Defendants were all members of the Patriarca Family of La Cosa Nostra. Gennaro Angiulo was the underboss of this organization, in charge of its day-to-day operations. Immediately beneath him in the command hierarchy were "Capo Regimes" (captains) Samuel Granito and Donato Angiulo. Beneath the Capo Regimes, the organization consisted of soldiers and then of associates. Francesco Angiulo was a soldier, and also served as accountant for the organization's gambling and loansharking businesses. Michele Angiulo was an associate.
The organization was headquartered at 98 Prince Street and engaged in widespread racketeering, gambling, and loansharking activities.
The defendants, in various combinations, were charged with the operation of four illegal gambling businesses. The first business involved the operation by Gennaro and Francesco of a series of "Las Vegas Nights" gambling events from approximately late 1978 to mid-1981. The events were a type of bazaar, ostensibly operated to benefit non-profit, charitable organizations. The proceeds from these events, however, were not given to charitable organizations, but were kept by their La Cosa Nostra operators. The immediate manager and supervisor of the Las Vegas Nights was Gennaro's son, Jason Angiulo, assisted by Carmen Lepore.[2] Gennaro was the overall owner of the business, while Francesco acted as the accountant. All of these participants shared in the profits.
The second gambling business involved the operation of twice-weekly barbooth games at the Demosthenes Democratic Social Club in Lowell, Massachusetts during 1980-81. The third gambling business consisted of the operation of a highly organized and extensive illegal numbers betting business in the Boston area. Approximately 180 people were involved in the operation of this business, including agents to collect the bets, sub-books to control the agents and pay the winning number, and office managers to supervise the day-to-day management of the business and settle accounts with the sub-books. Gennaro was the principal owner and overall boss of the business. Francesco was the day-to-day supervisor of the mid-level operation. Donato controlled a number of sub-book operations and had responsibility for collecting money. Finally, Michele stood in for Francesco and also assisted in controlling several of the sub-book operations.
The fourth and final business involved the operation of high stakes poker games at 51 North Margin Street. Electronic surveillance revealed that a number of people participated in the running of the games and possessed a financial interest in them. Specifically, defendants Gennaro Angiulo, Samuel Granito, and co-conspirators Ilario Zannino, Ralph Lamattina and Nicola Giso each had financial interests in the game. Gennaro was the overall boss. Francesco acted as the accountant. John Cincotti managed the staff, extended credit to players, and collected their debts. Finally, Zannino supervised Cincotti and directly oversaw the operation.
In addition to their gambling activities, certain of the defendants also were involved in extortionate credit transactions. In particular, defendants Gennaro, Donato, Francesco, and co-conspirator Zannino engaged in various loansharking operations.
The final group of racketeering activities charged in the indictment involved a series of conspiracies to obstruct justice and to commit murder. In early 1981, Angelo Patrizzi was reputedly planning to kill Frederick Simone and Cono Frizzi — two Boston members of the Patriarca Family — because of his belief that they were involved in the 1978 murder of his half-brother. A decision was made to kill Patrizzi before he succeeded in killing either Simone or Frizzi. As evidence of these plans to kill Patrizzi, the government introduced intercepted conversations from a March 11, 1981 meeting among Granito, Simone and Gennaro Angiulo at which Simone and Granito related to Gennaro several unsuccessful attempts on their part to kill Patrizzi. At this March 11 meeting, Gennaro indicated that he would assist in the effort, and during a conversation the next day with Zannino, enlisted Zannino's assistance as well.
On March 13, 1981, Angelo Patrizzi disappeared. In a conversation intercepted on April 3, 1981, Zannino told John Cincotti and Ralph Lamattina that Patrizzi had been killed by nine men and put in a car trunk. On June 11, 1981, authorities found Patrizzi's decomposed body in the trunk of a stolen car in Lynn, Massachusetts. Gennaro Angiulo and Granito were charged with conspiring to murder Patrizzi and with being accessories before the fact to his murder.
On appeal, the court affirmed all appellants convictions and sentences.
United States of AmericaSeveral pieces of real estate, six Chrysler bonds, and a yacht all were subject to forfeiture.
The evidence introduced against defendants at trial was, in large part, the product of court-authorized electronic surveillance conducted at 98 Prince Street and 51 North Margin Street in Boston's North End during the period January-May 1981. Through a combination of audio and video surveillance, FBI agents monitored the arrivals and departures of persons from these premises, as well as their conversations on the premises. Tapes and transcripts from this surveillance were introduced at trial, accompanied by material seized during the execution of various search warrants.
These are consolidated appeals from convictions on jury verdicts rendered after an eight-month trial. The defendants, Gennaro Angiulo, Donato Angiulo, Samuel Granito, Francesco Angiulo, and Michele Angiulo, are all members or associates of the Patriarca Family of La Cosa Nostra. They were charged with conspiracy to participate and participating in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) and (c), as well as with numerous racketeering, loansharking, and gambling offenses. Each having been convicted and sentenced on various counts, they now appeal on a number of grounds from their convictions. They also appeal from the district court's order forfeiting certain of their assets under 18 U.S.C. § 1963.
RICOs pattern of racketeering activities
For defendants' vagueness challenge to succeed, they must demonstrate that the meaning and scope of RICO's "pattern" element was unclear and vague as to their conduct at issue here. Phrased another way, they must show that persons of ordinary intelligence in their situation would not have had adequate notice that the gambling, loansharking and conspiracy offenses at issue here constituted a "pattern of racketeering activity" under RICO.
Defendants have not even come close to making this showing, for if anything is clear about RICO, it is that "a pattern of racketeering activity" is intended to encompass the activities of organized crime families. In H.J. Inc., the Court explicitly noted that in drafting RICO to target "patterns" of racketeering activity, Congress' main focus was the eradication of organized crime.
Given the history behind RICO, we have no doubt that the murder conspiracies and the gambling and loansharking operations for which defendants were charged and convicted here are precisely the type of activity that Congress intended to reach through RICO. Thus, although RICO's "pattern" element may be vague in some contexts, a matter on which we express no opinion, it is not vague in the context before us. A person of ordinary intelligence could not help but realize that illegal activities of an organized crime family fall within the ambit of RICO's pattern of racketeering activity.
Defendants' first challenge is to the constitutionality of the RICO provisions under which they were convicted, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) and (d). These provisions state, in pertinent part:
§ 1962. Prohibited activities
. . . . .
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.
(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsections (a), (b), or (c) of this section.
18 U.S.C. § 1962 (1988).
Defendants specifically challenge the "pattern of racketeering activity" element of RICO, contending that the term "pattern" is so enigmatic and ambiguous as to be void for vagueness. In making this challenge, they rely heavily on Justice Scalia's dictum in his H.J. Inc. concurrence. Justice Scalia noted in his concurrence that courts have been unable to define "pattern" with any meaningful degree of clarity, leading him to speculate that RICO would be vulnerable to a vagueness challenge. He left the question for another day because the vagueness issue had not been raised before the Court. See H.J. Inc., 109 S.Ct. at 2908-09 (Scalia, J., concurring).
Gennaro Angiulo was also convicted of the following offenses: four counts of conducting illegal gambling businesses, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955; two counts of conspiring to make an extortionate extension of credit, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892(a); conspiring to collect, and collecting, an extortionate extension of credit, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894(a); obstruction of, and conspiring to obstruct, justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1503 and 18 U.S.C. § 371.
Donato Angiulo was also convicted of conducting an illegal gambling business, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955 and conspiring to make an extortionate extension of credit, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892(a).
Granito was also convicted of conducting an illegal gambling business, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955.
Francesco Angiulo was also convicted of the following offenses: four counts of conducting illegal gambling businesses, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955; two counts of conspiring to make an extortionate extension of credit, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892(a); and conspiring to collect an extortionate extension of credit, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894(a).
Michele Angiulo was convicted of conducting an illegal gambling business, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955.
United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.
897 F.2d 1169 (1990)
Link to judgement - https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13823660482586178256&q=organized+crime&hl=en&as_sdt=2006
Comments
As part of its overall verdict, the jury returned a special verdict form finding various assets of defendants to be subject to forfeiture pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963. Section 1963 sets forth criminal penalties to be applied to those who have been found guilty, as defendants were, of engaging in racketeering activities in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962. The specific forfeiture provisions applied by the jury in this case were § 1963(a)(1) and (a)(2). These provisions state:
(a) Whoever violates any provision of section 1962 of this chapter shall be fined not more than $25,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall forfeit to the United States (1) any interest he has acquired or maintained in violation of section 1962, and (2) any interest in, security of, claim against, or property or contractual right of any kind affording a source of influence over, any enterprise which he has established, operated, controlled, conducted, or participated in the conduct of, in violation of section 1962.
18 U.S.C. § 1963 (1982). Determining that some assets had been acquired or maintained in violation of (a)(1) and that others had afforded a source of influence under (a)(2), the jury found that several pieces of real estate, a substantial amount of cash, six Chrysler bonds, and a yacht all were subject to forfeiture.
On appeal, the court held that two parts of the forfeiture order must be reversed. That part of the order forfeiting $331,576 and $41,025 in cash on a source of influence theory be reversed due to the trial court's failure to give a proportionality instruction. Fifty percent of this cash was properly forfeited as proceeds or profits of racketeering activity. That part of the order forfeiting Donato and Francesco Angiulo's interests in the Chrysler bonds and yacht is be reversed.