U.S. v. Tramunti
| Decision Date | 07 March 1975 |
| Docket Number | 266,Nos. 253,257,260,s. 253 |
| Citation | 513 F.2d 1087 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Carmine TRAMUNTI et al., Defendants-Appellants. to 274, 301 to 302, 309, Dockets 74-1550, 74-1560, 74-1615, 74-1535, 74-1562, 74-1570, 74-1659, 74-1759, 74-1773, 74-1832, 74-1833, 74-2119, 74-1768, 74-1616 and 74-1561. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Herbert S. Siegal, New York City, for appellant Tramunti.
Steven Duke, New Haven, Conn. (Frank Lopez, Brooklyn, N. Y., of counsel), for appellant DiNapoli.
Ivan Fisher, Rosner, Fisher & Scribner, New York City (Nancy Rosner, Alan Scribner, New York City, of counsel), for appellants Inglese, Christiano and Ceriale.
Nancy Rosner, Rosner, Fisher & Scribner, New York City (Ivan Fisher, Alan Scribner, New York City, of counsel), for appellant Inglese.
Arthur F. Golden, New York City (Robert B. Fiske, Jr., New York City, of counsel), for appellant Gamba.
Robert L. Ellis, New York City, for appellant Mamone.
Martin Jay Siegel, New York City, for appellant Springer.
Gary R. Sunden, New York City, for appellant Alonzo.
Theodore Rosenberg, Brooklyn, N. y., for appellant Pugliese.
George David Rosenbaum, New York City, for appellant D'Amico.
Robert Leighton, New York City, for appellant Robinson.
Julia P. Heit, New York City (Edward S. Panzer, New York City, of counsel), for appellant Ware.
Harry R. Pollak, New York City, for appellant Salley.
Michael G. Dowd, Kew Gardens, N. Y., for appellant Russo.
Paul J. Curran, U. S. Atty., S. D. N. Y. (Thomas M. Fortuin, Thomas E. Engel, Frederick T. Davis, Jeremy G. Epstein, Lawrence S. Feld, John D. Gordan, III, Asst. U. S. Attys., of counsel), for appellee.
Before WATERMAN, OAKES and GURFEIN, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal by William Alonzo, Joseph Ceriale, Donato Christiano, Vincent D'Amico, Joseph DiNapoli, John Gamba, Louis Inglese, Angelo Mamone, Frank Pugliese, Warren C. Robinson, Frank Russo, Henry Salley, John Springer, Carmine Tramunti and Hattie Ware from judgments of conviction entered on April 22, May 2, May 3, May 7, May 10 and May 22, 1974, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York after an eight-week trial before Kevin T. Duffy, Judge, and a jury.
Indictment 73 Cr. 1099, filed December 6, 1973, which superseded indictments 73 Cr. 334 and 73 Cr. 931 filed April 13, 1973, and October 3, 1973, charged the 15 appellants and 17 other defendants in 30 counts, with a variety of violations of the federal narcotics laws. Count One charged the 15 appellants and 17 other defendants with a conspiracy to violate the federal narcotics laws from January 1, 1969, until December 6, 1973, the date of the filing of the indictment. Count Two charged Inglese with a continuing criminal enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 848. Count Three charged Inglese and Joseph DelVecchio 1 with the receipt of 30 bags of heroin in June, 1969. Count Four charged Inglese and DelVecchio with receiving one-half ounce of heroin in June, 1969. Counts Five and Six charged Inglese with receiving one-ounce quantities of heroin in October, 1969. Count Seven charged Benjamin Tolopka 2 with receiving one-quarter kilogram of cocaine in August, 1970. Count Eight charged Inglese with receiving one-quarter kilogram of cocaine in September, 1970. Counts Nine and Ten charged Dominick Lessa with the sale of one-half kilogram of heroin and five-eighths of a kilogram of cocaine in October, 1970. Counts Eleven through Thirteen charged Inglese, DelVecchio and Christiano with selling three-quarter kilogram quantities of heroin in December, 1970. Count Fourteen charged Inglese with receiving one ounce of heroin in February, 1971. Count Fifteen charged Pat Dilacio 3 with possession of one-eighth kilogram of heroin with intent to distribute in May, 1971. Count Sixteen charged Frank Pugliese and Russo with possession with intent to distribute one-eighth kilogram of heroin in May, 1971. Count Seventeen charged Joseph Marchese 4 with possession of one-half kilogram of heroin with intent to distribute in June, 1971. Count Eighteen charged Dilacio and Pugliese with possession of one-half kilogram of heroin with intent to distribute in September, 1971. Count Nineteen charged Springer with possession of one-eighth kilogram of heroin with intent to distribute in November, 1971. Count Twenty charged Pugliese and Dilacio with possession of one-half kilogram of heroin with intent to distribute in September, 1971. Count Twenty-one charged DiNapoli and Dilacio with possession of two kilograms of heroin with intent to distribute in December, 1971. Count Twenty-two charged Pugliese and Dilacio with possession of three kilograms of heroin with intent to distribute in January, 1972. Counts Twenty-three and Twenty-four charged Inglese, DelVecchio, Thomas Lentini 5 and Ceriale with possession of three kilogram quantities of heroin with intent to distribute in July and October, 1972. Count Twenty-five charged George Toutouian 6 and D'Amico with possession of one-quarter kilogram of heroin with intent to distribute in November, 1972. 7 Count Twenty-six charged Russo with possession of one-quarter kilogram of heroin with intent to distribute on January 10, 1973. Count Twenty-seven charged Tramunti, Inglese, DelVecchio and Ceriale with possession of three kilograms of heroin with intent to distribute in May, 1973. Count Twenty-eight charged Inglese and Lentini with possession of one-half kilogram of cocaine with intent to distribute in May, 1973. Count Twenty-nine charged Lentini and Lessa with possession of one-eighth kilogram of cocaine with intent to distribute on May 30, 1973. Count Thirty charged Basil and Estelle Hansen with possession of 767 grams of heroin with intent to distribute on October 4, 1973. 8 Seven counts were severed prior to or during trial. 9
Trial began on January 21, 1974, as to 18 defendants. During the course of the trial, the case against one defendant was severed. 10 Prior to submitting the case to the jury, Judge Duffy dismissed Count Twenty-seven. On March 13, 1974, after five days of deliberation, the jury found the appellants guilty on all remaining counts in which they were named.
Facts.
At trial, five participants in the alleged conspiracy testified to its operations and personnel: John Barnaba, Frank Stasi, Henry Pannirello, Thomas Dawson and James Provitera. Their collective testimony, summarized below, and corroborated extrinsically in certain details, established the existence of a large, well organized conspiracy to buy, process and distribute narcotics in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D. C.
John Barnaba was a middle level distributor in the narcotics conspiracy here charged. Initially he worked for and purchased narcotics through Inglese who was a principal in one branch of the narcotics operation. Subsequently, Barnaba worked for the other major branch of the operation headed by DiNapoli and Pugliese (see III, below). Owing to his unique position, Barnaba's testimony thus served to develop the general framework of the entire conspiracy and identify most of its major participants. From that testimony the jury may be taken to have found as follows.
Barnaba's latter-day involvement in the business of distributing narcotics began in 1969, in response to requests from a would-be customer, Richard Forbrick. In July of 1969, Barnaba met with appellant Inglese, whom he had known for some 15 years, and asked if Inglese could supply him with 'goods.' Inglese said that he could and told Barnaba that he could be reached at the Beach Rose Social Club or Beach Rose Club, located at 3202 Wilkinson Avenue in the Bronx.
The following month, Barnaba in the Beach Rose Club placed an order with Inglese for a quarter kilogram of heroin (at a price of $5,500) and the same amount of cocaine (at $3,000), or, in the parlance, 'a quarter of H and a quarter of coke.' Inglese's associates, DelVecchio and Christiano, passed the narcotics to Barnaba later that night. Barnaba then delivered the heroin to Forbrick and the cocaine to Forbrick's customer, Benjamin Tolopka. When Barnaba later made payment to Inglese for these drugs he was told that in future transactions payment had to be in advance of delivery.
In September and early November of 1970, Barnaba made three more purchases of drugs from Inglese. In late November of 1970, while Barnaba was making yet another such purchase, he came in contact with appellant Mamone. Mamone, who was present at the Beach Rose Club when Barnaba was making a payment to Inglese, was summoned by Inglese, and together they counted Barnaba's payment. 11 Subsequently, Mamone was to be of considerable assistance to Barnaba in his narcotics dealings. 12
In December, 1970, Barnaba paid Inglese $3,500 received from Forbrick for an eighth of a kilogram of heroin. When after ten days or more Inglese was unable to supply the 'eighth,' Forbrick asked Barnaba to get back his $3,500. Barnaba went to the Beach Rose Club to tell Inglese of Forbrick's concern, suggesting in Mamone's presence that Inglese meet Forbrick in order to allay the latter's fears and to make it possible for him to deal directly with Inglese should something happen to Barnaba. Inglese replied that he did not want to meet Forbrick, but when Mamone, who was listening, made assurances that (in Barnaba's words) 'he was all right, . . . he knew his wife, . . . he was okay, there was nothing wrong with him,' Inglese relented. After Mamone had vouched for Forbrick, Barnaba introduced Forbrick to Inglese at the Club and Forbrick accepted Inglese's suggestion that he await delivery. After additional delay in delivery of this order, however, Barnaba, at Forbrick's urging, recovered the $3,500 from Inglese and returned it to Forbrick.
After a brief hiatus in early 1971,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
United States v. Carpenter
...scope at least if the act is of a nature justifying an inference of knowledge of the broader conspiracy." (quoting United States v. Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087, 1111 (2d Cir.1975) (internal quotation marks omitted)).IV. ConclusionAccordingly, the verdict of the Court as to each count in the sup......
-
United States v. Logan
...and state the time and place (in approximate terms) of the alleged crime." Stavroulakis, 952 F.2d at 693 (quoting United States v. Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087, 1113 (2d Cir. 1975)). The Petitioner does not contend that the indictment did not sufficiently inform him of the charges against him. N......
-
United States v. Shipp
...McGrath, 613 F.2d 361, 367 (2d Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 967, 100 S.Ct. 2946, 64 L.Ed.2d 827 (1980). 66 See United States v. Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087, 1107 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 832, 96 S.Ct. 54, 46 L.Ed.2d 50 (1975); see also United States v. Cambindo Valencia, 609 F.2d ......
-
United States v. Ross
...Soriano, 497 F.2d 147, 149-150 (CA5 1974) (en banc); United States v. Vento, 533 F.2d 838, 867, n. 101 (CA3 1976); United States v. Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087, 1104 (CA2 1975); United States v. Issod, 508 F.2d 990, 993 (CA7 1974); United States v. Evans, 481 F.2d 990, 994 (CA9 1973); United St......
-
A picture's worth a thousand words: conversational versus eyewitness testimony in criminal convictions.
...EVID. 801(d)(2)(E). (24.) 625 F.2d 1196 (5th Cir. 1980) (en banc). (25.) Id. at 1197. (26.) Id. at 1198. (27.) United States v. Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087, 1111 (2d Cir. (28.) Id. (29.) 441 F.3d 153 (2d Cir. 2006). (30.) Id. at 162-64. (31.) Id. at 165-66. (32.) Id. (33.) Id. at 166. (34.) The......
-
The Anti-Drug Policies of the 1980's: Have They Increased the Likelihood for Both Wrongful Convictions and Sentencing Disparities?
...v Ramirez-Rodrigirez 552 F.2d 883 (9th Cir. 1977) United States v Srateii 581 F.2d 878 (D.C. Cir. 1978) United States v Trariiirrrti 513 F.2d 1087 (2d Cir. 1975) Bibliography Bedau, H.A. 1967 Blott, E.D. 1963 Borchard, E.M. 1932 The Death Penalty In America. Garden City, NY: Anchor. The Vin......