U.S. v. Beverly, s. 88-2985

Citation913 F.2d 337
Decision Date07 September 1990
Docket NumberNos. 88-2985,s. 88-2985
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Alex BEVERLY, Betty McNulty, George Brown and Diane Griffin, Defendants-Appellants. to 88-2988.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

Thomas M. Durkin, Julia E. Getzels, Asst. U.S. Attys., Chicago, Ill., for U.S.

Thomas J. Fleischmann, Terence E. Flynn, Gessler, Flynn, Fleischmann, Hughes & Socol, Chicago, Ill., for Alex Beverly.

Benjamin E. Starks, Starks & Associates, Chicago, Ill., for Betty McNulty.

Herbert L. Goldberg, Giovannini & Goldberg, Chicago, Ill., for George Brown.

Michael G. Logan, Chicago, Ill., for Diane Griffin.

Before EASTERBROOK and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges, and ESCHBACH, Senior Circuit Judge.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

A jury found the defendants--Alex Beverly, Betty McNulty, George Brown, and Diane Griffin--guilty of various drug trafficking and/or conspiracy offenses. The defendants appeal their convictions on a

multitude of grounds. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I BACKGROUND

On February 10, 1988, a federal grand jury returned a twenty-three count superseding indictment against the defendants. 1 The indictment alleged two conspiracies: count one charged Alex Beverly, George Brown, and Betty McNulty with conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin and cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1). Count twenty alleged that Alex Beverly, Betty McNulty, and Diane Griffin conspired to defraud the United States by impairing the efforts of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in ascertaining income taxes and forfeitable assets, respectively, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371. In addition to the conspiracies, the indictment charged Alex Beverly, Betty McNulty, and George Brown with multiple narcotics-related offenses. Mr. Beverly also was charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 848. Diane Griffin was charged with only the fraud conspiracy.

A. Facts
1. Narcotics transactions

a. Alex Beverly, George Brown

From at least 1980 to 1986, Alex Beverly controlled a large-scale narcotics operation involving George Brown, Betty McNulty, and others. Mr. Beverly purchased drugs through Peter Suarez, a cocaine supplier and government witness. 2 The two men first met in late 1979. Mr. Beverly was attempting to open an after-hours club in a house on Sangamon Street in Chicago and told Suarez that he needed some cocaine to start the business. Approximately one month later, Suarez met Mr. Beverly at the house on Sangamon. The house was equipped with gambling tables and a bar from which drinks and cocaine were being sold. Suarez met Willie Jordan, who was introduced as Mr. Beverly's "righthand man," and George Brown, who was introduced as Mr. Beverly's "close associate, brother like." Tr. at 729, 730. On this occasion, Suarez sold Mr. Beverly roughly two ounces of cocaine. Over the next few months, Suarez returned to the Sangamon address several times to deliver another two to three ounces of cocaine. Both Mr. Beverly and Mr. Brown were present for each transaction, as was Jordan.

In March 1980, the police raided the Sangamon house and arrested everyone present for gambling, including Suarez, who was there to deliver cocaine. He stopped making deliveries after the raid, but resumed when Mr. Beverly contacted him the next month. In late April of 1980, Suarez went to an apartment on Chicago Avenue and delivered four ounces of cocaine; Mr. Beverly diluted the drug and converted it into rock cocaine. He then gave the cocaine to George Brown and instructed him to take it to a Mayfield Avenue address. Mr. Beverly told Suarez that he had opened a house on Mayfield and was "going to start doing a lot of business out of that house and that he was going to increase the buys of cocaine and the sales." Tr. at 741-42.

Suarez delivered cocaine to Mr. Beverly at the Chicago Avenue apartment several more times, then began making regular deliveries to Mr. Beverly at the house on Toward the end of 1981, Suarez became interested in establishing drug connections in Colombia. He continued to supply Mr. Beverly with cocaine, but introduced Mr. Beverly to a friend from Florida who would service Mr. Beverly's drug needs in the interim. Suarez participated in two of these referral drug transactions, one in Florida and one at the Mayfield house in Chicago, in which Mr. Beverly purchased cocaine from Suarez' friend. In July of 1982, Suarez was arrested in Puerto Rico as he tried to bring Colombian cocaine into the United States. He was convicted and imprisoned until December 4, 1985. Shortly after his release, he contacted Mr. Beverly. They met in Chicago in late March of 1986 at a bar called Mercedes. 4 Further cocaine transactions were discussed but no deals were arranged because Mr. Beverly did not have cash available and Suarez could not sell on credit.

                Mayfield. 3   From 1980 until 1982, Suarez delivered as much as half a kilogram of cocaine to Mr. Beverly as often as once a week.  While he was there making deliveries or waiting to be paid, Suarez observed Mr. Brown selling small packages of white powder for $50 and $100.  He also observed Mr. Brown convert cocaine from powder to rock form for customers, who then would smoke the drug
                

In April 1986, Mr. Beverly contacted Suarez and asked to purchase two kilograms of cocaine. Suarez, who was living in Florida, arrived in Chicago on the weekend of April 11, 1986. On April 13, Mr. Beverly, who did not have enough money for both kilograms, purchased half a kilogram of cocaine for $12,000. The men met at Tit's Bar, a business Mr. Beverly had purchased for his girlfriend, Diane Griffin, then went next door to Blacon's Liquor Store, a business owned by Mr. Beverly. George Brown arrived at Blacon's with $10,000 in cash; Mr. Beverly took $2,000 out of the cash register at Tit's to make up the difference. Upon Mr. Beverly's direction to take the drugs back to the Mayfield house, Mr. Brown left the liquor store with the cocaine. Mr. Beverly then told Suarez that he would be in touch in the future whenever he needed more cocaine. They agreed that the next deal would take place somewhere between Florida and Chicago so that Suarez, who was on parole, would not have to be away from the Miami area for any great length of time.

Toward the end of April 1986, Mr. Beverly again contacted Suarez and indicated that he needed two kilograms of cocaine. The pair agreed to meet in Mobile, Alabama, where, on the first weekend of May 1986, Mr. Beverly paid Suarez $52,000 in cash for two kilograms of cocaine. Suarez travelled to Chicago two weeks later at Mr. Beverly's request to deliver another two kilograms of cocaine. They met at Somons Lounge, another one of Mr. Beverly's properties, on May 17. Mr. Beverly telephoned George Brown, who appeared at Somons with $27,000 in cash, enough for one kilogram of cocaine. Suarez took the cash and gave the cocaine to Mr. Beverly, who instructed Mr. Brown to take the drugs back to the Mayfield house.

This routine was repeated throughout the summer and fall of 1986. On June 21, Suarez and Mr. Beverly met at Tit's. Suarez said hello to Diane Griffin, who was working behind the bar, then accompanied Mr. Beverly to the back of Blacon's Liquor Store. Following a telephone call from Mr. Beverly, Mr. Brown arrived with $27,000 in cash. Mr. Beverly purchased one kilogram of cocaine, which he gave to Mr. Brown with directions to return to the house. On July 20, Mr. Beverly and Suarez waited at Blacon's until Mr. Brown arrived with, on this occasion, $10,000. Although Suarez charged $27,000 per kilogram, he gave Mr. Beverly a full kilogram of cocaine and said he would get the rest of his money later. On July 30, Suarez went to Somons Lounge to collect the debt. Mr. Beverly stated that Mr. Beverly made two drug purchases in October. On October 18, Suarez and Mr. Beverly met at Somons Lounge, then drove to a woman's house and picked up a bag of cash. They then returned to Somons, where Mr. Brown was waiting with another bag of money. Together, the bags contained approximately $32,000 in cash, for which Mr. Beverly received a kilogram of cocaine. On his next trip to Chicago, Suarez met Mr. Beverly at Blacon's Liquor Store.

he did not have the money but planned to gamble that night; the next morning, Mr. Beverly gave Suarez $10,000 in cash. On both August 9 and 24, Mr. Beverly purchased one kilogram of cocaine with money delivered at Mr. Beverly's request by George Brown. The first transaction took place at Somons with a purchase price of approximately $28,000; the second took place at Blacon's with a price of $27,000. On both occasions, Mr. Beverly gave the drugs to Mr. Brown with instructions to return to the house.

The last meeting between Mr. Beverly and Suarez took place in Florida on November 7, 1986. Suarez had completed a sale of one kilogram of cocaine to Mr. Beverly's associate, Joseph McCorkle, before Mr. Beverly and several friends arrived in Miami for a football game. Suarez had a brief discussion with Mr. Beverly to explain that McCorkle had left Florida with the cocaine. The following weekend, on November 17, 1986, Suarez was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada for possession with intent to distribute three kilograms of cocaine.

Evidence regarding these defendants' narcotics transactions also was provided by Johnny Davis, a paid informant for the DEA. 5 At the time he began working for the DEA, Davis had known Mr. Beverly for more than twelve years. On March 24, 1986, Davis went to the Mercedes bar to arrange the purchase of one ounce of brown heroin. Davis met with Willie Jordan and, in order to get a DEA agent involved, stated that he had a friend interested in buying some heroin. Two days later, Davis returned to Mercedes with undercover DEA agent Herbert Milton. They spoke with Mr....

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