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Timestamp: 2017-11-23 22:29:16
Document Index: 341975996

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2514', '§ 1951', '§ 371', '§ 1952', '§ 1952', '§ 371', '§ 1952', '§ 1951', '§ 1951', '§ 3500', '§ 2514', '§ 1952', '§ 1952', '§ 1952', '§ 1951', '§ 1951', '§ 1951', '§ 1951', '§ 371', '§ 1952', '§ 1951', '§ 1951']

decided as amended june 9 1972.: May 22, 1972.
JOHN V. KENNY ET AL. APPEAL OF WILLIAM A. STERNKOPF, JR., IN NO. 71-1886. APPEAL OF FRED J. KROPKE, IN NO. 71-1887. APPEAL OF JOSEPH B. STAPLETON, IN NO. 71-1888. APPEAL OF PHILIP W. KUNZ, IN NO. 71-1889. APPEAL OF BERNARD MURPHY, IN NO. 71-1890
On November 16, 1970 a federal grand jury in Newark returned a thirty-four count indictment against John V. Kenny, Thomas Whelan, Thomas Flaherty, Walter Wolfe, John J. Kenny, William Sternkopf, Jr., Fred Kropke, Frank G. Manning, Joseph Stapleton, Philip Kunz, James R. Corrado and Bernard Murphy. Prior to trial the defendants Frank G. Manning, and John J. Kenny (no relation to John V. Kenny and called hereinafter J. J. Kenny) were severed and were granted immunity pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2514. Corrado pleaded guilty to one count on May 21, 1971. During the trial, on June 11, 1971 John V. Kenny (hereinafter J. V. Kenny), because of physical inability to continue, was severed. At the close of the Government's case five counts of the indictment were dismissed on the motion of the Government. On July 5, 1971, the jury returned verdicts of guilty against seven of the eight remaining defendants on all twenty-nine remaining counts and against defendant Kunz on seventeen of those counts. Sentences were imposed on August 10, 1971*fn1 and all defendants except Wolfe appealed. Thereafter the defendants Whelan and Flaherty withdrew their appeals. Thus of the twelve named in the indictment the appeals of five, Sternkopf, Kropke, Stapleton, Kunz and Murphy, are before us.
Count I of the indictment charges that each of the defendants, during the period from November 1, 1963 to the date of the indictment, conspired in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951*fn2 to obstruct, delay, and affect interstate commerce by impeding construction undertaken on behalf of the City of Jersey City and the County of Hudson by contractors engaged in interstate commerce, in order to obtain the property of such contractors with their consent, which was induced both by the wrongful use of fear and under color of official right. Count II of the indictment charges that each of the defendants, during the period from November 1, 1963 to November 16, 1970, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371*fn3 conspired to commit violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1952*fn4 by using the facilities of interstate commerce to carry on an unlawful activity, that activity being the crimes of bribery and extortion in violation of the laws of the State of New Jersey. Thus the indictment charges violations of two separate federal conspiracy statutes; the specific prohibition in § 1952 against conspiracies to obstruct, delay or affect commerce (Count I) and the general prohibition in § 371 against conspiracies to commit an offense against the United States (Count II). The offense alleged against the United States in Count II is the substantive violation of § 1952 -- interstate travel to commit extortion or bribery in violation of state law. Section 1952, unlike § 1951, does not contain a specific prohibition against conspiracy. Section 1951 prohibits both substantive offenses and conspiracies. Counts III through XXXIV of the indictment each charges a separate substantive violation of § 1951 by the extortion of a specific sum of money from a specific contractor.
Defendant Stapleton contends that the court erred in denying his motion, pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(a), for a copy of the statements of government witnesses setting forth conversations with him. We rejected the same contention in United States v. Fioravanti, 412 F.2d 407, 410 (3d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, Panaccione v. United States, 396 U.S. 837, 90 S. Ct. 97, 24 L. Ed. 2d 88 (1969). Rule 16(a) does not require the discovery of witness statements. Those statements are governed by the provisions of the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500. That statute was complied with during the trial.
Stapleton and Kropke contend, nevertheless, that they were prejudiced by the use of the seized evidence before the grand jury. But a defendant may not challenge an indictment on the ground that illegally obtained evidence was presented to the grand jury. United States v. Blue, 384 U.S. 251, 86 S. Ct. 1416, 16 L. Ed. 2d 510 (1966); Lawn v. United States, 355 U.S. 339, 78 S. Ct. 311, 2 L. Ed. 2d 321 (1968); Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 76 S. Ct. 406, 100 L. Ed. 397 (1956); United States ex rel. Almeida v. Rundle, 383 F.2d 421, 424 (3d Cir. 1967), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 863, 89 S. Ct. 144, 21 L. Ed. 2d 131 (1968); United States v. Grosso, 358 F.2d 154, 163 (3d Cir. 1966); rev'd on other grounds, 390 U.S. 62, 88 S. Ct. 709, 19 L. Ed. 2d 906 (1968). Stapleton and Kropke urge that the rule of these cases was changed by our decision in In Re Grand Jury Proceedings, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 450 F.2d 199 (3d Cir. 1971), cert. granted, United States v. Egan, 404 U.S. 990, 92 S. Ct. 531, 30 L. Ed. 2d 541 (Dec. 14, 1971). That case turns on the provisions of a specific statute, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2514, 2515, and involves the standing of a witness, in that capacity, to refuse to testify before a grand jury. That issue is not presented in this record. Nothing in the Harrisburg Grand Jury case reflects upon the continuing validity of the rule of Blue, Lawn and Costello that a defendant cannot challenge an indictment on the ground that it was based on illegally obtained evidence.
In connection with the search warrant contentions of Stapleton and Kropke the Federal Government makes the additional point that its consent to the suppression motion was not an acknowledgement that the affidavits were insufficient. The consent was made solely for the purpose of avoiding a revelation of the identity of a potential witness. It urges that an examination of the affidavits will disclose compliance with the formula set forth in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S. Ct. 1509, 12 L. Ed. 2d 723 (1964), explained in Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S. Ct. 584, 21 L. Ed. 2d 637 (1969) and possibly contracted in United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573, 91 S. Ct. 2075, 29 L. Ed. 2d 723 (1971). Because we hold that Blue, Lawn and Costello control we do not reach that contention. At a later point we will discuss the use which was made at the trial of the materials seized pursuant to the warrants.*fn5
The attack upon Count I requires no prolonged discussion. It is identical in all material respects with that approved in United States v. Addonizio, 451 F.2d 49 (3d Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 936, 92 S. Ct. 949, 30 L. Ed. 2d 812 (Feb. 22, 1972). Count II charges that the defendants:
"(a) Whoever travels in . . . or uses any facility in interstate . . commerce . . . with intent to --
A substantive violation of § 1952(a) (3) thus requires proof of interstate travel or use of interstate facilities with intent to promote extortion or bribery followed by attempts to perform such extortion or bribery. The indictment alleges all elements of this substantive offense in the language of § 1952. It charges a conspiracy to violate that section between November 1, 1963 and the date of the indictment, and it alleges further that part of the conspiracy was the performance of other acts for the purpose of concealment.
Appellants contend that this indictment was so vague that it permitted the Federal Government to prove any extortion or bribery participated in by the alleged conspirators in violation of New Jersey law in the specified time period. This, they contend left the prosecutor free to prove offenses which had never been considered by the grand jury, thereby violating the fifth amendment guarantee that an accused charged with a serious crime be tried only on an indictment of a grand jury. They contend, moreover, that Count II did not set forth a "plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged," Fed.R.Crim.P. 7(c), and thus violated their sixth amendment guarantee that they be informed of the "nature and cause of the accusation."
We hold that Count II complied with the standards set forth in Hagner v. United States, 285 U.S. 427, 431, 52 S. Ct. 417, 76 L. Ed. 861 (1932) and Wong Tai v. United States, 273 U.S. 77, 81, 47 S. Ct. 300, 71 L. Ed. 545 (1927). See United States v. Dreer, 457 F.2d 31 (3d Cir., filed Mar. 9, 1972). It charges the statutory crime in the language of the statute. It specifies the time period during which the conspirators are claimed to have acted. It both apprises the appellants of the charges against them and protects them against any future double jeopardy. See United States v. Dreer, supra ; United States v. Addonizio, supra ; Vandersee v. United States, 321 F.2d 57 (3d Cir. 1963); United States v. Palmiotti, 254 F.2d 491, 495 (2d Cir. 1958); United States v. Achtner, 144 F.2d 49, 51 (2d Cir. 1944). In affording such protection the indictment in this case differs crucially from that found defective in United States v. Raysor, 294 F.2d 563 (3d Cir. 1961). The contention that it permitted the proof of offenses not permitted to the grand jury is without substance. The Federal Government was required to offer to the grand jury some proof of the ongoing conspiracy alleged in Count II. It was not required to offer proof of every violation of New Jersey law which occurred as a result of that ongoing conspiracy. Evidence of some such violations did not come to the attention of the prosecuting authorities until after the indictment was returned. This evidence was, however, probative of the overall continuing conspiracy which the grand jury charged. Thus this case is not at all like Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 80 S. Ct. 270, 4 L. Ed. 2d 252 (1960), in which the grand jury charged a specific substantive interference with interstate commerce and the Government proved a different substantive interference. Indeed the form of the indictment was compelled by the nature of the conspiracy. It was a conspiracy to exact a toll from everyone who could be made amenable to such an exaction by virtue of the defendants' control of the administrative apparatus of local government. It is entirely likely that neither the grand jury nor the federal prosecuting authorities have not to this day discovered every instance of bribery or extortion by the conspirators in violation of New Jersey law. But the conspiracy to violate § 1952 during the specified period was charged and was proved. The appellants cannot again be put in jeopardy for the same conspiracy even if new instances of violations of the New Jersey bribery and extortion laws in the same time period should now be discovered.
Appellants urge that because the Federal Government's position at all times was that there was a single overall conspiracy they were prejudiced by the fact that they were charged with two separate conspiracy counts. The maximum sentence under § 1951 is twenty years, and none of the defendants received a sentence in excess of twenty years. A single general sentence was imposed. Since each sentence was less than the maximum permitted under § 1951 the judgment should be upheld if conviction on the § 1951 count is sustainable. Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 115, 79 S. Ct. 1081, 3 L. Ed. 2d 1115 (1959); Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 55-56, 77 S. Ct. 623, 1 L. Ed. 2d 639 (1957); Whitfield v. Ohio, 297 U.S. 431, 438, 56 S. Ct. 532, 80 L. Ed. 778 (1936); Claassen v. United States, 142 U.S. 140, 147, 12 S. Ct. 169, 35 L. Ed. 966 (1891); Peoples v. United States, 412 F.2d 5 (8th Cir. 1969) and cases cited therein.
We need not rest affirmance on that ground alone, however. The single overall conspiracy violated two separate federal statutes prohibiting conspiracies. Count I charges a violation of the conspiracy prohibition in 18 U.S.C. § 1951 -- conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce. Count II charges a violation of the general federal conspiracy statute in 18 U.S.C. § 371 -- conspiracy to violate a federal statute, in this case 18 U.S.C. § 1952, by conspiring to use the facilities of interstate commerce to violate state law. Count I required proof of interference with interstate commerce by extortion. Count II required proof of use of the facilities of interstate commerce. So long as each required proof of a fact not essential to the other, even though the charges arose from a single act or series of acts, or as here a single conspiracy, the defendants could be convicted of both. Pereira v. United States, 347 U.S. 1, 9, 74 S. Ct. 358, 98 L. Ed. 435 (1954); United States v. Beacon Brass Co., 344 U.S. 43, 45, 73 S. Ct. 77, 97 L. Ed. 61 (1952); American Tobacco Co. v. United States, 328 U.S. 781, 66 S. Ct. 1125, 90 L. Ed. 1575 (1946); United States v. Noveck, 273 U.S. 202, 206, 47 S. Ct. 341, 71 L. Ed. 610 (1927); Gavieres v. United States, 220 U.S. 338, 31 S. Ct. 421, 55 L. Ed. 489 (1911); United States v. Samuel Dunkel & Co., 184 F.2d 894 (2d Cir. 1950), cert. denied, 340 U.S. 930, 71 S. Ct. 401, 95 L. Ed. 671 (1951); cf. United States v. Caci, 401 F.2d 664 (2d Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 917, 89 S. Ct. 1180, 22 L. Ed. 2d 450 (1969). Separate federal interests were invaded by the separate violation of two conspiracy statutes by a single conspiracy. See American Tobacco Co. v. United States, supra, 328 U.S. at 787, 66 S. Ct. 1125.
Moreover each of these statutes permits a different range of sentence.*fn6 It was proper to charge both violations as separate counts of the indictment.
The appellants contend that their convictions should be reversed because of a fatal variance between the proofs adduced at trial and the indictment. To put this argument in perspective it must be recalled that in addition to the two conspiracy counts the indictment alleged thirty-two separate substantive counts charging separate extortive transactions with interstate contractors or suppliers in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951. Evidence was offered tending to prove twenty seven of these counts, and most of that evidence tended to show concert of action between one or more of the defendants and hence to prove Count I. Evidence was offered with respect to many of these same transactions tending to prove that one or more of the defendants acting in concert caused the facilities of interstate commerce to be used in furtherance of the extortion, and hence to prove Count II. Thus this is not a case where there was no evidence of the existence of a conspiracy. Compare United States v. DeCavalcante, 440 F.2d 1264 (3d Cir. 1971). The appellants claim, however, that although there was ample proof of concert of action, and ample proof of substantive violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1951, and ample proof of use of the facilities of interstate commerce, and ample proof of bribery and extortion in violation of New Jersey law, the Government in fact proved several separate unrelated conspiracies under each conspiracy count. They argue that the proof established a Jersey City conspiracy to extort from contractors, a separate Jersey City conspiracy to extort from gamblers, a Hudson County conspiracy to extort from contractors, a separate conspiracy to extort from J. Rich Steers Company in connection with a Port of New York Authority contract, and a separate conspiracy to extort from Di Feo Motors. They urge that it was improper to lump together in one indictment several conspiracies, Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 66 S. Ct. 1239, 90 L. Ed. 1557 (1946), and that by permitting proof of separate conspiracies the court permitted the Government to amend the indictment without resubmission to the grand jury. Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 82 S. Ct. 1038, 8 L. Ed. 2d 240 (1962).
Kotteakos prohibits charging multiple unrelated conspiracies, but it does not prohibit charging one master conspiracy and establishing at trial that under the master conspiracy more than one subsidiary scheme was involved. Blumenthal v. United States, 332 U.S. 539, 68 S. Ct. 248, 92 L. Ed. 154 (1947). Explaining Kotteakos in Blumenthal Justice Rutledge wrote:
"Except for Brown, the common figure, no conspirator was interested in whether any loan except his own went through. And none aided in any way, by agreement or otherwise, in procuring another's loan. The conspiracies therefore were distinct and disconnected, not parts of a larger general scheme, both in the phase of agreement with Brown and also in the absence of any aid given to others as well as in specific object and result. There was no drawing of all together in a single over-all comprehensive plan." 332 U.S. at 558, 68 S. Ct. at 257.
The appellants urge that the joinder Counts I and II of the indictment was improper under Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(a) and that the joinder of defendants was improper under Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(b). They contend that the district court erred in denying their Rule 14 motions for severance of offenses and for separate trials. These severance claims are predicated chiefly upon the allegedly prejudicial effect of evidence admitted against some defendants which in the view of one or more of the appellants was inadmissible against him. Kunz and Kropke further contend that since they played only a minor part in the conspiracy their severance should have been ordered. We find no abuse of discretion. United States v. Weber, 437 F.2d 327, 331-332, 340 (3d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 932, 91 S. Ct. 1524, 28 L. Ed. 2d 867 (1971); United States v. Barrow, 363 F.2d 62 (3d Cir. 1966), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 1001, 87 S. Ct. 703, 17 L. Ed. 2d 541 (1967).
We turn, then, to the contention that some of the appellants should have been granted separate trials because of the prejudicial effect of evidence admitted against others which would be inadmissible against them. For two reasons we reject this contention. First, the mere possibility that in a joint trial some evidence may be admitted against one defendant which is inadmissible against another is not in itself a sufficient reason for multiple trials growing out of a closely related series of transactions. The prospect that certain evidence will be admissible against one defendant but not against another is a feature of all joint trials. Fed.R.Crim.P. 8 recognizes that this is a possibility, and Rule 14 commits to the sound discretion of the trial court the balancing of the inconvenience to the Government and the judicial process of numerous separate trials against the inconvenience to the defendants of seeking appropriate limiting instructions. See, e. g., United States v. Barber, 442 F.2d 517, 529 (3d Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 958, 92 S. Ct. 327, 30 L. Ed. 2d 275 (1971). There is no abuse of this discretion in the instant case. Second, the granting of separate trials would not have significantly benefited the defendants who now complain. They would not have been able to compel self incriminating testimony of those co-defendants who in this trial declined to testify. Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U.S. 547, 562, 12 S. Ct. 195, 35 L. Ed. 1110 (1892). See generally United States v. Housing Foundation of America, 176 F.2d 665 (3d Cir. 1949). There was some evidence linking each defendant to the conspiracy. See United States v. Cohen, 197 F.2d 26 (3d Cir. 1952). Thus the evidence of acts of all the co-conspirators in furtherance thereof would be admissible against them. See, e. g., United States v. Weber, supra ; Baker v. United States, 131 U.S.App.D.C. 7, 401 F.2d 958, 974 (1968), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 965, 91 S. Ct. 367, 27 L. Ed. 2d 384 (1970); Drew v. United States, 118 U.S.App.D.C. 11, 331 F.2d 85, 90 (1964).
The real thrust of the appellants' objections to their joint trial is that the rules of evidence pertaining to conspiracy trials operated harshly, particularly because the out-of-court declarations of each co-conspirator became admissible against each other co-conspirator. We are, of course, mindful of the dangers of unfair guilt by association involved in the law of criminal conspiracy. In the instant case, however, there was evidence linking each of the appellants to the conspiracy, although in varying levels of participation.*fn7 In these circumstances, the evidence rules applicable to conspiracy trials did not operate unfairly. Indeed, this case illustrates the pervasive danger to the community of conspiratorial associations ...