United States v. One 1962 Cadillac, 16883.

• Decision Date: 09 July 1968
• Docket Number: No. 16883.,16883.
• Citation: 397 F.2d 796
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. ONE 1962 CADILLAC, Four Door Sedan Automobile, Motor No. 62B 025470 Frank J. Daniello, Claimant, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

397 F.2d 796 (1968)

UNITED STATES of America v. ONE 1962 CADILLAC, Four Door Sedan Automobile, Motor No. 62B 025470 Frank J. Daniello, Claimant, Appellant.

No. 16883.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued June 6, 1968.

Decided July 9, 1968.

Frederic C. Ritger, Jr., Van Riper & Belmont, Newark, N. J., for appellant.

Elliot Scher, Asst. U. S. Atty., Newark, N. J., (David M. Satz, Jr., U. S. Atty., Newark, N. J., on the brief), for appellee.

Before McLAUGHLIN, STALEY and SEITZ, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

PER CURIAM.

We are here concerned with the seizure of an automobile by the United States viz., the Internal Revenue Service under 26 U.S.C. § 7302 which is titled "Property used in violation of internal revenue laws." On behalf of Frank Daniello, the owner of the car and the appellant, it is argued that the evidence which was obtained from the automobile was taken unlawfully and should be suppressed. It is also urged that the trial evidence was insufficient to establish that the automobile was being used or was intended to be used in violation of the revenue laws of the United States.

The situation before us was the result in part of a number of raids by the Internal Revenue Service on October 19, 1964, in Hoboken, New Jersey. The affidavit upon which the search and seizure warrants were issued covers twenty-two printed pages of appellant's appendix. It was made by Irving B. Dubow, Special Agent, Internal Revenue Service, who has had a vast amount of experience in wagering tax investigations. It sought ten search warrants for premises, twenty-seven search and seizure warrants for automobiles including the one involved, and five arrest warrants including one for Daniello. With respect to the latter and his automobile, the affidavit pointed clearly to Daniello participating in the undisputed operation of a gambling number wagering office in the first floor rear apartment at 414 Grand Street, Hoboken. The latter premises is a multiple dwelling where Daniello lived. The affidavit also fairly identified Daniello's particular automobile, a 1962 Cadillac, as used by its owner while busily engaged in the Grand Street gambling business.

The actions of Daniello with his car on August 13, 1964 are detailed in the affidavit. They show Daniello as he functioned in the orthodox way of a numbers operator going about his gambling business as carefully as possible. In the apartment itself a number of items identified with the numbers racket were found. There were numerous bank envelopes of a local bank, the same kind discovered in the Daniello automobile. Code Designations on these referred to individual number writers and the controller of the segment to which the writers were attached. There was a slip of white paper which had the same name written on it as appeared on the number...