U.S. v. Neapolitan
| Decision Date | 11 June 1986 |
| Docket Number | 85-2131,Nos. 85-1899,s. 85-1899 |
| Citation | 791 F.2d 489 |
| Parties | , RICO Bus.Disp.Guide 6274 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert NEAPOLITAN, Defendant-Appellant. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas COVELLO, Sr., Ralph Mascio, Jr., Joseph W. Hlavach, Antoine A. Turner, Victor R. Meadows, and Clement A. Messino, Defendants-Appellants. to 85-2136. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
John A. Dienner, III, Pierce, Lydon Griffin & Montana, Ronald J. Clark, Ellen G. Robinson, Burke, & Smith Chtd., Robert M. Stephenson, Cotsirilos & Crowley, Ltd. Shelia M. Murphy, Chicago, for defendant-appellant.
Sara Criscitelli, Sp. Counsel, OCR Section, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D.C., William R. Hogan, Asst. U.S. Atty., (Anton R. Valukas, U.S. Atty.), Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.
Before WOOD, POSNER, and FLAUM, Circuit Judges.
These two unrelated cases have been united because they arise out of similar factual settings, auto theft rings in the Chicago area, and because they both pose the question of the scope of a conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(d). Through these appeals we become the latest in a string of circuits to struggle with what degree of relationship between the defendant and the alleged predicate criminal acts is sufficient to support a conviction for RICO conspiracy under Sec. 1962(d). Based on the literal approach to RICO interpretation adopted by this circuit in Haroco v. American National Bank & Trust Co. of Chicago, 747 F.2d 384 (7th Cir.1984), affd, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 3291, 87 L.Ed.2d 437 (1985), we hold that a defendant violates section 1962(d) when he or she enters into an agreement with knowledge that the goal of the conspiracy is the commission of a RICO violation, that is to "conduct or participate in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity." Pursuant to this interpretation the convictions in these two cases are affirmed. Nevertheless it is important to emphasize the differences between RICO conspiracy and conspiracy prohibited by 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371 and the special burden RICO conspiracy imposes on both the crafting of indictments and the conducting of trials.
The convictions in these two cases stem from the widespread practice of stealing cars, breaking them down to their component parts, and selling the auto parts in interstate commerce. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2314. What distinguishes the cases from each other factually is the relationship of the defendants to the central crime of auto theft: Neapolitan involves police officers protecting the auto ring, while Covello involves the central figures in a separate "chop shop" operation.
Robert Neapolitan, along with his two co-defendants, Robert Cadieux and Ronald Sapit, was employed as an investigator for the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department until his indictment in 1984 on five counts of mail fraud and one count of racketeering conspiracy. The indictment, in conjunction with the evidence adduced at trial, presents a picture of police corruption in which Officers Cadieux and Sapit at once encouraged known car thieves to supply them with automobiles and establish a "chop shop," while also soliciting bribes in the form of auto parts and cash in exchange for police protection. The evidence linking Neapolitan to the scheme shows that he entered the arrangement after its establishment and that his involvement was limited.
Neapolitan was named in four of the five alleged acts of mail fraud but was acquitted of all the mail fraud counts by the district judge. Neapolitan then went to trial as the sole defendant charged only with the RICO conspiracy--both Sapit and Cadieux pleaded guilty earlier. The government's theory under section 1962(d) can be summarized briefly. Sapit, Cadieux, and Neapolitan were alleged to have conspired to conduct the affairs of the sheriff's office, the RICO "enterprise" for purposes of this case, see 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(4), through a pattern of racketeering activity. The predicate acts constituting the pattern under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(5) were the four alleged acts of mail fraud and eleven specified acts of bribery in violation of Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, Sec. 33-1(d), (e). Of the listed acts of bribery, Neapolitan was identified as having been involved in only one. Thus, with the dismissal of the mail fraud counts against him, Neapolitan's involvement in the conspiracy, as it is sketched in the indictment, is limited to the solicitation of one cash bribe.
At trial the government presented evidence concerning the activities of all three of the indicted police officers, including evidence of Neapolitan's alleged participation in the "fixing" of a pending case, in Cadieux's attempt to sell the front end of a 1980 Cadillac El Dorado, and in the process of obtaining a new "clean" title for a 1977 Ford pick-up truck. The jury found Neapolitan guilty of a RICO conspiracy and he was sentenced to a period of one year incarceration.
The Convictions of Covello, Mascio, Hlavach, Turner, Meadows, and Messino.
Defendants Thomas Covello, Sr., Ralph Mascio, Jr., Joseph W. Hlavach, Antoine A. Turner, Victor Meadows, and Clement A. Messino were all alleged to have been involved in varying degrees in a large scale "chop shop" operation centered around two salvage yards in Chicago, Ashland Auto Wreckers and M & J Auto Wreckers. 1 The grand jury returned an eight-count indictment that charged the defendants with seven counts of interstate transportation of stolen goods in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2314 and one count of RICO conspiracy. According to the indictment and the government's briefs on appeal, the evidence, acquired after a prolonged surveillance, established that all the defendants were members of a "de facto" RICO enterprise dedicated to the "processing" of stolen cars. The operations of this auto ring qua enterprise encompassed all aspects of the "chop shop" business.
The hub of the alleged operations was the two salvage yards owned by defendants Covello and Mascio. From these supposedly legitimate businesses Covello and Mascio directed the theft of particular models of cars in order to supply the yards with a constant supply of parts. According to the government, defendant Messino often arranged the theft of specific automobiles through a large cadre of auto thieves, including defendants Meadows, Hlavach, and Turner. The cars would generally be stripped prior to any actual contact with the yards, although it is claimed that at times Covello and Mascio purchased stolen cars directly and had them disassembled at the yards. Both Meadows and Hlavach are alleged to have been involved in the disassembly of automobiles on a sporadic basis. The thieves and disassembly crews would load the parts destined for the yards onto vans, the drivers of which often included Turner and Meadows, and transport the parts to Covello and Mascio during "non-business" hours.
Once the parts were at the yards, all vehicle identification numbers would be removed or obscured and the parts would be sorted based upon type and, for body parts, color. The thieves and the deliverers would then generally receive a check from the yard made payable to a false name which could be cashed at a pair of currency exchanges hospitable to the operation. In order to cope with the large influx of parts the yards, according to the government, regularly transported parts in trucks frequently driven by Meadows or Turner to a warehouse owned by M & J Auto Wreckers in Schereville, Indiana. These parts were then allegedly sold to salvage yards both within and outside Illinois; the largest purchaser was claimed to be Piper Motor Co., Inc. of Bloomfield, Iowa. In accord with their standard practice, the yards would allegedly receive payment in the form of checks issued to fictitious payees that could be cashed at the cooperating currency exchanges.
After a jury trial, all six defendants were found guilty of conspiring to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(d), the RICO conspiracy count. Of the remaining seven substantive counts relating to the transportation of specific stolen parts, only Covello was convicted of all seven, for which he received concurrent eight year sentences, and five years probation. Mascio was convicted of six counts of interstate transportation of stolen goods and was sentenced to concurrent terms of four years imprisonment followed by five years probation. Meadows was convicted on two substantive counts, in addition to the RICO charge, and received concurrent three year prison terms followed by five years probation. Turner was convicted only of one count of interstate transport; his four year sentence was suspended in favor of five years conditional probation. The jury acquitted Hlavach and Messino on all seven substantive counts. Each received a four year prison sentence on the conspiracy count, although Hlavach's was suspended in favor of five years probation.
The defendants in both these cases were convicted of RICO conspiracy pursuant to jury instructions which required that the jury find that the defendants conspired to violate section 1962(c). It was not necessary that the defendants personally agreed to violate RICO. Thus, the district court did not require that the defendants agreed personally to commit two predicate acts in a context that implicates RICO. It was sufficient for the defendant to join a conspiracy, the goal of which was the conduct of or participation in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. Neapolitan and those defendants in the Covello case who were acquitted of the non-RICO counts take issue...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Ball
... ... As analyzed in United States v. Neapolitan, 791 F.2d 489, 494-500 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 939, 940, 107 S.Ct. 421, 422, 93 L.Ed.2d 371, 372 (1986), a RICO conspiracy has two ... ...
-
U.S. v. Marren
... ... United States v. Neapolitan, 791 F.2d 489 (7th Cir.1986). In essence, Marren's assertion that he was merely associated with the conspiracy is a claim that he was not part of ... From the limited record before us, it appears that in No. 85 CR 555 Marren and five police officers employed by the Office of the Sheriff of Cook County were charged with RICO ... ...
-
Hall American Center Associates v. Dick
... ... v. United States Energy Management Sys., Inc., 837 F.2d 356, 361 (9th Cir.1988) (split in circuits noted); United States v. Neapolitan, 791 F.2d 489, 500 (7th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Turner v. United States, 479 U.S. 939, 107 S.Ct. 421, 93 L.Ed.2d 371 (1986); United States ... ...
-
U.S. v. Vastola
... ... The issue before us is whether the district court retained subject matter jurisdiction to grant a time extension for the government's filing of a notice of appeal. We ... See, e.g. United States v. Tinsley, 800 F.2d 448, 450-52 (4th Cir.1986); United States v. Neapolitan, 791 F.2d 489, 505 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 940, 107 S.Ct. 422, 93 L.Ed.2d 372 (1986). Cf. United States v. Chang An-Lo, 851 F.2d 547, 560 ... ...