What I find funny is that as extensive as the Donnie Brasco operation was, he really only put a handful of guys away for a years, maybe some for several years. But if I recall he didn't put one guy away for life (meaning life sentence), and the 3 capo murders still wouldn't be solved until another 2 decades. That operation was a waste if you ask me, but at least we got a good book and movie out of it.
I agree the Donnie Brasco operation did minimal damage. My point is if those guys fled and later indictments came down would they be fugitives if they didn't show up for their court date? Yes or No?
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Thats not exactly correct Colonel. Let me explain something.
If you flee AFTER the indictment falls, say you jump bail after you are arrested and arraigned. Then you are correct. You are a fugitive from justice. They can also probably hit you with an Obstruction of justice charge as well for fleeing and having fucked up their case.
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But if you take off BEFORE the indictment falls, you are NOT a fugitive. Yes, the indictment is still out there pending for you. You have an open warrant for your arrest. But I do not believe you can be charged as either a fugitive, or on obstruction of justice, even though they may damn well know you are aware of the charges against you. Because they cannot prove that you had prior knowledge about the case and indictment coming, etc. Even though it may be painfully obvious.
Case in point; I had a friend who was very, very close to me (one of my best friends). He knew he was in deep shit because they empaneled a grand jury probe about his activities. He wasn't called yet, but we knew that many witnesses called before that grand jury were asked about him.
He and I even talked about his pending headache. And after doing some pondering, he made the very wise decision to take off before the shit might hit the fan.
The result was that some months after he fled NYC, a state indictment came down against 5-6 guys. He was one of them. He ended up with a warrant for his arrest. But he WASN'T a fugitive per se. LE repeatedly went by his house, business, and haunts searching for him for over a year or two. They repeatedly quizzed his family and friends about his whereabouts. I was one of them.
If I remember correctly he stayed "on the lam" for over 6-7 years before he finally wanted to come back home and had his lawyer reach to law enforcement to try and make a deal.
He ended up with a bullet in the can. One year! He did 9 months and he got out..... OVA!
His co-defendants all got much heavier sentences upon conviction. 5 years, 8 years, and more. My friend was central to the case. He got 1 year and did 9 months.
PS: by the way, this was a state case. While he was in hiding, the feds came down with a superseding indictment almost 3 years down the pike. They didn't even bother indicting my friend in the case. For whatever reason, his name was left out of it. I think he may have been named as an "unindicted co-conspiriitor." (we personally think they wanted to keep their case "clean" and didn't wanna have any loose ends like a guy who they couldn't nab in it). Those charged federally received even more time.
So in our opinion they dropped him from the indictment altogether to have a neat and tidy case they could wrap up with a 100% conviction rate.
So be taking off months before the indictment, and staying "on the lam" for years he saved himself an entire federal case, not to mention he was able to plea down his original state case because embarrassed prosecutors and the rackets squad just wanted to close out the matter and not leave open drawers. The original prosecutor and certain witnesses were no longer available for a trial, maybe their evidence was faulty after all those years. Some of the detectives on the original case may have retired and were not available for a courtroom appearance, etc. Whatever their motives were to offer him that plea to close out the case, he ended up with a very sweet deal.
Especially considering that he was one of the lead targets and defendants in the case.
He did plead to 1 count, but NONE of the counts he faced became anything more than the original charges he faced anyway. NO fugitive status, NO Obstruction of justice for disappearing BEFORE the case hit. etc.
So there you go. A perfect example of the potential benefits of ducking out BEFORE the indictment drops.
Now I do realize that its not an easy thing to do. In his case, he had a young wife and kid. But he had the means, money, and connections to do this. He had to leave his beloved family for years. He was able to sneak in a few times and visit them. He also had family and a friend supply him with more cash while he was on the lam. Many people don't have those resources to do that. He was heartbreaking all around for him and his family.
But hell, no matter how you do it, its still better than doing a ton of time (or in Sonny Black's case, getting killed). My friend figured he'd get 10-15 years in jail. For a pound (5 years) he would have stayed put. But he thought he was gonna get buried under a lot of time.
