Re: Not yet faced trial?
RICO prosecution, which was intended to allow the State to bring down mobs that were otherwise impervious to standard legal processes. You know, people involved in drug running and murder for hire.
One of the things it allows the police to do is impound assets before the trial. And if you have proof that the asset was used as part of a drug deal, the asset can be seized regardless of whether there is proof the owner was part of the transaction. It use to be that if Vinny told Guido to take his car and go take care of the smack buy, if Guido got caught and kept his mouth shut, Vinny got the car back. With the new law, Vinny loses the car regardless. While this has beneficial effects when we assume Vinny and Guido are guilty, it has "unfortunate" effects elsewhere. Say you own a nice Bentley and it gets stolen. You report it to the police. The next day the police bust Guido for making a smack buy while he was driving your Bentley. Even though the police have now recovered your car, you're still out your Bentley because it was part of a drug buy. And that's what is happening here.
While recognizing the difficulty of bringing the mob to heal, I am for the repeal of RICO.