I also want to note that not all of them are like those particular guys. The older you get, the more you realize that there's a lot of grey area to life. And in THAT particular life, there are degrees of "badness." For instance, a bookmaker shouldn't be named in the same indictment as a guy charged with three murders just because the money got funneled up to said murderer. Charge the bookmaker, but charge him separately.
The RICO act lets them ruin the lives of guys on the bottom of the Totem Pole. In the case of bookmakers and gamblers, it's often guilt by association at best. Grey area. Different degrees of "badness." A bookmaker being forced to kick up $800 a month to a guy with a few murders under his belt doesn't make that bookmaker as bad a guy as the murderer himself. Although the Government and some moralists obviously feel different about it. But this is America. They're entitled to that opinion.
Agree 100 percent. Has been my feeling for years. The RICO act is unfair and ridiculous IMO.
If they break the law, by all means, try to go get them and catch them. But do it fair, do it right. And some of the sentences are also inflated and ridiculous as well as freezing assets before finding guilt, bail packages, etc
