Com. v. Grosso

• Decision Date: 16 June 1960
• Docket Number: No. 100,No. 110,No. 102,No. 101,No. 104,No. 105,No. 106,No. 98,98,110,101,100,102,104,105,106
• Citation: 192 Pa.Super. 513,162 A.2d 421
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Sam GROSSO (Appellant in), Lillian Alberts (Appellant in), Charles Cheetham (Appellant in), Joseph Carmen Grosso (Appellant in), Joseph Pino (Appellant in). COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Sam GROSSO (Appellant in), Joseph Carmen Grosso (Appellant in), Anthony Bruno (Appellant in). COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Cornelius HARRINGTON, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 421

162 A.2d 421

192 Pa.Super. 513

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Sam GROSSO (Appellant in No. 98), Lillian Alberts (Appellant

in No. 110), Charles Cheetham (Appellant in No.

101), Joseph Carmen Grosso (Appellant in

No. 100), Joseph Pino

(Appellant in No. 102).

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Sam GROSSO (Appellant in No. 104), Joseph Carmen Grosso

(Appellant in No. 105), Anthony Bruno (Appellant

in No. 106).

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Cornelius HARRINGTON, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

June 16, 1960.

Rehearing Denied in Nos. 98, 104, 106, July 27, 1960.

Application for Allocatur Granted and Appeal Allowed Aug. 22, 1960.

Albert S. Oliensis, Philadephia, for Sam Grosso, Cheetham, Pino, Harrington and Alberts.

Samuel Dash, Philadelphia, for Carmen Grosso and Bruno.

Edward C. Boyle, Dist. Atty., William Claney Smith, Asst. Dist. Atty., Pittsburgh, for appellee.

Before RHODES, P. J., and GUNTHER, WRIGHT, WOODSIDE, ERVIN, WATKINS, JJ.

ERVIN, Judge.

These nine appeals are from judgments of sentence on certain charges of conspiracy and being concerned in the managing, conducting and carrying on of a lottery. In the light of the verdict, the facts are as follows:

In October 1958 Edmund Lovejoy, who lived on the Old Clairton Road in Jefferson Borough, was approached in a downtown tavern by Joseph Pino, one of the defendants, who asked Mr. Lovejoy if he had a garage for rent. Mr. Lovejoy agreed to rent the garage in the basement of his house to Joseph Pino for $25 per month. In addition to the use of the garage, Mr. Pino was also given permission to use the basement area. Shortly after the garage was rented Mrs. Ruth Lovejoy received a telephone call to have the garage doors open at 9:00 o'clock in the morning and at 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon. Between October 1958 and February 19, 1959, she received calls on 15 different occasions requesting her to have the garage doors open. These calls were received the night before the doors were to be opened. After the doors were opened in the morning a station wagon would drive into the garage. Mrs. Lovejoy, on a number of occasions, saw one of the defendants, Cornelius Harrington, get out of the station wagon and carry cases or boxes into the basement. The station wagon, which was owned by Cornelius Harrington, would leave the premises in the morning and return at approximately 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon. After the station wagon entered the garage in the afternoon Mrs. Lovejoy heard sounds coming from the basement, which she thought were made by adding machines, until approximately 7:30 o'clock in the evening. The defendant, Joseph Pino, would come up from the basement and hand Mrs. Lovejoy a paper bag containing money which she was instructed to turn over to her husband. Between February 5, 1959 and February 19, 1959, at approximately 2:30 p. m., the members of the Racket Squad of the City of Pittsburgh observed all of the defendants, except Cornelius Harrington, at the Bill Green Parking lot on Penna. Highway Route No. 51 getting into the station wagon and driving toward the Lovejoy home. On a number of occasions they saw Joseph Carmen Grosso, Gerald Grosso, Charles Cheetham and Gen Attanasio park their cars at the Bill Green Parking lot and go over to the station wagon, carrying brown paper bags. They would then enter the station wagon and drive to the Lovejoy residence.

On February 17, 1959, Officer John Nee, who was parked in the Bill Green Parking lot, saw the station wagon hereinbefore referred to, which was being driven by Anthony Bruno, pull into the parking lot and park about 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon. He saw Gen Attanasio, one of the defendants, enter the station wagon and then he saw Gerald Grosso get out of his car, which was parked in the parking area, carrying two brown paper bags and one white paper bag. He walked over to the station wagon and deposited the three paper bags inside. He then went back to his automobile, picked up a notebook and two other books, and came back to the station wagon. The books, as described by Officer Nee, were 'the large school type.' He entered the station wagon and the station wagon then left the parking area. Officer Nee followed it to the Lovejoy home, where it entered the garage in the basement.

After keeping the Lovejoy house under surveillance from February 5 to February 19, the Racket Squad obtained a search warrant and entered the Lovejoy house at approximately 2:30 p. m. on February 19. They found a complete numbers headquarters in full operation in the basement of the Lovejoy house. Joseph Pino was hiding in a bedroom on the first floor, Lillian Alberts, Gen Attanasio, Charles Cheetham, Jennie Gatto, Joseph Carmen Grosso, Jack Sandman and Mary Robinson were all in the basement sitting at tables, in front of adding machines. During the raid Sam Grosso and Gerald Grosso ran from the house but they were apprehended by police officers stationed on the outside of the house. In addition to the adding machines, tables, rubber bands, paper clips and coin wrappers, the officers found thousands of numbers slips in the basement. There were 17 bags of numbers slips dated February 9, which contained 3,549 individual slips, with a total play of $14,922.86. There were 785 slips for February 10, 1959, with a play of $2,249.08; there were 88 packs for February 11, 1959, containing 13,159 slips, with a total play of $39,241.74; there were 81 packs for February 12, containing 12,054 slips, with a total play of $27,500.02. There were 80 packs for February 13, containing 14,205 slips, with a total play of $44,608.71; there were 80 packs for February 14, containing 11,185 slips, for a total play of $34,371.91; there were 95 packs for February 16, containing 14,928 slips with a total play of $68,752.77; there were 108 packs for February 17, containing 13,266 slips, with a total play of $39,963.16; for February 18 there were 109 packs containing 13,833 slips with a total play of $40,353.20. On the day of the raid, February 19, there was a total play of $86,608.87, and the total play from the 9th of February to the 19th was $398,572.71.

In addition to the numbers slips, the officers found two books in the basement which Officer Leo Flynn, who had made a study of the numbers racket in Allegheny County, testified were kept by the contact men to keep the records of the amount played with each numbers writer. There was either a code number or a name on the top of each page of these books signifying the code number or the first name of the numbers writer. The following named defendants were arrested, indicted and convicted for operating a lottery and conspiracy to operate a lottery on February 19: Sam Grosso, Lillian Alberts alias Lillian Miller, Gen Attanasio, Charles Cheetham, Gerald Grosso, Joseph Carmen Grosso, Joseph Pino alias Joseph Pollock, Mary Robinson alias Mary Giamp, Jack Sandman and Cornelius Harrington alias Neil Harrington alias Neil Hamilton. Edmund Lovejoy and his wife, Ruth Lovejoy, who lived in the house where the headquarters was located, were indicted, together with their son, Ronald, but were not tried with the other defendants. Jennie Gatto was also indicted in connection with the February 19 operation but her case was continued because of illness.

On April 20, 1959, while Sam Grosso, Joseph Carmen Grosso, Gen Attanasio and Jack Sandman were still under indictment for the February 19 operation, they were again arrested, with Anthony Bruno, for conspiracy and being concerned in the operation of a lottery. At 1:15 p. m. on April 20 Officer Leo Flynn was driving south on the Liberty Bridge when he saw Joseph Carmen Grosso driving north. Officer Flynn then made a U-turn on the bridge and began following Joseph Carmen Grosso who drove to the Oakland district of Pittsburgh and pulled into a gas station. He then drove out of the gas station and parked in front of the Strand Theater. He left his car and Officer Flynn noticed he was carrying a brown paper bag. He approached a car parked nearby at the corner of Forbes and Atwood Streets and handed the bag in through an open rear window. Joseph Carmen Grosso then walked over to his Cadillac automobile and drove to the Medical Arts Parking Garage, where he left his car. After leaving the Medical Arts Parking Garage, he walked over and entered the DeSoto sedan, which was the same car in which he deposited the brown paper bag a few minutes before. Officer Flynn, who had been joined by Officer Walsh of the Pittsburgh Police Department, followed the car to Bellefield Avenue, where the car was stopped. After the car was stopped the police officers observed that Anthony Bruno was driving the car, Sam Grosso was sitting in the front seat next to the driver, Joseph Carmen Grosso, Gen Attanasio and Jack Sandman were all sitting in the back seat. The car was searched and there was a brown paper bag under a newspaper in the back seat containing two books similar to those seized in the numbers headquarters on February 19. They also found in the brown paper bag adding machine tapes. Officer Flynn testified that these tapes were weekly tapes. Each tape bore a name at the bottom, such as 'Edie-X,' 'Bob,' 'Gene,' 'Sam,' 'Judy,' 'Buttons,' 'Mom.' The two books which were seized on April 20 contained the names or code numbers for the numbers writers which were shown on the tapes and the names or code numbers on the tapes and the two books seized on April 20 correspond with the names or code numbers in the books that were confiscated on February 19 in Jefferson Borough. In the books seized on April 20 the figures to show how much money was played are missing, indicating to this extent that the books were not complete.

Counsel for Anthony Bruno complains as to the trial of his client at the same time and with the defendants on the charges arising out of the Jefferson Borough raid on February 19, 1959. While it is true that Bruno was not found in the...