United States v. Blum, 270
| Decision Date | 10 March 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 270,Docket 28134.,270 |
| Citation | 329 F.2d 49 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Max BLUM, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Isidore Beerman, of Beerman, Gaspari & Beerman, New York City, for appellant.
Jerome F. Matedero, Sp. Asst. U. S. Atty., Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, N. Y. (Joseph P. Hoey, U. S. Atty., Eastern District of New York, on the brief), for appellee.
Before LUMBARD, Chief Judge, and SWAN and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Certiorari Denied June 22, 1964. See 84 S.Ct. 1920.
Max Blum appeals from concurrent 18 months sentences of imprisonment imposed by District Judge Walter Bruchhausen after conviction on trial to the jury in the Eastern District of New York on two counts, fraudulently facilitating transportation and receiving Swiss watch movements knowing the same to have been illegally imported, of a five-count indictment charging violation of 18 U.S. C. § 545 and conspiracy to do so. The jury found Blum not guilty on two substantive counts, charging fraudulently concealing and buying, and the fifth count, a conspiracy count, was severed. We find no error in the two-count conviction and affirm the judgment.
Railway Express Air Division, in San Diego, California, close to the Mexican border, received from a "Mexican fellow" a carton for shipment to appellant, a New York watch dealer, at appellant's home address in Brooklyn, New York. R. E. A. notified a Customs Agent, and the next day, when the same person brought in another carton, with the same consignor and consignee indicated, the carton when examined by an electronic device appeared to contain radioactive material. Thereafter, a Customs Agent at Idlewild Airport located and examined the first carton, which examination also indicated the presence of radioactive material. With permission of R. E. A., the package was opened and found to contain 2,149 Swiss watch movements without any importer's symbol. The movements were replaced in the package, the package resealed, and a search warrant obtained. With the assistance of R. E. A., a Customs Agent was clothed and equipped as an R. E. A. employee and made the delivery of both packages. Half an hour later, dressed in civilian clothes, the agent returned to Blum's premises, identified himself and asked for the packages. The appellant told the agent the whereabouts of the packages, in a utility room of Blum's house and the agent took the packages and arrested Blum. Blum when questioned about the cartons said they might be cutlery (one was mislabeled cutlery). When asked to open them, he refused, stating that they might be watches. Blum's explanation of their receipt was that one Sluis, the named consignor, whom he had met twice (and never saw again) had asked him to allow packages to be sent to his house for Sluis as a favor.
The heart of this appeal is an attack on the admissibility and sufficiency of the government's proof of illegal importation. The government put on competent expert testimony to establish that the watches were Swiss made "Altair" watches and that they were made within the preceding five years. Pursuant to a 1936 agreement with Switzerland, watch movements exported to the United States from Switzerland must be stamped with a mark to distinguish each United States importer. Except for three which have an expired stamp, the watch movements were unstamped, and the testimony indicated that all these movements were manufactured in Switzerland after 1954. According to a directive in a 1940 letter from the Commissioner of Customs, all Customs Collectors were to furnish full particulars to the...
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