U.S. v. Bertolotti
| Citation | 529 F.2d 149 |
| Decision Date | 10 November 1975 |
| Docket Number | 1233,D,1224,1231,Nos. 1196,1234 and 1261,1230,s. 1196 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Angelo BERTOLOTTI et al., Defendants-Appellants. ockets 75--1107, 75--1134, 75--1137, 75--1140, 75--1144, 75--1165, 75--1169. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Sanford Katz, New York City, for appellant Bertolotti.
Gilbert Epstein, New, york City, for appellant Capotorto.
J. Jeffrey Weisenfeld, New York City (Goldberger, Feldman & Breitbart, New York City), for appellant Camperlingo.
William S. Isenberg, North Miami, Fla. (Law Offices of Peter F. K. Baraban, North Miami, Fla.), for appellant Thompson.
Irving Anolik, New York City, for appellant DeLuca.
Murray Richman, New York City, for appellant Angley.
Gerald B. Lefcourt, New York City, for appellant Guerra.
Paul J. Curran, U.S. Atty., S.D.N.Y. (John D. Gordan, III, James P. Lavin, T. Gorman Reilly, John C. Sabetta, Steven M. Schatz, Asst. U.S. Attys., of counsel), for appellee.
Before MOORE, FRIENDLY and VAN GRAAFEILAND, Circuit Judges.
Appellants Angelo Bertolotti, James Capotorto, Joseph Camperlingo, Raymond Thompson, Joseph DeLuca, James Angley and Louis Guerra, convicted of conspiracy to violate the federal narcotics laws (21 U.S.C. § 846) following a four-week jury trial in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, seek reversal of these convictions. Because of the Government's failure to heed our admonition in United States v. Sperling, 506 F.2d 1323 (2d Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 962, 95 S.Ct. 1351, 43 L.Ed.2d 439 (1975), that it cease combining in an alleged single conspiracy, criminal acts loosely, if at all, connected, 1 we are compelled to accede to appellants' request.
Indictment 75 Cr. 5, filed January 6, 1975, which superseded Indictment 74 Cr. 620, filed June 18, 1974, charged twenty-nine individuals, including the seven appellants, with an assortment of federal narcotics violations. The Government supplemented the indictment with lists, copies of which were given to defense counsel, containing the names of thirty-one additional unindicted co-conspirators.
Count One charged all twenty-nine of the indicted individuals with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute Schedule I and II narcotic drugs. Thirteen overt acts in furtherance of this conspiracy were alleged. Each of the appellants was named in at least one of these overt acts.
Counts Two through Nine charged many, although not all, of the defendants with substantive narcotics possession and distribution violations. Appellant DeLuca was charged in Count Two with distribution and possession of twelve kilograms of cocaine. Appellant Guerra was charged in Count Four with distribution and possession of one kilogram of cocaine. The remaining five appellants were not named in any of the substantive counts.
Six defendants, including the central figures in the alleged conspiracy, Albert Rossi and Ernest Coralluzzo, entered guilty pleas prior to trial. Six other defendants were 'unavailable' for trial. The remaining seventeen proceeded to trial before Judge Robert Carter and a jury. The results were disastrous to the Government. Not a single defendant was convicted on any of the eight substantive counts. 2 On Count One, the Because of the large number of transactions alleged by the Government to be part of a single conspiracy, it is difficult to succinctly summarize the facts. We begin, however, by describing in chronological order the four major events about which evidence was produced at trial, leaving for later the question of how, if at all, they may be tied together.
conspiracy count, the jury acquitted eight defendants and failed to agree on two others. Only the seven appellants were found guilty on this count.
As is true of each of the four major deals hereinafter described, Albert Rossi and Ernest Coralluzzo were the principal participants in this transaction. In the spring of 1973, these two and James Capotorto negotiated with Frank Matthews and Harold Harrison for the sale to them of thirty to fifty kilograms of heroin. After Matthews and Harrison had paid $375,000 of the agreed price, Rossi and Coralluzzo, exhibiting a disrespect for the rules of fair play extreme even among narcotics kingpins, decided to renege on their part of the deal. 3 Matthews and Harrison, understandably annoyed by such lack of cooperation, decided that self-help would be the most appropriate remedy under the circumstances. Unfortunately for Mr. Capotorto, he turned out to be the object to which Harrison and Matthews helped themselves. Rossi and Coralluzzo, in their only display of humanity revealed by the evidence at trial, returned the $375,000 in exchange for the release of their grateful companion.
In late May or early June 1973, Rossi and Coralluzzo met in New York with two Florida visitors, the previously mentioned Capotorto and one Raymond Thompson. Capotorto, speaking for himself and Thompson, as well as two other Florida associates not present at the gathering, Angelo Bertolotti and Joseph Camperlingo, indicated the quartet's desire to purchase one kilogram of cocaine. Upon Capotorto's representation that his group had raised between $17,000 and.$19,000 to pay for these narcotics, Rossi telephoned Louis Guerra requesting the delivery of one kilo. The following day, Guerra arrived bearing, not one but two kilos of cocaine, one pure and one diluted. 4 With a little persuasion from Rossi, Capotorto and Thompson agreed to double their purchase. The $17,000 (or.$19,000) was immediately paid to Rossi and Coralluzzo for the pure kilogram, and additional payments for the diluted kilogram were promised.
Later in June, Rossi and Coralluzzo went to Florida to collect the balance owed them on the second kilo. At a meeting with Capotorto and Thompson, an additional partial payment of $5,000 was made.
In July, Rossi and Coralluzzo met with all four members of the Florida quartet to discuss the remaining balance. Although there was some dispute about the quality of the second kilo, it was finally agreed that if Bertolotti, Thompson and Camperlingo could supply Rossi and Coralluzzo with five or six hundred pounds of marijuana, it would be credited against the money owned on the cocaine. In August, the quartet met with Rossi to iron out the details of the marijuana
deal. Shortly thereafter, Bertolotti, Thompson and Camperlingo delivered six hundred pounds of marijuana to Rossi in Florida, and he and Capotorto drove it to New York in a camper. In New York, one hundred pounds were given to Guerra, and except for one hundred twenty-five pounds which were returned to Camperlingo, the remainder was sold.
In late August or early September 1973, Rossi, through a middleman Peter Mengrone, arranged for a heroin sale to one Frank Lucas. Lucas gave Rossi a partial payment of approximately $30,000; in return, Rossi was to provide a large quantity of heroin. Following discussions with Capotorto, Guerra, Louis Lepore, Robert Browning and Gary Pearson, Rossi concluded that Lucas would be an easier bird to pluck than Matthews and Harrison had been. Accordingly, he again decided to keep the money without producing the drugs. Out of the $30,000, Rossi gave Capotorto $3,000 to $4,000 and used $8,000 to finance a trip to Florida to conduct the transaction with Franklin Flynn described hereinafter.
From August to October 1973, the Westchester District Attorney's office maintained an authorized wiretap on Peter Mengrone's home telephone. Tapes of fifty-five intercepted calls relating to the Lucas rip-off and involving such participants as Rossi, Coralluzzo, Guerra, Capotorto and Pearson were played to the jury.
This transaction was clearly the core of the Government's conspiracy theory around which all the other deals revolved. It began in July 1973 with a Florida meeting between Rossi and one Angelo Iacano, during which the latter stated that his partner, Franklin Flynn, had access to a large cocaine supply in South America. Pursuant to arrangements made at that time, a second meeting took place later in the month. In addition to Rossi and Iacano, this gathering was attended by Capotorto, Flynn and another of Iacano's partners, Roger Silverio. The meeting resulted in an offer by Rossi to purchase 'all the cocaine' that Flynn could supply.
In August, Rossi, Capotorto and Charles Guida met with Iacano in New York to sample the latter's wares. Rossi, satisfied with the quality of the cocaine tested, agreed to purchase twelve kilos.
In September, Rossi received a telephone call from Flynn who advised him that the cocaine shipment had arrived and was available for pickup in Florida. Rossi and Coralluzzo thereupon conceived a scheme to drastically reduce their overhead on this transaction. In a slightly altered version of the Matthews-Harrison and Lucas scenarios in which money was acquired without a delivery of narcotics, Rossi and Coralluzzo now planned to acquire the Flynn narcotics without a delivery of money. In furtherance of this plan Rossi, using the money acquired from Lucas, flew down to Florida taking with him Coralluzzo, Pearson, Browning, Lepore, Joseph DeLuca and James Angley. 5 Upon his arrival in Florida, Rossi contacted Flynn who agreed to deliver the cocaine to the Diplomat Hotel. When Flynn, Iacano and Silverio arrived with the twelve kilos, they found a most hostile reception committee. Rossi and Coralluzzo, with guns drawn, appropriated the narcotics while Browning and DeLuca bound Flynn and his associates.
The acquisition portion of the venture successfully completed, the group returned to New York City where DeLuca, Angley,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
United States v. Computer Sciences Corp.
...challenge on grounds of the adequacy of the evidence, e. g., Reyes v. United States, 417 F.2d 916 (9th Cir. 1969); United States v. Bertolotti, 529 F.2d 149 (2d Cir. 1975); United States v. Guillette, 547 F.2d 743 (2d Cir. 1976); United States v. Radetsky, 535 F.2d 556 (10th Cir. 1976); Uni......
-
U.S. v. Porter
...States v. Riebold, 557 F.2d 697 (10th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 860, 98 S.Ct. 186, 54 L.Ed.2d 133 (1977); United States v. Bertolotti, 529 F.2d 149 (2d Cir.1975); United States v. Braverman, 522 F.2d 218 (7th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 985, 96 S.Ct. 392, 46 L.Ed.2d 302 (1975)......
-
United States v. DePalma
...a legitimate business as a front for several illegitimate activities.19 This is not the situation that existed in United States v. Bertolotti, 529 F.2d 149, 155 (2d Cir. 1975), where only one of the four major transactions resembled the orthodox business operation found to exist in narcotic......
-
U.S. v. Johnson
... ... The publicity cited by appellants here was primarily descriptive of the indictment, trials and related proceedings. 12 It does not cause us to conclude "that the population of (Memphis) was so aroused against appellants and so unlikely to be able objectively to judge their guilt or ... Anthony, 565 F.2d 533, 536 (8th Cir. 1977), Cert. den. 434 U.S. 1079, 98 S.Ct. 1274, 55 L.Ed.2d 787 (1978); United States v. Bertolotti, 529 F.2d 149, 159-60 (2d Cir ... Page 158 ... 1975); United States v. Braverman, 522 F.2d 218, 224 (7th Cir.), Cert. den. 423 U.S. 985, 96 ... ...