United States v. Caci

• Decision Date: 30 July 1968
• Docket Number: Docket 32036.,No. 511,511
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Charles CACI, also known as Bobby Milano, Stephen A. Cino, Pasquale A. Natarelli, also known as Pat Natarelli, Frederico G. Randaccio and Louis Sorgi, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

401 F.2d 664 (1968)

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Charles CACI, also known as Bobby Milano, Stephen A. Cino, Pasquale A. Natarelli, also known as Pat Natarelli, Frederico G. Randaccio and Louis Sorgi, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 511, Docket 32036.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued June 18, 1968.

Decided July 30, 1968.

Paul Ivan Birzon, Buffalo, N. Y., for appellant Caci.

Peter L. Parrino, Buffalo, N. Y., for appellant Cino.

Salten Rodenberg, Buffalo, N. Y., for appellant Natarelli.

Frank G. Raichle, Buffalo, N. Y. (Herald Price Fahringer, Buffalo, N. Y., on the brief), for appellant Randaccio.

Joseph P. Runfola, Buffalo, N. Y., for appellant Sorgi.

Andrew F. Phelan, Asst. U. S. Atty. (Thomas A. Kennelly, Acting U. S. Atty. for Western District of New York, Thomas H. Henderson, Jr., and Gary L. Gardner, Attys., Department of Justice, on the brief), for appellee.

Before MOORE and HAYS, Circuit Judges and TIMBERS, District Judge.^*

HAYS, Circuit Judge:

Appellants Charles Caci, Stephen A. Cino, Pasquale A. Natarelli, Frederico G. Randaccio and Louis Sorgi, were convicted, upon a trial by jury, of conspiring to commit a robbery which would affect commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951 and conspiring to transport stolen goods in interstate commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 2314. We have considered the many assignments of error which have been advanced by appellants and have found no ground for reversal. The judgments of conviction are affirmed.

The indictment charged in the first count that appellants conspired to rob an armored car messenger at a Los Angeles hotel in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951 and in the second count that appellants conspired in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 to transport in interstate commerce proceeds from the sale of jewelry which they planned to steal from a wealthy guest at the hotel. Neither of the planned robberies was executed because the guest did not come to the hotel as expected. But for the decision of Pascal Calabrese, a co-conspirator, to "cooperate" while awaiting sentence on another charge, appellants' plans probably would never have come to the attention of law enforcement officials.

Calabrese, the chief government witness at trial, testified in great detail to the following. On December 29, 1964 Calabrese robbed the Buffalo City Hall of a substantial amount of money and immediately went into hiding. A few days later Stephen Cino contacted him at a Buffalo motel and told him that "Pat" Natarelli and "Freddie" Randaccio wished to see him. A meeting was arranged for the following evening, February 5, at Natarelli's house. When Calabrese arrived at the house he found Cino and Natarelli already there. They told him that they had "a couple of good scores" for him out of town. About a half hour later Randaccio arrived, and Natarelli and Randaccio explained their plans in detail.

Calabrese was to go to Los Angeles where he would be met by Charles Caci, an entertainer who used the stage name of Bobby Milano. A couple of days later Cino would join them. Caci would introduce Calabrese to Louis Sorgi, who was in charge of security at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Calabrese would commit two robberies at the hotel. He would rob Mrs. Walker McCune, a frequent guest at the hotel, of her jewelry which was reputed to be worth $400,000. Then he would rob the armored car messenger who visited the hotel to pick up the daily receipts. The jewelry would be taken by Cino to his uncle in San Francisco, who would "fence" it, and the proceeds would be returned to Buffalo.

It was agreed that Calabrese would have some friends drive him to Pittsburgh where he would get a flight to Los Angeles. At the conclusion of the meeting Natarelli and Randaccio gave Calabrese several hundred dollars for expenses.

When Calabrese arrived at the airport in Los Angeles, Caci was there to meet him. While driving from the airport to Caci's apartment they passed the Beverly Hilton, which Caci identified as the site of the "scores." Caci obtained an apartment for Calabrese in the building in which he lived. A few days later, on February 10, Cino arrived. On that evening Caci, Cino and Calabrese went to Sorgi's home where they discussed plans for the robberies. The next day Sorgi took Calabrese on a tour of the Beverly Hilton. They visited the suite usually occupied by Mrs. McCune and made a careful study of the tunnel used by the armored car messenger. Calabrese then left the hotel with Caci and Cino and went over the planned escape route. When they reached Calabrese's apartment, Calabrese commented that it was amazing that Sorgi had the keys to the entire hotel. Caci displayed a key that he said would open all the doors Sorgi had opened at the hotel.

Mrs. McCune was expected to arrive at the hotel on the following day, but she did not. For the next several days Caci telephoned Sorgi frequently to determine whether Mrs. McCune had come. On February 17 Cino received a telephone call from Buffalo and told Calabrese that his, Calabrese's, connection with the City Hall robbery was known to the police and that he, Cino, had been instructed to return to Buffalo lest he be found with Calabrese. Cino then left for Buffalo. Five days later Calabrese surrendered to the authorities in Buffalo.

Calabrese's testimony, only the highlights of which have been summarized here, was corroborated in many details by evidence as to hotel reservations, room rentals, and the like. Evidence that Beverly Hilton passkeys had been found in Caci's possession when he was arrested on another charge provided important support for Calabrese's story.

The government introduced evidence to show that the robbery of the messenger from Armored Transport, Inc. of the pouch containing cash and checks for delivery to the United California Bank would have affected commerce. Hotel records for February, 1965 revealed that fifty-nine percent of the checks cashed at the hotel were drawn on out of state banks. During the same period 1,150 American Express Travelers Checks were cashed at the hotel. Other evidence indicated that both the bank checks and the travelers checks moved in interstate commerce in the course of collection procedures.

1. Construction of Hobbs Act

Appellants claim that the first count of the indictment should have been dismissed because the Hobbs Act, 18 U. S.C. § 1951, was not intended to cover the kind of robbery they were accused of plotting. Cino contends that Section 1951 applies only to cases of extortion, although Caci is willing to concede that it might apply to "highway" robbery as well. In light of the clear wording of the statute outlawing "robbery or extortion"¹ which affects commerce, it is not surprising that appellants spend little time on analysis of the statutory language and place primary reliance on the legislative history. However, as we recently have had occasion to observe, "the proper function of legislative history is to solve and not to create an ambiguity." United States v. Blasius, 397 F.2d 203 (2d Cir. July 8, 1968), (citations omitted).

But, in any case, the legislative history does not support appellants' position. The Hobbs Act is the successor to the Anti-Racketeering Act of 1934. Section 2(a) of the 1934 Act in substance made it unlawful to obtain or attempt to obtain money or property by the use of force or threat of force in connection with any act affecting interstate commerce. Specifically excepted from the operation of the section was "the payment of wages by a bona-fide employer to a bona-fide employee." In United States v. Local 807, Teamsters Union, etc., 315 U.S. 521, 62 S.Ct. 642, 86 L.Ed. 1004 (1942), the Supreme Court read the exception very broadly to include the exaction from out of state truckers by means of threats of violence of payments equivalent to union wages, when the truckers declined to employ members of the local union to drive their trucks on that portion of their routes occurring within the local's territory. The Hobbs Act was passed for the purpose of overruling this case. See H. R. Rep. No. 238, 79th Cong., 2d Sess. (1945), reprinted in U. S. Code Congressional Service pp. 1360-70 (1946). Thus, appellants are undoubtedly correct that the motive of Congress in enacting this legislation was to curb the kind of labor racketeering to which appellants would limit the reach of the statute.

However, the legislative history clearly indicates that Congress deliberately enacted a broad statute designed to apply to all robbery and extortion which affected commerce. The Hobbs Act was opposed by many who viewed it as specifically intended to hamper the legitimate activities of organized labor. See, e.g., 91 Cong.Rec. 11848 (1945) (remarks of Rep. Lane); 91 Cong.Rec. 11901 (1945) (remarks of Rep. Celler). In response, supporters of the measure were able to point out that its prohibitions were applicable to all individuals and groups, see, e.g., 91 Cong.Rec. 11844 (1945) (remarks of Reps. Robsion and Michener); 91 Cong.Rec. 11904 (1945) (remarks of Rep. Gwynne); 91 Cong.Rec. 11905 (1945) (remarks of Rep. Robsion), that the activities proscribed — robbery and extortion — traditionally were regarded as criminal under state law, see, e.g., 91 Cong.Rec. 11910 (1945) (remarks of Reps. Springer and Robsion), and that the borrowing of state law definitions in the statute provided assurance that the terms robbery and extortion would not be extended beyond their established meanings, see, e. g., 91 Cong.Rec. 11900 (1945) (remarks of Reps. Hancock and Hobbs). Throughout the debates, advocates of the Hobbs bill sought to characterize it as a traditional criminal statute neutral in its application. So interpreted, the Hobbs Act plainly covers the theft contemplated by appellants.

In United States v. De Sisto, 329 F.2d 929 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 377 U.S. 979, 84 S.Ct. 1885, 12 L.Ed.2d 747 (1964), we affirmed the conviction under the Hobbs Act of a...