Comments on newsclipping:

FEAR-List Bulletin posted by Brenda Grantland, 1-29-98

An anonymous Providence R.I. resident sent me the following comments, in response to the FEAR-List bulletin I posted yesterday about the $2 million in attorney's fees seized in a R.I. federal "money laundering" case. Take this as unconfirmed background material, but follow the leads and, I'll wager, you'll find verifiable fact.

Rhode Island is known as the "Jewelry Capital of the World." The Soccoccia family operated a successful precious metals business for several generations and were millionaires many times over before Steven was born. One could assume therefore, that the legitimate fruits of his father and grandfather's labors were, to some extent, co-mingled with Steven's so-called "ill-gotten gains" and also subject to forfeiture.

Unfortunately, The Providence Journal does not archive their past articles in an easily accessible format, but I can tell you that over the years, the Socciccia family has been the target of many, many probes by the I.R.S., State division of taxation and numerous law enforcement agencies, in a salacious effort to shake loose some of their millions. Thanks to Steven's alleged offenses and current forfeiture laws, they have finally achieved their goal.

Lastly, the 82 (reported) gold bars have been variously estimated as being worth roughly six million dollars. If additionally, the attorney's fees are successfully forfeited, this would bring the actual net "profit" for the U.S. attorney's office in Providence to the staggering sum of 160 million dollars in this case alone.

I would love to be a fly on the wall at one of their Christmas parties...........