"This case is about a predator:" R. Kelly's racketeering trial begins in New York

R&B star R. Kelly masterminded a decades-long sex trafficking plot and used his fame to exploit girls, boys and young women, prosecutors alleged as his federal racketeering trial began in New York Wednesday.

"This case is about a predator," Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement. The 54-year-old Kelly, who also has pending criminal cases in Minnesota and Illinois, faces 10 years to life in prison if he is convicted in the New York case. His racketeering indictment includes underlying counts of sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and violations of the Mann Act, which criminalizes the transportation of women and girls for any "immoral purpose." He has pleaded not guilty.