I think the money would be seized by metropolis as the proceeds of crime. The one possible issue is that if statues of limitation have run, it might not be possible to still cease them on those grounds.
The best explanation for highering Willie is that night time security at the planet is a low priority. Willie seems to be mostly a glorified night watch man, and so I guess they are still on that old view of things. Considering he has only been out of jail for ten months, and had a first degree murder conviction, and on the other hand he does carry a gun on the job, it does seem a bit amazing that he got it.
One possibility is that Willie got the job under a false ID. He posed as someone else who recently died, whose death he managed to cover up, so when they ran the background on Willie Bentley they got evidence he has been a fine, upstanding citizen for all 80+ years of his life.
It is either that, or background checks were really low priority in the early 1990s. However since he carries a gun on the job, I think they would have to run some sort of check.
