He specialized in hijacking, law enforcement officials said, and took part in crimes that also included loan sharking, extortion, gambling, drug trafficking and murder.

It then took account of the reductions in problem behavior and crimes committed by each program's participants, as recorded in follow-up evaluations.

The rampage turned murderous three times over in Missouri and Oklahoma, where the victims' cars were stolen after automobiles taken in previous crimes were abandoned.

He was the one man who remained close to Quedden, and never took part in outside crimes.

The indictments said that, over 20 years, members of the group took part in murders, extortion, robbery, labor-racketeering and other crimes.

But specifically excluded from exoneration were all Lithuanians who took part in "crimes of genocide or in torture and murder of unarmed civilians."

Because politicians, particularly Republicans, have taken such an intense interest in high-profile crimes lately, a decision about whether to ask for capital punishment is almost guaranteed to be scrutinized.