United States v. Massimino
| Decision Date | 29 July 2019 |
| Docket Number | CRIMINAL ACTION NO. 09-00496-04 |
| Citation | 389 F.Supp.3d 357 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Joseph MASSIMINO |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
John S. Han, Assistant US Attorney, US Dept of Justice, Washington, DC, Frank A. Labor, III, Suzanne B. Ercole, Assistant US Attorneys, U.S. Attorney's Office, Philadelphia, PA, Heather A. Castellino, Assistant US Attorney, District Attorney's Office, Norristown, PA, for Plaintiff.
Joseph Massimino is a federal prisoner who, in 2013, was convicted of RICO conspiracy and sentenced to incarceration for 188 months. Massimino filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence, claiming: 1) he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel; 2) his court-appointed conflicts counsel had a conflict of interest; and 3) cumulative error.
The Court finds that Massimino has not shown that his trial counsel was ineffective. Furthermore, Massimino has not shown that his conflicts counsel had a conflict. Finally, Massimino has not shown that cumulative errors denied him any Constitutional right. For the reasons set forth below, the § 2255 Motion will be denied, and a certificate of appealability will not be issued.
Defendant Joseph Massimino was indicted on January 5, 2011, of one count of RICO conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) and three counts of conducting an illegal gambling business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955. ECF No. 3. The charges arose from Massimino's involvement with a criminal enterprise known as the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra Family ("the LCN Family") from 1999 through January 2011. The indictment charged thirteen members and associates of the LCN Family, including Massimino. Id. A third superseding indictment was unsealed on July 25, 2012, charging Massimino with the same violations. ECF No. 723. Massimino and six other defendants proceeded to trial in October 2012.
Joseph Santaguida, Esq. is a well-known Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer. Prior to the trial, Santaguida had represented Massimino in other criminal matters. At the time of the trial he was in his early-to-mid 70's. He is now retired. Santaguida represented Massimino in the trial over the third superseding indictment, and it is Santaguida's performance on behalf of Massimino that is at issue here.
Following a four-month trial during which Santaguida represented Massimino, a jury convicted Massimino of RICO conspiracy; the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the illegal gambling charges.1
Massimino appealed his conviction and sentence, arguing seven grounds: 1) the evidence at trial was insufficient to convict him; 2) the Court abused its discretion by failing to excuse two jurors who had been exposed to extraneous information; 3) the Court wrongly admitted certain expert testimony of retired FBI Special Agent Joaquin Garcia; 4) the Court improperly precluded cross-examination of three FBI agents regarding disciplinary infractions in their personnel files related to cheating on an internal examination; 5) the Court abused its discretion in denying defense requests for the medical records of Michael Orlando, a Government witness whose trial testimony was interrupted by a hospital stay; 6) the Court incorrectly denied his motion to suppress evidence; and 7) the Court incorrectly sentenced him. See United States v. Massimino, 641 F. App'x 153, 160-69 (3d Cir. 2016). The Third Circuit denied Massimino's appeal on January 15, 2016. Id. at 155.
Massimino's § 2255 Motion raises three grounds:
As to the ineffective assistance claim, Massimino first argues Santaguida failed to call the following witnesses at trial: i) Jerome Iamurri, a person who borrowed money from Massimino, and who would have testified that "at no time did he feel threatened" by a letter from Massimino telling him to repay the loan; ii) Stephen Troini, Massimino's friend who, in a phone call to Massimino, referred to him as the underboss; iii) James Ranieri, a friend of Government witness Jack Buscemi, and who would have testified at trial that Buscemi gave money to other people to make friends and also freely loaned money; and iv) Albert Huntzman, who would have testified that Government witness Michael Orlando was not extorted by Massimino. ECF Nos. 1848-1 at 16-17; 1848-2 (affidavits).
Second, Massimino argues that Santaguida failed to prepare and focus on Massimino's trial because Santaguida: i) worked on an unrelated murder trial during Massimino's trial; ii) did not review tape recordings made by the Government, and instead had his secretary, Victoria Clark, do the review; iii) did not purchase software to assist with the review; and iv) did not follow suggestions made by the counsel of Massimino's co-defendants. ECF No. 1848-1 at 18-19.
Third, Massimino argues that Santaguida did not exercise independent judgment because he relied on assistance from co-defendant Joseph Ligambi's counsel, Edwin Jacobs, Esq. ECF No. 1848-1 at 19-21.
Finally, Massimino argues that Santaguida was cognitively impaired, as shown by his lack of strategy at trial, missteps during the trial, "bizarre closing argument," and sleeping through some of the trial. ECF No. 1848-1 at 21-22.
The Court held several days of hearings to develop the evidentiary record. ECF Nos. 1928, 1929, 1941, 1957, and 1970. The Court heard testimony from John Augustine (an FBI case agent who worked the racketeering investigation and was present at the trial); Steven Troini (Massimino's friend); Victoria Clark (Massimino's secretary); Larry O'Connor (an attorney familiar with Santaguida, and who represented a co-defendant at the trial); Massimino; Edwin Jacobs (an attorney familiar with Santaguida, and who represented the lead defendant); and Jerome Iamurri (a person who borrowed money from Massimino). See ECF Nos. 1928, 1929, and 1941.
In connection with the evidentiary hearing, Massimino sought discovery in three areas: a) Santaguida's mental condition at the time of trial; b) Santaguida's performance in another trial contemporaneous to this matter; and c) videotape recordings from a camera located on a pole ("pole camera") outside of the entrance to Lou's Crab Bar where Massimino was employed, with which the Government had recorded hundreds of hours of video.
Massimino sought to obtain discovery concerning Santaguida's mental health and condition at the time of the trial. Massimino's counsel explained that the evidence would tend to show that Santaguida was impaired during the preparation and trial of the case. In this context, Massimino sought the testimony from Santaguida's doctors, Dr. DePace and Dr. Sammartino, the doctors' medical records and notes from the treatment of Santaguida at the time of trial, opinions from third-party medical experts, and the testimony from Santaguida's staff and other witnesses who had observed Santaguida during the time he represented Massimino.
Massimino also subpoenaed Santaguida to testify at the evidentiary hearing. Santaguida's counsel filed a motion to quash the subpoena.
As a general matter, in order to establish an ineffective assistance of counsel claim under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687-88, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), Massimino had to show that 1) his "counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness," and 2) the deficient performance prejudiced his defense. See, e.g., ECF No. 1867 n.1. The issue under Strickland, therefore, was whether Santaguida's performance during his representation of Massimino was deficient, and not, as Massimino argued, that it was necessarily deficient because of...
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Birthwright v. Johnson
...portions of trial to warrant application of a presumption of prejudice. Ragin, 820 F.3d at 619; see also United States v. Massimino, 389 F.Supp. 3d 357, 373 (E.D. Pa. 2019). As this Court agrees with the approach taken by these courts, this Court finds that Cronic is inapplicable in this ca......