Part of the RICO statute provides that authorities can seize your property if they
suspect the property is being used for "illegal purposes". It's up to you to prove that your property was not used that way and/or if it was then you had no idea. Good luck with that.
This is so difficult to prove as to be nearly impossible. If they decide to seize your apartment building they will not maintain it, nor will they collect the rents or turn them over to you - a big problem if you rely on these rents to make a mortgage payment. Eventually a lot of properties go back to the bank. I'm not sure what the bank does with them.
It's not just buildings; it's cars, boats, motorcycles and airplanes, any of which can be seized at any time and all of which may be appropriated by local law enforcement for their own purpose. This is how our local departments get so many nice cars to drive "undercover". It's how the Sheriff's department ended up with a 500 acre resort in the mountains they now use for "training."
It's also how the trend of seizing cash during traffic stops got started. It's very lucrative, and indeed some departments derive over half of their funding this way.
Landlords have gotten extra vigilant about removing deadbeats from their properties for fear of losing the their buildings to seizure. It hasn't helped the homeless situation much, and now it looks like local authorities have found they can use this trend to get landlords to do the work their departments are supposed to do.
It was always a bad law and it's getting worse.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
