attorney General Robinson, Deputy Solicitor General Dreeben, and Daniel S. Goodman.
John P. McDonald, by appointment of the Court, 525 U. S. 806, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Jeffrey T. Green and Robert C. Nissen.*
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents the question whether venue in a prosecution for using or carrying a firearm "during and in relation to any crime of violence," in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 924(c)(1), is proper in any district where the crime of violence was committed, even if the firearm was used or carried only in a single district.
I
During a drug transaction that took place in Houston, Texas, a New York drug dealer stole 30 kilograms of a Texas drug distributor's cocaine. The distributor hired respondent, Jacinto Rodriguez-Moreno, and others to find the dealer and to hold captive the middleman in the transaction,
*Steven Wisotsky and Lisa Kemler filed a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae urging affirmance.
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