Campanelli v. United States

• Decision Date: 12 July 1926
• Docket Number: No. 4568.,4568.
• Citation: 13 F.2d 750
• Parties: CAMPANELLI v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

13 F.2d 750 (1926)

CAMPANELLI v. UNITED STATES.

No. 4568.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

July 12, 1926.

Wilford H. Tully, of San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff in error.

Geo. J. Hatfield, U. S. Atty., and T. J. Sheridan, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of San Francisco, Cal.

Before GILBERT, RUDKIN, and HUNT, Circuit Judges.

HUNT, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff in error and 23 others were indicted for conspiracy (section 37, Penal Code Comp. St. § 10201) to violate the National Prohibition Act (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 10138¼ et seq.), in that about February 1, 1924, and continuously up to October 8, 1924, at San Francisco, they combined to sell, transport, import, and deliver intoxicating liquor into the United States. Overt acts charged were that at Havana, Cuba, in July, 1924, certain of the defendants caused the steamer Guilia to be loaded with liquor, and to leave Havana, and go to a point less than 30 miles from the Farallone Islands, off the coast of California, with the intent to introduce the liquors into the United States, and that defendants delivered a portion of the liquor to the Gnat and other motorboats, intending that the liquor should be brought to the United States at San Francisco Bay. Deliveries to other boats at other times are also charged.

Campanelli, referred to as defendant, and O'Hagan, master of the Guilia, were convicted. Campanelli brought writ of error, and contends that there was a material variance between the indictment and the evidence, that testimony was improperly admitted, and that certain requests for instructions were erroneously refused.

The evidence in support of the averments of the indictment was ample to show that in 1923 defendants Henderson and McMillan, and another, who was not indicted, associated together and frequented the office of the Columbo Mining Company in San Francisco; that through that association Campanelli met the group; that Campanelli visited Henderson at his apartment in San Francisco; that at San Francisco, early in 1924, Henderson told Campanelli of a plan to go to Cuba to obtain liquor; that the ship Guilia was to proceed to Havana, there to load liquor to be brought to California; that in April, 1924, Campanelli, accompanied by Henderson and another defendant, went to Havana, where Henderson showed Campanelli a warehouse in which Henderson kept liquor, which he told Campanelli was imported from Scotland; that, after the Guilia arrived at Havana, Campanelli helped load her with approximately 8,500 cases of liquor; that, about three weeks after his return to San Francisco, Henderson and Campanelli met at a hotel, where it was agreed that Campanelli should receive from Henderson $1 a case for his assistance in disposing of liquor deliveries by the Henderson interests in California; that, after the arrival of the Guilia off the Farallone Islands, Campanelli hired one of the boats upon which liquor was transported from the Guilia to the shore. There was also evidence that, pursuant to an arrangement between Henderson and Campanelli, financial...