I had NO IDEA that's how sealed indictments worked at all!!!
That's because it's not how they work.
Like this part is false
Huber
Huber assigned a team of 470 investigators (attorneys) + IG + legal jurisdiction across ALL 50 states.
Huber's retired. He's done. He didn't return any indictments. Trump actually attacked Huber for this.
And the 470 attorneys? They were not assigned Huber. That's the number of people who worked in the Inspector General's office, they were not at Huber's disposal. They worked for IG Michael Horowtiz and that was for all the issues the IG's office was working on. They don't build criminal cases, they investigate internal DOJ issues and, at best, make a referral to other prosecutors. They are not the workforce for the Huber or any other special counsel. They have their own to do.
I saw that Netflix show he mentions. It's good. He talks about the Mafia Commission case.
But the Mafia Commission case took less than two years to the indictment and they did not keep the the indictment sealed for a long time.....they actually released the indictment early because the local news got wind of it.
The initial wiretaps involving the Concrete Club scheme were in April 1983. This was of a street level guy and not one of the Bosses on the Commission.
The indictment and arrests happened in March 1985. The feds moved pretty quickly.
For most of those 23 months there was no indict of the Commission, they were still investigation, going from the street level guys to each Boss. And they also wanted a big crime to show the Commission was involved in violence so they worked to tie the Commission to an earlier murder.
It is NOT an example of a sealed indictment sitting around for years.
And they were dropping other indictments.
Furthermore, they brought earlier indictments. They did not keep a bunch sitting around.
Before going after the Commission, the FBI organized teams to focus on each family. And they tried those cases.
Paul Castellano was indicted in 1984 the year before the 1985 RICO indictment
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Paul_Castellano#Legal_problems
Paul Castellano, the reputed head of the Gambino organized-crime family, and 20 other people were charged in Manhattan yesterday with operating a group that committed 25 murders and scores of other crimes.
The charges were contained in a 51- count Federal indictment, which described the 68-year-old Mr. Castellano as the boss of a crew that had participated in a ''pattern of racketeering activity'' since 1973.
Federal officials announced the indictment yesterday of ''the entire leadership of the Colombo family'' of organized crime on charges of widespread racketeering in New York City.
The 51-count Federal indictment charged 11 men, including Carmine Persico, who was described as the boss, with operating the Colombo group through ''a pattern of racketeering activity'' that included extortion, theft, loan sharking, gambling, bribery and drug trafficking.
other cases
Columbo Boss, Carmine The Snake Persico, was also indicted in 1981.
Gene Gotti, John Gotti's brother was arrested for dealing heroin in 1983.
Mob run drywall cartel 1983. Like the Concrete Club there was a drywall club.
It just doesn't match this idea of dozens, let alone hundreds, let alone thousands of indictment just sitting around.
One key piece in the Netflix documentary. is how the FBI/DOJ learned to use the RICO law. It came out in 1970, They didn't use it for 9 years and the DOJ finally sent FBI officers to go take a college class with the law's author. He did a week long seminar with them. FBI starting prepping and investigation for RICO cases before Rudy became the US attorney. The first time the NY DOJ used RICO was in 1979 before Rudy against a mob boss and the longshoreman's union. Giuliani did not become the US attorney in NYC until 1983. He came up with using RICO to go after the Commission, but the FBI/DOJ had been using RICO against the Mafia for years by then.
But even when the DOJ went after the NYC in the 1980's, they didn't even do 1,000 indictments. They didn't even do 100 RICO indictments. The folks who were "counting" sealed indictments were doing it wrong. The things they were counting as indictments were sealed proceedings and there are many types of court records that are sealed. This is because the general public can't distinguish one sealed proceeding from another in the public databases.
Have you ever heard a minor's criminal record being sealed? That's a type of sealed proceeding. Every application for a search warrant or a wiretap is sealed.
That's because it's not how they work.
Like this part is false
Huber's retired. He's done. He didn't return any indictments. Trump actually attacked Huber for this.
And the 470 attorneys? They were not assigned Huber. That's the number of people who worked in the Inspector General's office, they were not at Huber's disposal. They worked for IG Michael Horowtiz and that was for all the issues the IG's office was working on. They don't build criminal cases, they investigate internal DOJ issues and, at best, make a referral to other prosecutors. They are not the workforce for the Huber or any other special counsel. They have their own to do.
The confusion on this 470 thing came from this email. In this email Jeff Sessions says two separate things. https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/03/29/ag.letter.re.ig.and.huber.reviews.pdf
And also
There were never 470 people working on Huber's case.
Huber closed his investigation in 2020. He then resigned as US attorney in 2021 when Biden put his new people in.
I saw that Netflix show he mentions. It's good. He talks about the Mafia Commission case.
But the Mafia Commission case took less than two years to the indictment and they did not keep the the indictment sealed for a long time.....they actually released the indictment early because the local news got wind of it.
The initial wiretaps involving the Concrete Club scheme were in April 1983. This was of a street level guy and not one of the Bosses on the Commission.
The indictment and arrests happened in March 1985. The feds moved pretty quickly.
For most of those 23 months there was no indict of the Commission, they were still investigation, going from the street level guys to each Boss. And they also wanted a big crime to show the Commission was involved in violence so they worked to tie the Commission to an earlier murder.
It is NOT an example of a sealed indictment sitting around for years.
And they were dropping other indictments. Furthermore, they brought earlier indictments. They did not keep a bunch sitting around.
Before going after the Commission, the FBI organized teams to focus on each family. And they tried those cases. Paul Castellano was indicted in 1984 the year before the 1985 RICO indictment https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Paul_Castellano#Legal_problems
March 1984 Gambino Family Indicted. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/31/nyregion/reputed-leader-of-a-crime-family-is-indicted-by-us.html?scp=7&sq=%22Paul+Castellano%22++indicted&st=nyt
October 1984 Columbo Family Indicted. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/25/nyregion/11-indicted-by-us-as-the-leadership-of-a-crime-family.html
other cases
Columbo Boss, Carmine The Snake Persico, was also indicted in 1981.
Gene Gotti, John Gotti's brother was arrested for dealing heroin in 1983.
Mob run drywall cartel 1983. Like the Concrete Club there was a drywall club.
The first RICO case against the Mafia was in 1979 against the Gambino mobster who ran the Longshorman's union https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/18/archives/scotto-head-of-longshore-local-indicted-on-racketeering-charges.html
It just doesn't match this idea of dozens, let alone hundreds, let alone thousands of indictment just sitting around.
One key piece in the Netflix documentary. is how the FBI/DOJ learned to use the RICO law. It came out in 1970, They didn't use it for 9 years and the DOJ finally sent FBI officers to go take a college class with the law's author. He did a week long seminar with them. FBI starting prepping and investigation for RICO cases before Rudy became the US attorney. The first time the NY DOJ used RICO was in 1979 before Rudy against a mob boss and the longshoreman's union. Giuliani did not become the US attorney in NYC until 1983. He came up with using RICO to go after the Commission, but the FBI/DOJ had been using RICO against the Mafia for years by then.
But even when the DOJ went after the NYC in the 1980's, they didn't even do 1,000 indictments. They didn't even do 100 RICO indictments. The folks who were "counting" sealed indictments were doing it wrong. The things they were counting as indictments were sealed proceedings and there are many types of court records that are sealed. This is because the general public can't distinguish one sealed proceeding from another in the public databases.
Have you ever heard a minor's criminal record being sealed? That's a type of sealed proceeding. Every application for a search warrant or a wiretap is sealed.