State v. Ciulla

• Decision Date: 21 January 1976
• Docket Number: No. 74-252-C,74-252-C
• Citation: 115 R.I. 558,351 A.2d 580
• Parties: STATE v. Anthony CIULLA et al. A.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 580

351 A.2d 580

115 R.I. 558

STATE v. Anthony CIULLA et al.

No. 74-252-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Jan. 21, 1976.

[115 R.I. 576] Julius C. Michaelson, Atty. Gen., Judith Romney Wegner, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiff.

Bevilacqua & Cicilline, Providence, Joseph A. Capineri, Pawtucket, Martin K. Leppo, Boston, Mass., for defendants.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

The defendants in this appeal are Anthony Ciulla, William Barnoski, Salvatore Macarelli, and Anthony Tassone. They and two other individuals were indicted on a charge that they conspired to corrupt a group of trainers whose thoroughbred horses were running in the 1971 winter-spring meet at the Lincoln Downs Racetrack. ¹ Prior to a Superior Court trial, one of the alleged conspirators died and a dismissal order was entered as to him. The jury returned guilty verdicts against Ciulla, Barnoski, Macarelli, and Tassone and a not guilty verdict in favor of a fifth defendant, an employee of the State of Rhode Island who worked at the track as an 'inspector.' Hereinafter we shall refer to the deceased defendant as 'Red' and the state inspector as 'Adolph.'

The prosecution's star witness was Robert P. Byrne. Byrne is a specialist. He is, in the words of one element of those who have a nefarious interest in the so-called Sport of Kings, a 'hit man.' He hits thoroughbred horses with a hypodermic syringe containing a tranquilizer. The finesse and dispatch with which he performs his specialty has apparently enhanced his professional reputation with those who see nothing wrong in fixing a horserace. The narrative unfolded by Byrne in which he described the events which transpired before and after the fixing of four races on March 17 at Lincoln Downs can best be entitled as 'The 1971 St. Patrick's-Day-Parlay.'

Byrne told the court and jury that as a result of a series of previous telephone calls he met Barnoski in the early afternoon of March 16, 1971 near a parking lot in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They drove in Barnoski's car to a motor lodge located in Pawtucket. They had come to Rhode Island for a 'play' with the horses then running at Lincoln Downs. The track is a 15-minute automobile ride from the motor lodge. Barnoski and Byrne reached their Pawtucket destination in the late afternoon and went upstairs to a room where they met Macarelli. The door to an adjoining room was open and later developments would indicate that these two rooms would be the command post for the 'play' at Lincoln Downs. Beer was ordered from a downstairs bar and Macarelli told the duo to 'sit tight' for a while.

Later that evening a meeting was held in the adjoining room. The participants were Byrne, Barnoski, Ciulla, Macarelli, and the deceased defendant, Red. The meeting broke up in the early morning hours of St. Patrick's Day, March 17. Byrne, Barnoski, and Macarelli returned to the other room and went to bed. The door between the two rooms remained open.

The next morning Byrne and his two companions joined Ciulla and Red in the other room, where the call for breakfast was sounded. Once again room service did its job and the morning meal was served. At 8 a.m. there was a knock at the door. Someone opened the door and in walked Adolph, a state inspector who worked at the track. He gave Ciulla two slips of paper. On one slip appeared the names of seven trainers whose horses were to run that afternoon in either the first of second race. The second slip contained the names of five other trainers whose steeds were due to appear in either the seventh or ninth race. Each slip listed the name of the trainer, the number of the barn where he would be situated, and the expected rendezvous time. Byrne was to approach each barn and tell the person he encountered, 'I am Bobby, Adolph sent me.' The trainer was to hold the horse while Byrne injected 4 to 5 cubic centimeters of a tranquilizer called 'acepromazine' into the neck area of the horse. Each trainer was to receive $200 for his cooperation.

Once the hit lists made their appearance, Byrne swung into action. He went to the lodge's parking area and retrieved a brown paper bag containing 'syringes and needles' and some medicine from Barnoski's automobile. He returned to the upstairs suite where he and Macarelli took the bag to their sleeping quarters and proceeded to fill 10 to 12 plastic disposable syringes with the tranquilizer. They attached a hypodermic needle to each syringe. The needle was inserted through the sealed top of a bottle labeled acepromazine and 4 to 5 cubic centimeters of a 'yellowish brown clear liquid' was withdrawn from the bottle into each syringe. While the syringes were being loaded, the men in the other room were discussing the day's racing program. Byrne placed the hypodermic paraphernalia into the lining of a three-quarter-length parka that he had specially adapted for his mission. ² He put on the parka and drove to the racetrack, reaching the stable are about 10 a.m. Within the next hour or so seven horses ³ were hit with the tranquilizer.

Midway through his visitation, Byrne encountered Barnoski and discovered that due to the hustle and bustle at the lodge someone had forgotten to give him the $1,400 in cash which was to be distributed to the seven trainers. This mixup caused little delay as Byrne moved in and about the various barns, hitting horses and paying off the trainers. By noontime he was back in the Pawtucket motor lodge and ready for a beer. Ciulla, Barnoski, Macarelli, and Red were waiting for him. He gave a report of the results of his tour of the track. He had just opened a bottle of beer when Macarelli called him into his room and handed him another eight to ten loaded hypodermic syringes plus the necessary needles and told Byrne to get back to the track. Byrne placed the paraphernalia in the pocket of his parka, and returned to the stable area, using Barnoski's car as transportation. He met another five trainers, paid them each $200 and hit six horses-one trainer was running two horses. As he reached the last barn, he saw Adolph. Adolph gave him a wink and said to the waiting trainer, '(h)ere comes the kid now.'

His part of the plan having been accomplished, Byrne returned to his colleagues in Pawtucket. It was now somewhere between 1:45 and 2 p.m. When asked how he had made out, Byrne told Ciulla, Barnoski, and Macarelli that '(e) verything is all set.' Shortly after Byrne's arrival, Red entered the suite, gave the group a report on an earlier race and departed. Later, the quartet left the lodge, drove to Lincoln Downs and arrived just as the horses in the seventh race were coming into the top of the homestretch. Ciulla, while spotting the horses with his binoculars, reported that a certain horse was leading the pack. In response, disappointment was expressed by another who hoped that Sunrise Time would win because he had the 'longer odds on the morning line.' Sunrise Time rose to the occasion and won the race.

At the end of the seventh race, the four men left the track and drove around the surrounding area. They returned to view the ninth race. Once the race was over, they drove to the clubhouse where they picked up Red and a 'little old guy' whose identity remained a mystery to Byrne even up to the time he testified. The group then proceeded to the clubhouse entrance where they were to pick up a jockey named Eddie, who was to use his horse to 'block off' one of the untouched horses in the second race. When the jockey appeared at the entranceway, he was accompanied by a track security guard. Upon noticing the jockey's escort, Byrne's group moved away from the clubhouse and returned to the motor lodge command post.

Subsequently, they were joined by Tassone and the jockey. Tassone threw a bundle of money on the bed, as did Red and the 'little old guy.' Byrne took $400 that Barnoski had given him earlier and added it to the pot. The payoff was about to begin. ⁴ However, before it could commence, certain business expenses had to be satisfied.

Some of the money went to Barnoski to pay for the two rooms. Tassone received a payment to cover the costs of his flight expenses from New Jersey and a hotel bill he incurred at the 'other end.' Red took a chunk for his expenses, including the $2,400 that Byrne had paid the trainers. The amount of money available for distribution after payment of these expenses was $36,000.

The $36,000 was divided into two piles on the bed, each pile containing $18,000. Red took $1,000 from each pile and gave it to Eddie the jockey. One pile was then handed to Ciulla. The other was divided between Red and Tassone. Ciulla divided his pile with Barnoski and Macarelli. This trio made a joint contribution of $2,000 to Byrne. The 'play' at Lincoln having been a financial success, and the distribution accomplished, the players began to leave.

Tassone, Red, the 'little old guy,' and the jockey hired a cab and were driven to the airport. Byrne, now $2,000 richer, left Pawtucket in Barnoski's car and returned to Massachusetts leaving Ciulla, Macarelli, and Barnoski at the motor lodge's cocktail lounge.

Byrne emphasized that all the horses he hit were not favorites because some of the favorites were owned by trainers with whom you 'cannot do business.' He also stated that he did not know which were the 'live' horses. His sole responsibility was 'to slow' some of the injectees so that 'some live horses' could win. On cross-examination he acknowledged that he had a 'general' idea as to the strength of the tranquilizer he used, but immediately conceded that he did not know its 'technical' strength. There was other evidence that corroborated some facets of Byrne's testimony.

The motor lodge records indicated that rooms 302 and 304 were registered to Ciulla; room 316 to a 'Mr. Kritt' and the jockey who was to block the horses in the second race; and room 318 to Red. They also showed that Ciulla paid the bills that had been incurred by Red.

Two track...