U.S. v. Chang An-Lo
| Decision Date | 27 June 1988 |
| Docket Number | AN-LO,D,No. 1318,1318 |
| Citation | 851 F.2d 547 |
| Parties | 26 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 14 UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. CHANG, a/k/a "White Wolf", Shiang Bao-Jing, a/k/a "Cripple", George Qi Lu, Peter Yang, Lam Tso, a/k/a "Sammy Lam", John Kirkpatrick, Ah Min, Jack Ma, a/k/a "Jack Li", Tung Kuei-Sen and Chen Chih-Yi, a/k/a "Yellow Bird", Defendants-Appellants. ockets 86-1506, 86-1507 to 86-1512, 87-1001, 87-1002, 87-1013 and 87-1029. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
William M. Kunstler, New York City (Jay Gregory Horlick, Brooklyn, N.Y., of counsel for defendant-appellant Chang An-Lo; Jeffrey A. Lazroe, Buffalo, N.Y., of counsel for defendant-appellant Chen Chih-Yi), for defendants-appellants Chang An-Lo and Chen Chih-Yi.
Philip Katowitz, Brooklyn, N.Y., for defendant-appellant Shiang Bao-Jing.
Bobbi C. Sternheim, New York City, for defendant-appellant George Qi Lu.
Lorin Duckman, New York City, for defendant-appellant Peter Yang.
Michelle S. Jacobs, New York City, for defendant-appellant Lam Tso.
Robert E. Precht, New York City (The Legal Aid Defender Services Unit, New
York City, of counsel), for defendant-appellant John Kirkpatrick.
Lee A. Ginsberg, New York City (Freeman, Nooter & Ginsberg, New York City, of counsel), for defendant-appellant Ah Min.
Eugene Bogan, New York City, for defendant-appellant Jack Ma.
Lawrence Gross, Elmhurst, N.Y. (Gering, Gross & Gross, Elmhurst, N.Y., of counsel), for defendant-appellant Tung Kuei-Sen.
Anne T. Vitale, Asst. U.S. Atty., S.D.N.Y., New York City (Rudolph W. Giuliani, U.S. Atty., S.D.N.Y., Bruce Green, Asst. U.S. Atty., S.D.N.Y., New York City, of counsel), for appellee.
Before WINTER and MAHONEY, Circuit Judges, and STEWART, District Judge. *
Defendants-appellants appeal from judgments entered upon their convictions by a jury after an eight week trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Robert L. Carter, Judge. They were charged in a fourteen count indictment. Count one alleged a RICO conspiracy to conduct the affairs of United Bamboo, a criminal enterprise which originated in Taiwan approximately thirty years ago and is active in the United States, through a pattern of racketeering activity involving the murder of journalist Henry Liu in Daly City, California on October 15, 1984, various narcotics conspiracies and distributions, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Count two alleged the conduct of that enterprise's affairs as aforesaid. Counts three through ten alleged various narcotics conspiracies and distributions. Count eleven charged interstate travel in aid of racketeering, counts twelve and thirteen charged illegal transportation and receipt of firearms in interstate commerce, and count fourteen charged a conspiracy to counterfeit a United States passport. All defendants-appellants were charged with and convicted of one or more crimes, and sentenced to terms ranging from twenty-five years for Lam Tso to time served of one year for Peter Yang.
Appellants raise numerous issues on appeal. We affirm, except that we remand as to defendants-appellants George Qi Lu and Tung Kuei-Sen for compliance with Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3)(D). We consider herein defendants-appellants' contentions concerning the sufficiency of the evidence as to certain defendants, the refusal of the trial judge to grant certain defendants' motions for severance which allegedly resulted in an unfair trial, the admissibility of a duplicate foreign business record when the supporting witness had never seen the original, the propriety of the trial judge's ex parte examination of certain jurors concerning one juror's reading a newspaper report concerning the case prior to allowing defense counsel the opportunity to interview the jurors, whether the alleged inconsistency between verdicts on RICO counts and non-RICO counts charging identical conduct requires reversal of conviction, and the conduct of the sentencing proceedings with respect to defendants George Qi Lu and Tung Kuei-Sen.
This case involves the activities of a Chinese organized crime syndicate, the United Bamboo. The United Bamboo was founded in Taiwan approximately three decades ago. Over the years, the enterprise has extended its activities to Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and most recently the United States. In this country, the United Bamboo has established its operations in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The members and associates of the organization in the United States established the United Bamboo's presence here through involvement in various illegal activities such as prostitution illegal gambling, assisting fugitives from justice, extortion, kidnapping, murder, and trafficking in guns and narcotics.
The United Bamboo's international leader, Chen Chi-Li, came to Los Angeles in September, 1984 for a series of meetings with members and associates of the United Bamboo, including the defendant Chang An-Lo, the leader of the United Bamboo in the United States; the defendant Chen Chih-Yi, the financial leader of the organization in the United States; and the defendant Tung Kuei-Sen, among others, to discuss plans that would expand the group's activities here.
To demonstrate its strength and capability, the United Bamboo planned to murder Henry Liu, a Taiwanese journalist who had written critically of the Taiwanese government. After careful planning by Chen Chi-Li and his associates, one Wu Tun and defendant Tung Kuei-Sen murdered Henry Liu during the early morning hours of October 15, 1984 at Liu's home in Daly City, California. Four days after the murder, Chen Chi-Li, Wu Tun and Tung Kuei-Sen fled the United States and returned to Taiwan with the help of Chen Chih-Yi.
As a result of the shock and outcry over Henry Liu's murder, Taiwan began the "I Ching," a crackdown on the underworld in Taiwan. The "I Ching" was successful in arresting numerous Chinese underworld figures, including Chen Chih-Yi. As a result of the disruption of the United Bamboo's activities caused by the "I Ching," the organization sought to raise money in support of members and associates who had been arrested and further sought to aid fugitives who had left Taiwan.
In furtherance of United Bamboo's expansion plan, Chang An-Lo contacted one Steven Wong numerous times and asked him to provide specific information about the street gangs and their criminal activity in New York's Chinatown. Chang An-Lo intended to use that information to take over and profit from criminal activities in Chinatown.
In March, 1985, however, Steven Wong began to work in an undercover capacity for the New York City Police Department, and thereafter for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After providing the authorities with information pertaining to the murder of Henry Liu and the United Bamboo's proposed activities in Chinatown, Wong proceeded to record numerous conversations with various defendants during the course of a five month investigation, some hundred of which were used as evidence at trial. The investigation revealed separate but related schemes to acquire and distribute narcotics in order to raise money for United Bamboo.
The first plan involved a conspiracy to obtain and distribute heroin and cocaine between April and September, 1985. Defendants Chang An-Lo, Shiang Bao-Jing, George Qi Lu, Lam Tso and Tony Wong 1 participated in this conspiracy, which, while ultimately unsuccessful, resulted in the sale of one pound of heroin and the distribution of three additional samples of heroin to undercover law enforcement officers.
The government proved the existence of the conspiracy through the surveillance of numerous meetings between certain of the defendants and Steven Wong (and other undercover officers) during the period in question. At those meetings, many of which took place in April and May, 1985, matters relating to the attempted establishment of a substantial narcotics trade were revealed. Chang An-Lo made several statements about his "connections" in the Golden Triangle, an area in Southeast Asia known for heroin production. He also told Wong of his plans to "take over" Chinatown. Moreover, Chang gave Wong express authority to arrange narcotics transactions with the defendant Lam Tso. Throughout May and June, 1985, Lam Tso, who was based in New York, continuously attempted to secure a source for heroin through the help of defendant George Qi Lu.
In this connection, Lam Tso told Steven Wong on May 24, 1985, that George Qi Lu would be meeting a heroin source in Los Angeles and arranging narcotics transactions on behalf of Lam Tso and Steven Wong. In addition, George Qi Lu arranged on one occasion for Chang An-Lo to meet with Lu's heroin source from the Golden Triangle.
On June 6, 1985, Chang An-Lo was arrested on charges of kidnapping and extortion. 2 Defendant Shiang Bao-Jing then became the leader of the United Bamboo in Los Angeles, and continued to carry out Chang's plan for the organization's development. 3 On June 19, 1985, at a meeting in Los Angeles with Steven Wong, two undercover officers and defendant George Qi Lu, Shiang Bao-Jing told of a ten point plan that he had designed to carry out the development of United Bamboo in the United States that Chang had initiated. One of the elements of the plan was narcotics trafficking. In that connection, on June 20, 1985, Shiang discussed available sources for narcotics.
On the evening of June 19, 1985, Steven Wong discussed narcotics sources with defendant George Qi Lu, as well. Lu told Wong that he too had available sources for heroin. Lu described how he had brought a particular source to New York to meet with Lam Tso on two occasions in order to arrange a drug deal. Concurrently, over the next several days, Shiang indicated his awareness of his associates' efforts to...
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