Wilber Vigil-Benitez v. United States

Whether 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(1) requires proof that the defendant personally acted for the purpose of gaining entrance to, or maintaining or increasing his own position in, a racketeering enterprise, where the government concedes he already held full membership.

Whether a jury instruction permitting conviction where the killing was merely 'an integral aspect of membership in the enterprise', language used in pattern instructions across multiple circuits, impermissibly relieves the government of proving that statutory purpose element.