A viral video showed Romanian thieves trying to rob a truck while it was moving at high speed.  But the men behind the attempted theft have lived their own fast and furious lives thanks to the Romanian authorities repeated leniency.

By OCCRP

The end of the road for Sile the Money Lender this time was literal – a German highway near Frankfurt where he was arrested running away from a guilty verdict back home in Romania for organized crime, racketeering, prostitution and more.

Sile, actually Vasile Balint, 44, who has under older brother Ion Balint, 48, helped build one of the biggest organized crime networks in Bucharest, spent time in a German jail before being shipped to Romania late last month (July 24) where prison awaits him. Again.

He faces five and half years this time. In five previous convictions for major crimes that go back some 25 years, Balint has already spent about 11 years behind bars, more than his brother and others in the gang. But that punishment pales besides a listing of his crimes, which have continued unabated.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has found out why. Combing through court records, OCCRP has discovered that a weak and overly gentle Romanian judicial system plus the quirky mercy of two presidents from completely different regimes, Nicolae Ceausescu and Ion Iliescu, helped Balint escape justice and expand the illegal network.

The Romanian system is not designed to keep career criminals out of circulation for long.  Criminals convicted of multiple offenses serve only a single term for their one crime carrying the longest sentence. Plus, as Sile The Money Lender has learned, they can win early release even from reduced sentences if they behave well in prison or the country’s leader is feeling celebratory.

Had he, instead, been held to the punishments attached to each of the crimes he has been convicted of, Sile the Money Lender would not be hitting the road again for at least another 261 and a half years.

Crimes During Communism

The Balint brothers got worldwide attention a few months ago when members of their criminal clan were filmed daringly trying to rob a truck going full-speed down a Romanian highway. Organized crime and terrorism police released the real life "Fast and Furious" video and it was broadcasted widely.

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