The thread starter asks:
I believe with 95% certainly that the answer is now "Yes."
Note that everything in this post is my opinion only, based on the facts and information presented publicly, to date.
Some snips:
http://www.pnj.com/article/20090806...n-to-Billings-case&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
Tice and Gonzales were closer than I think was previously suspected by most.
Gonzales and Wiggins were 'thick as thieves' and both appear inclined to flashy criminality, almost for the thrill, ego and bragging potential, and fun of it as much as for financial gain.
I'm sure Tice was involved with many shady characters, but IMHO, his purposeful bringing up of the "Mexican mafia" is intended to lay a defense that they, not he, offed the Billings, when in fact only HE had compelling motivation to do so, having defrauded Billings, spent all the money, and written bad checks to him that Billings was making noise about. The "Mexican Mafia" could care less if the guy Tice owed money to got taken out or not, leaving Tice in the lurch -- hey, there are always other unscrupulous guys to buy cars from, and crooks generally do not go clean up other crooks unrelated messes in foreign countries, especially when it includes the shocking and very public murder of upright-appearing citizens in front of their children. The mob just does not work that way. Very bad for business. If
Billings had done the mafia wrong, then maybe he gets hit as a message. But there is no indication of that at all. Tice was the retailer, Billings was the bankroller, who got stiffed by Tice.
No, this was Tice alone, going to his little buddy, who had a desire to be a big man and 'make his bones' as a tough org crime type, and Tice essentially promised him money for the 'hit', while Gonzales used the robbery and potential money to induce the others, while Wiggins was in it for the thrill of an operation with her friend Jr., and potential booty from the safe.
I imagine that the little safe contained promissory notes, and/or other incriminating/damaging evidence against Tice, so Tice planned to:
1) Remove his financial problem and legal liability - killing Billlings,
2) Let Gonzalez profit from any 'extras',
3) Keep his own hands 'clean' by not being involved in the physical operation, and by having it be a 'gang' of people doing a home invasion 'robbery', not just a .45 to the head in a parking lot to remove his nemesis.
And that's it.
I suspect there is at least one major co-conspirator that has been virtually TOTALLY unnamed during the press coverage of the events, but other than that one non-violent confederate, I think all of the gang is in hand cuffs.
No CIA, no "Mexican Mafia" hit, no tons of drugs stuffed in used cars -- at least as part of the motivation and mechanics of this specific crime. I think that the freeman, tax stuff, and a dozen other tantalizing threads are bizarre, many may remain intriguing, but just like a lot of crimes once understood and detailed, the ESSENTIALS are mundane, obvious, and sometimes stupid and trivial, and leave a lot of paths that *seemed* fruitful and likely just hanging in the air, because they were just not involved in the events.