I believe the benefit of the patriot act in this case is the increased use of monitoring activity (heretofore illegal) in tracking down those responsible.
So.... the Patriot Act may be helpful in locating/capturing the individuals, The trick is going to be to apply some kind of RICO infraction, so the entire organization begins to unravel.
These imbeciles have been torching large, almost completed apartment buildings, beautiful, nearly completed lodges, SUV's, even some completed buildings! Millions of dollars of private property up in smoke!
Never, NEVER, have *I* heard of the guilty low-life being caught, much less prosecuted!
So just how is Homeland Security any help in this, especially when they are not even trying?