U.S. v. Lignarolo

• Decision Date: 10 September 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83-5243,83-5243
• Citation: 770 F.2d 971
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Giovanni LIGNAROLO and Mario Lignarolo, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 971

770 F.2d 971

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Giovanni LIGNAROLO and Mario Lignarolo, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 83-5243.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Sept. 10, 1985.

Michael J. Osman, Joseph Beeler, Miami, Fla., James McGuirk, Coral Gables, Fla., for defendants-appellants.

Stanley Marcus, U.S. Atty., Robert J. Bondi, Linda Collins-Hertz, Asst. U.S. Attys., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before RONEY and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges, and BROWN, ^* Senior Circuit Judge.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents the question of whether one can be convicted under the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952(a)(1) (1982), by traveling from one state to another to "launder" the cash receipts of drug traffickers. We answer the question in the affirmative.

I.

A.

In 1979, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) discovered that the cash deposits at the Continental Bank in Miami, Florida were unusually large. Many of the deposits were being made to the accounts of persons or entities living or located in South America, principally Colombia, and the FBI suspected that some of the money originated from drug transactions. To identify the drug traffickers and their money launderers, the bureau set up a "sting" operation in Miami, called Operation Bancoshares.

The FBI's intelligence information indicated that Orlando Arrebola, a Continental Bank vice-president, was involved in the laundering of drug money. On September 5, 1979, Agent Uriarte contacted Arrebola at the bank for the stated purpose of opening a business account at the bank. The account was to be in the name of CRV Associates, a corporation set up by the FBI. Agent Uriarte told Arrebola that he needed someone he could trust to handle the account and that he had been informed that Arrebola was the man to see. Arrebola agreed to handle the account.

Once the bank account was opened, FBI agents, working undercover, proceeded to build credibility as money launderers. Among other things, they had CRV transfer by wire $500,000 furnished by the U.S. Department of the Treasury from Continental Bank in Miami to Citibank in New York City, where CRV had another account, and back to Continental, several times, to create the appearance that CRV was moving large amounts of money. In addition, FBI agents made frequent cash deposits of over $100,000 to CRV's Continental account; the agents would bring the money in attache cases and give extravagant tips to the bank employees who helped in counting it.

During a conversation on October 12, 1979, Agent Uriarte told Arrebola that he could "collect" anywhere in the country and asked Arrebola if he knew of anyone who had problems in New York. Arrebola acknowledged that he knew someone who had $2 million in New York but had no way to send it to Miami, ¹ and that he, Arrebola, "did not have time." Arrebola offered to put this person in touch with Agent Uriarte. He added that he knew a lot of other people in New York with the same problem and that now he could refer them to CRV.

On November 28, 1979, Agents Franco and Avakian, ² CRV operatives working under the assumed names of Jose Antonia Fernandez and Charles Rana, attempted to get advice from Arrebola on how they could get some Italian people in New York Colombian drug connections who could use CRV to "move" their drug profits. Arrebola said that he could solve the agents' problem; he had a partner who was sending "merchandise" from Colombia to the United States and bringing money back to Colombia. He described his partner as a thirty-year-old Colombian who owned five money exchange houses in Colombia and who was capable of moving two to three million dollars a day. Arrebola said that he would talk to his partner and that a meeting between his partner and the Italians could be arranged.

Two days later, Agent Franco telephoned Arrebola, told him that his man from New York was in Miami, and asked if a meeting could be arranged with Arrebola's partner. The meeting took place on December 3, at CRV's office. Those present were Arrebola, his partner, Luis Fernandez Vasquez, and Agents Avakian and Franco. During the meeting, Agent Franco reiterated that he knew a group of people in New York who needed a supplier of cocaine and marijuana, but that CRV was interested only in "moving" drug money; it would not deal with the drugs themselves. Vasquez explained that, although he personally did not sell cocaine or marijuana, he "moved" drug money all over the United States and to Colombia. Vasquez did not have a bank in New York that could be trusted, as he had in Miami. The agents offered Vasquez the use of CRV's corporate account at Citibank in New York City, stating that his money could be deposited there and transferred by wire to Miami. On December 12, the agents, Arrebola, Vasquez, and Moises Musa Assaf, an associate of Vasquez, assembled at Arrebola's office. Agent Avakian, Assaf, and Vasquez discussed the movement of money from New York City. Agent Avakian again offered the use of CRV's Citibank account, and Vasquez agreed to contact him if a New York deal, which Vasquez expected to total $4 million, came through.

On December 19, Agent Franco flew to New York City and met Moises Assaf in the lobby of Citibank. Assaf introduced Agent Franco to appellant Mario Lignarolo, who was carrying a large brown shoulder bag containing $350,000 in cash. Agent Franco deposited the money in CRV's account. As they were leaving the bank, Lignarolo asked if the bank would be open on Saturday because he would have $1.5 million to deposit that day. Later, Assaf apologized to Agent Franco for the small amount of the deposit, explaining that he had been told that it would be $2 million. Lignarolo then told Franco that there would be several more deposits because the entire proceeds from the marijuana shipment would be $2.6 million. He also said that another marijuana shipment was on its way from Colombia to New York, but that that would be another deal. On December 21, Assaf came to CRV's Miami office to pick up a check for the money he and Mario Lignarolo had given Agent Franco to deposit in New York City. Assaf requested that the check be made out to Promotora del Caribe, a Colombian business firm. ³

On December 22, Agents Franco and Avakian again flew to New York City. Assaf met them at the airport and drove them to the Waldorf Astoria where they joined Mario Lignarolo. Lignarolo went up to his room, and the agents and Assaf joined him shortly thereafter. On the bed was a tan leather suitcase containing approximately $700,000. Soon two other people came to the room; they were introduced to the agents as "Dominic" ⁴ and "Luis Quetero." Everyone there except Quetero counted the money from the suitcase. As it was being counted, Lignarolo put $15,000 in his pocket and gave Quetero $1,000. Assaf told Agent Franco that this "load" was Quetero's. Dominic said that the total amount of the "load" was $2.3 million and that the next payment would be made on either January 2 or 3. Mario Lignarolo then gave Agent Franco the remainder of the money, $684,000, which Franco deposited in CRV's Citibank account. The money was later transferred by wire to CRV's account at the Continental Bank in Miami.

On December 26, Arrebola instructed Agent Franco that CRV should make out a check for $500,000 to Promotora del Caribe. The next day, Assaf went to CRV's office to collect the balance of the $684,000 deposit (less CRV's fee) that had been wired from New York City. Assaf told the agents there that another pick-up of $1 million would take place in New York City on January 2 or 3.

On January 3, 1980, Agents Franco and Avakian met with Vasquez, Assaf, and appellant Giovanni Lignarolo, Mario's brother, at CRV's Miami office. During a discussion of ways to transfer money, a business in which Giovanni professed to have a great deal of expertise, Agent Avakian asked why more money was always promised than was actually delivered in New York. Giovanni answered, "I think they are still selling the stuff ... you know and they haven't been able to ... sell everything."

Agents Franco and Avakian traveled to New York City again, on January 7, and met Giovanni Lignarolo and Assaf in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria. The four men immediately went up to a room in the hotel. Lignarolo and Assaf then departed, to an adjoining room, and returned with two suitcases containing approximately $1 million in cash. Assaf told the agents that the money, with the exception of $100,000 that he and Giovanni Lignarolo would carry to Miami to pay some people, was to be deposited in CRV's Citibank account and wired to the Victor M. Sasson account at the Flagship Bank in Miami. The agents made the deposit on January 24, and Assaf told Agent Franco that the money had come from the sale of a boatload of marijuana and that he had taken care of Arrebola.

On March 4, Vasquez and Assaf met with the agents at CRV's office and told them that on the next deal both Giovanni Lignarolo and Assaf would go to New York. On March 6, the agents met the two men at the Waldorf Astoria, and, after the four of them together counted out $614,000 in cash, the agents deposited the money in CRV's Citibank account. Giovanni Lignarolo told the agents that he expected two more deliveries, approximating $1 million, later that evening. The following morning, the agents again met with Lignarolo and Assaf who instructed them to wire the money deposited the previous day to the Victor Sasson account at the Republic National Bank in New York City. Later in the day, Lignarolo told the agents that the additional money he expected had not been delivered. He made several phone calls and spoke with a man named Pete or Pedro, ⁵ purportedly a member of an Italian family that was well connected with the marijuana business in the New York City area. Lignarolo...