United States v. Tarricone, 264

• Citation: 242 F.2d 555
• Decision Date: 04 April 1957
• Docket Number: Docket 24107.,No. 264,264
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. v. Alfonso TARRICONE and Charles DiCanio, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

242 F.2d 555 (1957)

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. v. Alfonso TARRICONE and Charles DiCanio, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 264, Docket 24107.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued March 6, 1957.

Decided April 4, 1957.

Angelo A. Tumminelli, New York City, for defendants-appellants.

Leonard P. Moore, U. S. Atty., Eastern Dist. of New York, Brooklyn, N. Y. (Cornelius W. Wickersham, Jr., Chief Asst. U. S. Atty., Brooklyn, N. Y., of counsel), for appellee.

Before MEDINA and WATERMAN, Circuit Judges, and GALSTON, District Judge.

MEDINA, Circuit Judge.

On April 11, 1955, John Joseph Becker made an unsuccessful attempt to rob a branch of the Manufacturers Trust Company at 799 Blake Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, a member of the Federal Reserve System, whose deposits were insured by The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It was a carefully planned affair and Becker had various confederates, each of whom played a significant role in the planning and execution of the abortive robbery. In due course Becker, Michael Castello, Alfonso Tarricone, Charles DiCanio, Henry Caron and Patricia D. Castello, the wife of Michael, were indicted: for conspiracy to rob the bank, in violation of the general conspiracy statute, in Count One; for attempt to rob the bank, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), in Count Two; and for putting the life of one of the tellers of the bank in jeopardy by the use of a loaded revolver, in the course of the attempt to rob the bank, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d).

Becker pleaded guilty to the first two counts of the charge and became the principal witness for the Government in the trial of Tarricone, DiCanio and Caron, which resulted in the judgments of conviction from which Tarricone and DiCanio now appeal. For some reason the appeal of Caron has not yet been perfected and it will be heard and determined later. Michael Castello was granted a severance on motion of the Government; Patricia pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge, testified as a witness for the prosecution against Tarricone, DiCanio and Caron, and was thereafter permitted to withdraw her plea of guilty and substitute a plea of not guilty. Tarricone and Caron testified in their own defense; DiCanio did not.

Appellants claim that the proofs were insufficient to support the verdict and that they were deprived of a fair trial by reason of the refusal to give certain instructions to the jury in the form submitted to the trial judge and by reason of the reception of certain allegedly inadmissible testimony.

Becker's description of the crime was complete in every detail. He met Caron on March 21, 1955, and it developed that Caron was in with a group "pulling holdups" and that there was a chance they would let Becker "get in with them." There were some further meetings at an ice cream parlor at Pitkin and Van Siclen Avenues.

The scene then shifts to Castello's apartment at 1220 Sutter Avenue, not far from the bank where the attempted robbery took place.

There were at least two occasions, according to Becker, when all five of the conspirators gathered together at the Castello apartment, and in the same room. The first of these was early in April and the second on April 8. The upshot of the discussions was that Castello was to provide the revolvers and ammunition and the use of his 1949 Chevrolet. Caron owned a 1947 panel truck and this was placed at the disposal of the group. The plan was to scout the area in the neighborhood, which the robbers called "casing" the bank; they were to steal an automobile in which Caron was to drive Becker to the bank and in which they were to escape with the loot. This was referred to in Becker's testimony as the "getaway" car. Caron's panel truck was to be parked some little distance from the scene of the robbery. This Becker called the "switch" car, as Caron and Becker were to hasten after the robbery to the place where the panel truck was parked and switch over to the panel truck and drive away, leaving the "illegitimate" car where the panel truck had been. Castello, Tarricone and DiCanio, in Castello's Chevrolet, each armed with a loaded revolver selected from Castello's arsenal, were to follow Caron and Becker in the stolen car to the bank and park the Chevrolet across the street, so that they might instantly follow the "getaway" car after the robbery, and impede or make impossible any pursuit. Accordingly, the Chevrolet was called the "crash" car.

On April 8 the active participants, according to Becker, reconnoitered the bank, decided which teller's window looked the most promising, and, at Castello's barber shop at 557 Euclid Avenue, selected the automobile they would steal for use as the "getaway" car. It was a black 1951 Ford and was parked on Doscher Street, plainly visible from the...