he got a long sentence because the court followed the federal sentencing guidelines [1], determined that his offense level was 50 which maps to life in prison.

he got a long sentence because the court followed the federal sentencing guidelines [1], determined that his offense level was 50 which maps to life in prison. the court could have chosen a lesser sentence, but they determined that he tried to have 5 people killed to protect his criminal enterprise, which they didn't look too kindly upon. its all in the appeal [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Federal_Sentencing_Guidelines#Sentencing_table https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Federal_Sentenci... [2] http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/b4f95197-e15a-40e0-be91-bde1c83676dd/1/doc/15-1815_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/b4f95197-e15a-40e0-be91-bde1c83676dd/1/hilite/ http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/b4f95197-e15...