It may be wrong to you but it was caused by money laundering which is against the law. You can put over $10,000 in the bank -- you just have to explain where it came from which I have no problem.
Yup, the guvmint needs their share of the booty don't they.
Go read the decision.
http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2006/moneyseize.pdf
Nobody flies to Chicago to buy a truck, with $124,000 in cash.
Anyone starting a business needs records and cash don't leave records.
Gonzalez was an idiot and got caught.
and No, most money will not peak a dog's interest.
Money packed in bags that used to contain drugs, peaks a dog's interest.
Until recently, cash transactions in excess of $10,000 occurred among respectable people (consider that $10,000 could easily fit in a person's wallet) without the government thinking it was any of their business. And 10,000 of the dollars back then would probably be worth $100,000 or more today.
Prohibition II is a massive government power grab. Government creates problems, so it can demand powers to fix them. Of course, the problems keep getting worse (big surprise) so the government needs more power.
Maybe if the government actually wanted to solve problems, they might get solved. But why should it, when it benefits from not doing so?