Pacman,
The vessel 'Pacific Sun' was involved, if that rings a bell. Apparently, this was the (or one of the) single largest drug smuggling operations in Pacific Northwest in many years.
$750,000 was discovered buried in Rob's front yard, and most of that, as well as the proceeds from the sale of the house and the fish boat (a 65' commercial crab boat) went to build our county a new jail. I think that all of this fell under the RICO law.
I believe the stiff sentence was primarily due to the fact that he fled the country to avoid prosecution.
Otherwise, I dunno...
The fallout in the years after Rob's conviction made for an extensive article in the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday supplement when his (Rob's) defense atty. was assasinated at his home, and the Pacific Sun event figured prominently in police speculation over motive, but to my knowledge that murder investigation met a dead-end (no pun intended).
I cannot believe that Rob had any involvement there--that is just too far-fetched for me.