I still think they would. For one thing it isn't a few thousand, it is 50,000, and for another thing it would be quite difficult to prove that it was the defendant who was responsible for the murder. In most killings related to organized crime, it is already assumed to be known what criminal organization is responsible, as well as who executives within that organization are. The difficult part is tying them to the killing in court. It is generally a very low level person who physically executed the murder, and the organization has resources to insulate themselves from prosecution, such as manufacturing alibis and whatnot. Secondly, the murder itself is not always obvious. The person often just disappears, and while it is assumed that they are dead, without a body or some strong evidence of a murder, charges are rarely even filed, and prosecution is next to impossible. The fact that a civil suit would allow law enforcement to sidestep the need for informants or pressuring underlings to testify against the higher ups presents a significant threat, and simply paying off people in settlements not only makes the dealers look weak, but also sets a dangerous precedent for them in which all any meth head who wants $50k has to do is file suit against them. But make a few people disappear and no one is going to do that, and they are as safe from prosecution as they were from being prosecuted for one of the killings in street level turf wars. I think it makes perfect sense.
