U.S. v. Alvarez-Moreno, ALVAREZ-MORENO
| Citation | 874 F.2d 1402 |
| Decision Date | 07 June 1989 |
| Docket Number | ALVAREZ-MORENO,No. 86-5517,86-5517 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jose Jader, a/k/a Carlos Jader Alvarez, Said Pavon Jatter, Ricardo Pavon Jatter, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
Robert F. Dunlap, Miami, Fla., for Said & Ricardo Pabon.
Myles H. Malman, Susan Tarbe, Linda Collins Hertz, Asst. U.S. Attys., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.
G. Richard Strafer, Coral Gables, Fla., for Alvarez-Moreno.
Appeal from the United States District Court For the Southern District of Florida.
Before HATCHETT and CLARK, Circuit Judges, and FITZPATRICK *, District Judge.
In this massive drug importation, drug distribution, and money laundering case, we determine the extent to which uncharged criminal offenses may be used as predicate offenses for continuing criminal enterprise prosecutions (21 U.S.C. Sec. 848). We affirm the convictions, but remand for resentencing of one appellant.
In 1981, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) initiated "Operation Swordfish" to identify and apprehend individuals "laundering" the proceeds derived from the sale of illegal narcotics. To facilitate this effort, the DEA established a corporation known as Dean International Investments (Dean Investments).
Frank Chellino, a DEA agent, assumed the undercover identity of Frank Dean, president of Dean Investments. Generally, Dean Investments offered services such as: changing cash from small denominations to large denominations, providing corporate and cashier's checks, transferring money to foreign bank accounts, and exchanging United States' currency for Colombian pesos. To provide these services, Dean Investments Two confidential informants, Roberto Darias and Felipe Calderon, worked with Dean Investments to recruit individuals who wished to launder money. Using contacts in the Miami area, Darias and Calderon established that Dean Investments would provide services to individuals who wanted to avoid customary banking and financial channels.
opened corporate accounts at various banks, conducted transactions under its corporate name, and served as an agent between its clients and authorities monitoring the banks. Dean Investments provided services to customers only through referral, was unavailable to the general public, and charged commissions for its services.
On July 6, 1981, Chellino (posing as Frank Dean) and Darias met Manuel Sanchez, an assistant vice-president at the Bank of Miami. At this meeting, Chellino and Darias informed Sanchez of the services that Dean Investments could provide, and that they were seeking banks in which to deposit cash for customers. Stating that his bank had restrictions upon accepting new cash customers, Sanchez referred Chellino and Darias to two banks that accepted large amounts of cash for a fee. Sanchez then advised Chellino and Darias that he would contact them later.
On July 15, 1981, Sanchez referred Lionel Paytubi to Dean Investments. Paytubi told Dean Investments representatives that he knew several individuals interested in utilizing its services, in particular, a woman who wanted to exchange a million dollars a week from small bills to large bills. Paytubi later advised Chellino that the woman's name was Marlene Navarro.
In a later meeting with Chellino, Paytubi affirmed his claim that Navarro would provide a million dollars a week to be transferred to Panama. On August 5, 1981, Marlene Navarro met Darias and advised him that she handled $80 million a year for her boss, that some of the money originated in California, and that some of the money originated in Miami.
In the first transaction, Navarro delivered $500,000 in cash to Dean Investments and requested that the money be wire-transferred to Panama, agreeing to a 5 1/2 percent commission.
On August 14, 1981, after receiving a message from Paytubi, Darias proceeded to the parking lot of Navarro's lawyer, Lester Rogers. At the parking lot, Navarro removed a locked suitcase from her vehicle and handed it to Darias. At the Dean Investments office, its representatives found $484,700 in the suitcase. Pursuant to Navarro's instructions, Dean Investments transferred the money to a numbered account at a bank in Panama. On August 20, 1981, Darias delivered the wire transfer receipts to Navarro's lawyer's office. At the office, Rogers advised Darias that the funds originated from "chemical plants" in Colombia, and that its owner handled $400 to $500 million a year.
Following this successful transfer, daily communications developed between Navarro and Darias. Shortly after the meeting at Rogers's office, Darias met with Navarro at a restaurant in Miami where she explained that her business came from Colombia and described her constituency as "powder people." After the initial money transfer, Darias kept in close contact with Navarro and successfully completed several transactions involving large sums of money. The government presented evidence of twenty to twenty-one transactions.
On September 14, 1981, Navarro informed Darias that her boss in Bogota, Colombia, was using a pilot in Tampa, Florida, to fly money to Colombia. Concerned with possible detection from authorities, Navarro tried to convince her boss that it was prudent to use the Dean Investments organization to wire transfer the money to Panama.
On October 6, 1981, Navarro informed Darias that her boss's children had been kidnapped in Colombia, and that the kidnappers were demanding a large ransom. After traveling to Colombia, Navarro returned to Miami to arrange another transfer of money. Navarro contacted Darias As the Navarro and Darias relationship matured, Navarro introduced Darias to other members of the organization. In December of 1981, Darias met Luis Rodriguez. Navarro explained that Rodriguez received money from merchandise distributed in California. To obtain a $250,000 certificate of deposit for Rodriguez, Navarro gave Darias $240,000; she delivered the remaining $10,000 later. After Darias delivered the receipt for the certificate of deposit, Navarro informed Darias that her boss's name was Alvarez or Carlos Moreno and that he could not travel to the United States because of his fugitive status resulting from seizure of his airplane containing money at the Opa-Locka, Florida Airport.
and requested that the Dean Investments organization exchange $400,000 in small denomination bills to large denomination bills. On November 6, 1981, Darias met Navarro in a parking lot in Miami where she gave him a bag containing $285,700; Dean exchanged the money into $100 bills and returned the proceeds to Navarro.
In January, 1982, Carlos Alvarado, another associate of Navarro and Alvarez-Moreno, met with Darias. Alvarado stated that he transported cash to Colombia for Alvarez-Moreno. Thereafter, he offered Darias 100 kilograms of cocaine. 1 In March, 1982, Navarro advised Darias that Alvarez-Moreno approved of Dean providing money transfer services to Colombia. Consequently, a series of cash deliveries from Navarro to Dean Investments began. On April 2, 1982, Dean Investments received $100,000; on April 7, 1982, $160,000 and $52,000; on April 17, 1982, $85,000; and Navarro delivered $1,000,000 on the final April, 1982, delivery.
In May, 1982, Darias accompanied Navarro to the office of David Jaffee, a lawyer, who gave them $300,000. A week later, Navarro gave Darias $293,000 in a shopping bag.
In June, 1982, Darias met Oscar Garcia and Ricardo Jatter. Navarro informed Darias that Ricardo Jatter distributed cocaine in California for Alvarez-Moreno and that Garcia supervised cocaine distribution into the United States for Alvarez-Moreno. Navarro also informed Darias that a 100 kilogram surplus of cocaine existed from the last shipment, and that if Darias could secure a client for the cocaine, Ricardo Jatter and Garcia would be able to deliver it at any time. A few weeks later, Garcia offered Darias 170 kilograms of cocaine. Darias refused this offer and Navarro's offer of monthly deliveries of cocaine.
On July 1, 1982, Navarro informed Darias that Garcia had received 600 kilograms of cocaine on June 30, 1982, and offered Darias 100 kilograms. At this point, Navarro stated that Luis Rodriguez was in Peru processing cocaine for Alvarez-Moreno and that the processed cocaine would be delivered on a consignment basis. Several discussions occurred aimed at getting Darias involved in the distribution of illegal drugs in the United States. Later, at the Miami International Airport, Garcia advised Darias that 2,000 kilograms of cocaine would be delivered in the United States and transferred to Miami in 8 to 10 days and promised Darias 600 kilograms from the shipment. Garcia then offered Darias 150 kilograms of cocaine from the trunk of his automobile, but Darias rejected the offer stating that he required 600 kilograms. 2
After the airport incident, Carlos Alvarado delivered $100,000 in small denomination bills to Dean Investments exchanging them for large denomination bills. DEA agents On August 4, 1982, Navarro delivered $497,000 to Darias for Dean Investments to wire transfer to Panama. She showed Darias an additional $500,000 in shopping bags in a closet of her house. Meeting later at Miami Beach, Navarro asked Darias to accompany her to Denver, Colorado, to collect $1.5 million. During this meeting, Navarro gave Darias a shopping bag containing $50,000 taken from the trunk of her automobile, with instructions for Dean Investments to wire transfer the money to Panama.
videotaped Alvarado stuffing the exchanged $100,000 into his trousers and socks.
On August 14, 1982, Navarro and Darias traveled by airplane to Denver, Colorado, to collect money. Upon arriveal, Said Jatter informed them that he did not have the money, but that he expected to have it shortly. Jatter also informed Navarro that he received a monthly allotment...
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