Source: http://openjurist.org/277/f3d/11/united-states-of-america-v-vincent-michael-marino
Timestamp: 2013-05-23 05:47:38
Document Index: 685861960

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1961', '§ 1959', '§ 1962', '§ 846', '§ 1962', '§ 2', '§ 6', '§ 1962', '§ 922', '§ 13981', '§ 13981', '§ 1962', '§ 1959', '§ 1959', '§ 1959', '§ 1959', '§ 1']

277 F3d 11 United States of America v. Vincent Michael Marino | OpenJurist
277 F. 3d 11 - United States of America v. Vincent Michael Marino	Home277 f3d 11 united states of america v. vincent michael marino
277 F3d 11 United States of America v. Vincent Michael Marino 277 F.3d 11 (1st Cir. 2002)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee,v.VINCENT MICHAEL MARINO, A/K/A GIGI PORTALLA, AND JOHN J. PATTI III, Defendants, Appellants.
Nos. 00-1739, 00-1813
Heard Oct. 1, 2001Decided January 14, 2002
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS. Hon. Nathaniel M. Gorton, U.S. District Judge
Robert L. Sheketoff with whom Sheketoff & Homan was on brief for appellant Vincent Marino.
Before Boudin, Chief Judge, Coffin, Senior Circuit Judge, and Lynch, Circuit Judge.
Vincent Marino, a/k/a Gigi Portalla, and John Patti were members of La Cosa Nostra. They appeal their convictions under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute (RICO), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968 (1994 & Supp. V 1999) and the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statute (VICAR), 18 U.S.C. § 1959 (1994).
The first trial of Marino and Patti ended in acquittals on several counts,1 and their mistrial on the remaining counts. Marino and Patti argued those acquittals foreclosed further prosecution. This court rejected those contentions. United States v. Marino, 200 F.3d 6 (1st Cir. 1999).
Taking the evidence in favor of the verdict, the jury could have found the following facts.2
In 1991 Salemme became the boss of the Partriarca Family. The conflict escalated. On one side was the leadership of the Patriarca Family, and on the other side was the rival Carrozza faction, to which Marino and Patti belonged. Both factions wanted to collect the extortion payments to the Patriarca Family and control its other business.
In the Fall of 1993 there was a confrontation at the Breeds Hill Club in East Boston when Stephen Rossetti, a Salmme faction member, with Joseph Souza, Richard Devlin, and Richard Gillis present, shook down Ciampi. Months later, Ciampi would kill Devlin. Rossetti would die a natural death.
(4) RICO Enterprise: Marino attacks the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the requisite nexus under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) between the alleged enterprise -- the Patriarca Family -- and the predicate act -- the drug trafficking conspiracy.
(a) Massachusetts Law, Aiding and Abetting a Conspiracy -- Marino says that the court erred in instructing the jury about aiding and abetting a conspiracy because Massachusetts law does not recognize the crime of aiding and abetting a conspiracy.
(b) Multiple-Object Conspiracy -- Marino contends that the court diluted the government's burden of proof by instructing the jury that he could be found guilty of the conspiracy to murder thirteen individuals if he agreed to murder at least one of them and had the foresight or knowledge of the broader scope of the conspiracy.
(c) Unanimity Instruction -- Marino argues that the court should have instructed the jury that it had to be unanimous about which of the thirteen people Marino agreed to murder.
(d) Instructions on Elements of Substantive RICO Violation -- Marino challenges the trial court's instructions as to three elements of RICO: the "employed or associated with" element, the "conduct and participate in the conduct of the affairs of the enterprise" element, and the interstate commerce element.
(e) Rejected Instruction on Credibility of Rule 801(d)(2)(E) Declarants -- Marino argues that the court erred when it refused to instruct the jury on assessing the credibility of nontestifying declarants whose testimony was admitted pursuant to an exception to the hearsay rule.
(a) Consideration of Souza's Murder -- Marino argues that the sentencing court should not have taken into account the murder of Souza when sentencing him, because the jury did not specifically find beyond a reasonable doubt that Marino participated in the murder of Souza, but rather found that he conspired to murder thirteen named individuals, including Souza.
(b) Apprendi Error -- Marino attacks his sentence because he claims it violated the Supreme Court's holding in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000).
Patti contends that the prosecutor's use of four peremptory challenges to eliminate Italian-American surnamed individuals from the jury violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 89 (1986). More specifically, he claims that the district court's failure to hold a hearing to inquire into the prosecutor's use of the peremptory challenges was erroneous.
Since Batson it has been clear that criminal defendants may assert a right to jury selection procedures that forbid the government from eliminating "potential jurors solely on account of their race." Id. at 89. Batson established a three-part framework to ascertain whether the prosecution employed a race-based peremptory strike. Id. at 96-98. In the first step, the defendant must make a prima facie showing that the strike appeared discriminatory. If such a showing is made, the burden shifts to the government, which must advance a neutral explanation for the strike. Lastly, the district court must "determine if the defendant has established purposeful discrimination" or if the government's explanation is valid. Id. at 98.
To make a prima facie showing, the defendant must show that the strike was used on a juror who is a member of a "cognizable . . . group," Angiulo, 847 F.2d at 984, that "[has] been or [is] currently subjected to discriminatory treatment." United States v. Bucci, 839 F.2d 825, 833 (1st Cir. 1988).3 The question is not whether members of the relevant group see themselves as part of a separate group, but rather "whether others, by treating those people unequally, put them in a distinct group." Id. (emphasis omitted). Whether such a group exists is a question of fact. Id. In both Angiulo and Bucci, this court rejected Batson claims on the basis that there was no evidence that Italian-Americans were such a group. Angiulo, 847 F.2d at 984; Bucci, 839 F.2d at 833. So too here.
Patti's claim fails for two reasons. First, he did not show that Italian-Americans or Italian-American surnamed people are a group that faced or faces systematic discrimination. Second, he did not show that the challenged jurors were in fact Italian-Americans or even that all their surnames were Italian-American. United States v. Sgro, 816 F.2d 30, 33 (1st Cir. 1987) ("[Defendant] offered no evidence showing what surnames are 'Italian-American' or demonstrating the relationship between surnames and ethnicity."). Because Patti failed to make a prima facie showing, the district court acted appropriately in not holding a hearing on the matter. See Bucci, 839 F.2d at 832.
Mele was the government's primary witness as to Marino's involvement in the 1989 attempted murder of Frank Salemme -- one of the alleged RICO predicate acts. The defense claims that "Mele attempted to paint himself as a nonviolent mid-level drug dealer who never really made any money; and, who was recruited at the last second to participate in the Salemme shooting in 1989, agreeing only because he was hitching his wagon to the defendant." The defense sought to impeach Mele by showing that he was a violent, high-level, very wealthy drug dealer. Marino sought to introduce the testimony of Trooper Grassia that when he questioned Mele in 1987 about weapons and bulletproof vests seized from Mele's apartment, Mele said he kept the weapons to use when he stole cocaine or money from other drug dealers. Marino also sought to introduce the testimony of Mele's relatives about Mele's accumulation of weapons and wealth. In addition, Marino sought the testimony of Anthony Penta that Mele attacked and almost killed him over jewelry which Mele believed Penta had stolen from him. The trial court excluded the testimony of these witnesses as mere impeachment of Mele's testimony, not in compliance with Fed. R. Evid. 608(b).
Marino and Patti both argue that the district court erred when it admitted hearsay evidence based on the coconspirators' statements exception to the hearsay rule. Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). Specifically, they object to the admission of authorized surveillance tape recordings of a December 11, 1991 conversation between Frank Salemme, Natale Richichi, and Kenneth Guarino which took place at a Hilton hotel (the "Hilton tapes"). The conversation was a general discussion about the Patriarca Family and its business: the members of the Family, the structure, and the activities of the organization. The government used the tapes to show that the Patriarca Family existed and that it engaged in illegal activities. The defense theory is that the three men whose conversation was recorded were part of the rival Salemme faction and so could hardly be the defendants' coconspirators, and therefore the evidence is inadmissible.
This argument raises issues of law and of fact. We review the trial court's determination that statements were coconspirator statements under the clear error standard. United States v. Mojica-Baez, 229 F.3d 292, 304 (1st Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 2215 (2001). To admit a statement under the coconspirator exception, the government must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant and declarant were in the same conspiracy, and that the statement was made "during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy." Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 175 (1987) (quoting Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E)); United States v. Ciampaglia, 628 F.2d 632, 638 (1st Cir. 1980). The rule is that
Here there was ample evidence of just such another conspiracy -- the Patriarca Family, writ large, and its drug dealing, extortion, and other criminal activities. Other case law from this court, as noted before, recognized the existence of that criminal conspiracy. See, e.g., Angiulo, 847 F.2d 956. The Hilton tapes discussions were in furtherance of that conspiracy. The defendants rely on Gigante, which states that "organized crime membership alone" does not suffice to establish a conspiracy. 166 F.3d at 83. That is true, but that is not the situation here. In Gigante the supposed coconspirators were members of different mafia families which had different goals, while in this case, the declarants and the defendants were part of the same Family which shared common goals.
It is clear that by using the word "through," Congress intended some connection between the defendant's predicate acts and the enterprise. The question before us is whether Marino participated in the operations of the Patriarca Family through the drug trafficking conspiracy. Black's Law Dictionary defines the word "through" as "[b]y means of, in consequence of, by reason of." Black's Law Dictionary 1481 (6th ed. 1990). The Oxford English Dictionary defines "through" as meaning, among other things, "[i]ndicating medium, means, agency or instrument: By means of, by the action of . . . . By the instrumentality of."4 XVIII Oxford English Dictionary 11 (2d ed. 1989). Each of these phrases offers a way of proving the participation or conduct was "through a pattern of racketeering activity." A sufficient nexus or relationship exists between the racketeering acts and the enterprise if the defendant was able to commit the predicate acts by means of, by consequence of, by reason of, by the agency of, or by the instrumentality of his association with the enterprise.
"racketeering activity" means (A) any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical . . . which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; (B) any act which is indictable under any of the following provisions of title 18, United States Code . . . .
as consideration for the receipt of, or as consideration for a promise or agreement to pay, anything of pecuniary value from an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity, or for purpose of gaining entrance to or maintaining or increasing position in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity, murders, kidnaps, maims, assaults with a dangerous weapon, commits assault resulting in serious bodily injury upon, or threatens to commit a crime of violence against any individual in violation of the laws of any State or the United States, or attempts or conspires so to do . . . .
Here one of the predicate acts (racketeering act B) involved a violation of federal law -- a conspiracy to sell illegal drugs in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. This argument concerns the other predicate act (racketeering act A-1), a conspiracy to murder thirteen individuals in violation of state law.
Two instructions on aiding and abetting a conspiracy were given, and Marino objected to both instructions. First, the court instructed the jury on Count One -- the substantive RICO violation under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); second, the court instructed the jury on Counts Three and Fourteen -- the VICAR violations.
Some courts have held that it is not necessary for a district court to instruct the jury on each element of the state law crime which is used as a predicate act in a RICO prosecution. United States v. Watchmaker, 761 F.2d 1459, 1469 (11th Cir. 1985); United States v. Bagaric, 706 F.2d 42, 62-63 (2d Cir. 1983). These courts have stated that "[u]nder RICO . . . state offenses are included by generic designation." Bagaric, 706 F.2d at 62. But for a crime to be chargeable under state law, it must at least exist under state law. See United States v. Carrillo, 229 F.3d 177, 184-86 (2d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Ocasio v. United States, 531 U.S. 1026 (2000); Bagaric, 706 F.2d at 63 (if "the racketeering act is not prohibited at all under state law" it may not serve as a predicate act for RICO purposes). If, as Marino argues, aiding and abetting a conspiracy is not a crime that can be charged under Massachusetts state law, it follows that a jury instruction to this effect is erroneous.
Marino argues that because Massachusetts courts have "recognized the fundamental distinctions between accomplice and conspiratorial liability," they would not recognize the crime of aiding and abetting a conspiracy. It is true that Massachusetts law acknowledges the difference between accomplice liability and conspiratorial liability, i.e., that by aiding and abetting a crime one does not automatically become a coconspirator because one is not necessarily part of the conspiratorial agreement (the key to the crime of conspiracy). Commonwealth v. Cook, 10 Mass. App. Ct. 668, 411 N.E.2d 1326, 1330-32 (1980).
The Massachusetts aiding and abetting statute reads: "Whoever aids in the commission of a felony, or is accessory thereto before the fact by counselling, hiring or otherwise procuring such felony to be committed, shall be punished in the manner provided for the punishment of the principal felon." Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 274, § 2. Just like the federal statute for aiding and abetting, the Massachusetts statute does not create a separate offense, but rather makes those who aided and abetted in the commission of a crime punishable as principals.5 Commonwealth v. Perry, 357 Mass. 149, 256 N.E.2d 745, 747 (1970); Sanchez, 917 F.2d at 611. Because the Massachusetts aiding and abetting statute is a statute of general application, it applies to the crime of conspiracy, just as it applies to any other offense, such as robbery, unless there is a specific reason why it should not apply to conspiracy.
No such reason is found in the federal analogue. Federal law allows for the crime of aiding and abetting a conspiracy. United States v. Oreto, 37 F.3d 739, 751 (1st Cir. 1994). Federal courts and commentators have stated the concern that without a rule which allows for conviction for aiding and abetting a conspiracy, people who knowingly help an illegal conspiracy would go unpunished. United States v. Galiffa, 734 F.2d 306, 310-11 (7th Cir. 1984); 2 W. LaFave & A. Scott, Substantive Criminal Law § 6.4, at 75-76 (1986).
Under both federal and Massachusetts law, a defendant need not be aware of all the details of the criminal plan in order to be convicted of the conspiracy. Blumenthal v. United States, 332 U.S. 539, 557 (1947); United States v. Hinds, 856 F.2d 438, 443 (1st Cir. 1988); Commonwealth v. Nelson, 370 Mass. 192, 346 N.E.2d 839, 841-42 (1976); Commonwealth v. Kiernan, 348 Mass. 29, 201 N.E.2d 504, 519 (1964) (citing Blumenthal).
The arguments about association with the enterprise and participation in the conduct of the enterprise go hand in hand. Marino argues that the instructions lowered the government's burden of proof on the degree of his involvement with the enterprise. He says that the instructions allowed the jury to find that it was enough to decide that he "was an outsider, a friend of Carrozza's, who aided and abetted Carrozza[] at Carrozza's direction" and from this "conclude that he was associated with the Patriarca Family and operated that enterprise."
The instruction accurately described the meaning of "associated with" in § 1962(c). The requirement of association with the enterprise is not strict. "The RICO net is woven tightly to trap even the smallest fish, those peripherally involved with the enterprise." United States v. Elliot, 571 F.2d 880, 903 (5th Cir. 1978). The RICO statute seeks to encompass those people who are "merely 'associated with'" the enterprise. Id.; see also United States v. Watchmaker, 761 F.2d 1459, 1476 (11th Cir. 1985). The defendant need only be "aware of at least the general existence of the enterprise named in the indictment," United States v. Console, 13 F.3d 641, 653 (3d Cir. 1993) (quoting United States v. Eufrasio, 935 F.2d 553, 577 n.29 (3d Cir. 1991)), and know about its related activities. United States v. Martino, 648 F.2d 367, 394 (5th Cir. 1981); see also United States v. Starrett, 55 F.3d 1525, 1551-52 (11th Cir. 1995).6
Marino argues that this charge does not comport with the Supreme Court's holding in Reves v. Ernst & Young, 507 U.S. 170 (1993). In Reves, the Court held that "an outside accounting firm employed by an enterprise was not subject to civil RICO liability unless it 'participate[d] in the operation or management of the enterprise itself.'" United States v. Oreto, 37 F.3d 739, 750 (1st Cir. 1994) (quoting Reves, 507 U.S. at 183) (alteration in original). Marino argues that the instruction to the jury "lowered the government's burden of proof [on the degree of Marino's participation in the enterprise] to mere aiding and abetting from the very bottom of the ladder."
Oreto holds that the government could prove that defendants "conduct[ed] or participate[d] . . . in the conduct of" the enterprise by a showing that the defendants "participated in the enterprise's decisionmaking" or that, if they were lower rung participants and not involved in the decision making, they were plainly integral to carrying out the process. Id. at 750. Here the government had evidence of both and the instruction was proper.
Marino argues that the district court's instructions misstated the degree to which the enterprise's activities must relate to interstate commerce. The trial court instructed that "[t]he evidence need not show any particular degree of or effect on interstate commerce. All that is required is some effect on interstate commerce." Marino argues that under the Supreme Court's rulings in United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), and United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000), the government had to show that the enterprise's activity had a substantial effect on interstate commerce. That is not so.
In Lopez, the Gun-Free School Zones Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q) (Supp. II 1990) (amended 1994), was struck down because it did not have a "jurisdictional element which would ensure, through case-by-case inquiry, that the [activity] in question affect[ed] interstate commerce." Lopez, 514 U.S. at 561. In Morrison the Supreme Court invalidated the civil remedy provided by the Violence Against Women Act, 42 U.S.C. § 13981, for similar reasons: "[l]ike the Gun-Free School Zones Act at issue in Lopez, § 13981 contains no jurisdictional element establishing that the federal cause of action is in pursuance of Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce." Morrison, 529 U.S. at 613.
In contrast, RICO contains a jurisdictional element: "It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate . . . in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs . . . ." 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) (emphasis added). A number of circuit courts have held, post-Lopez, that the government does not need to show that the RICO enterprise's effect on interstate commerce is substantial. United States v. Riddle, 249 F.3d 529, 537 (6th Cir.) (holding that "RICO enterprise's necessary relationship to interstate commerce" is still "de minimis"), cert. denied, 122 S. Ct. 292 (2001); United States v. Juvenile Male, 118 F.3d 1344, 1347 (9th Cir. 1997) ("[A]ll that is required to establish federal jurisdiction in a RICO prosecution is a showing that the individual predicate racketeering acts have a de minimis impact on interstate commerce."); United States v. Miller, 116 F.3d 641, 674 (2d Cir. 1997) (holding that in a RICO case "the government need only prove that the individual subject transaction has a de minimis effect on interstate commerce"). We agree. See United States v. Doherty, 867 F.2d 47, 68 (1st Cir. 1989) ("RICO requires no more than a slight effect upon interstate commerce."). Marino makes the same claim as to VICAR. VICAR applies only to those defendants whose violent acts are "as consideration for" payment from, or in hopes of "gaining entrance to or maintaining or increasing position in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity." 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a). Such an enterprise must be "engaged in," or its "activities . . . affect, interstate or foreign commerce." Id. § 1959(b)(2). VICAR also has a jurisdictional element. United States v. Torres, 129 F.3d 710, 717 (2d Cir. 1997). As a result "§ 1959's requirements are met if the government establishes a connection between the § 1959 act of violence and a RICO enterprise which has a de minimis interstate commerce connection." Riddle, 249 F.3d at 538.
The district court instructed the jury as to its duty as "the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses," about various factors it could consider in assessing credibility, and specifically cautioned the jury about testimony "of an alleged accomplice or of one who provides evidence against a defendant for immunity from punishment or for personal advantage or vindication." The court's credibility instructions as a whole were correct, and the instruction requested by Marino (after the jury was already charged) was substantially covered in the charge because the judge pointed out to the jury the potential unreliability of witnesses who were former accomplices. See United States v. Hernandez-Escarsega, 886 F.2d 1560, 1573-75 (9th Cir. 1989).7
Marino argues that the court should not have considered Souza's murder because application note 58 to U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2 requires that before the court may do so either the jury or the judge must find that Marino conspired to kill Souza beyond a reasonable doubt.
However, this court has previously ruled that this cautionary note does not apply to determining the sentence for a substantive RICO violation.9 United States v. Carrozza, 4 F.3d 70, 78-79 (1st Cir. 1993). The question of whether application note 5 would apply in a case with facts similar to this case, but involving a conspiracy to murder conviction that was not embedded in a RICO or VICAR charge is still open, but it is not one we reach here. Carrozza holds that in a RICO case, in determining the base offense level, the sentencing court should not limit its relevant conduct inquiry to the predicate acts charged against the defendant, but instead should consider "all conduct reasonably foreseeable to the particular defendant in furtherance of the RICO enterprise to which he belongs." Id. at 74.
Marino makes two arguments that the district court violated the Supreme Court's ruling in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), in sentencing him. Both are disposed of under circuit precedent by the fact that he was sentenced within the statutory maximum.
Second, Marino argues that Apprendi was violated because the court and not the jury decided that his RICO and VICAR violations subjected him to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. However, "Apprendi only applies when the disputed 'fact' enlarges the applicable statutory maximum and the defendant's sentence exceeds the original maximum," id. (emphasis added), unlike here. The sentencing court did not err.10
The Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits successive prosecutions or punishments for the same offense. United States v. Ursery, 518 U.S. 267, 273 (1996). The test to determine whether two offenses are considered the same offense for double jeopardy is set forth in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932): two offenses are separate offenses if each contains an element not contained in the other. Because a RICO conspiracy contains a different element than a substantive RICO violation, namely an agreement with others to commit a substantive RICO violation, a substantive RICO violation and a RICO conspiracy are not the same offense for double jeopardy purposes.
The Supreme Court has long recognized that "in most cases separate sentences can be imposed for the conspiracy to do an act and for the subsequent accomplishment of that end." Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 777-78 (1975). The only exception is Wharton's Rule, which applies only "when the substantive offense is of a sort that necessarily requires the active, or culpable, participation of the same . . . people for its successful completion," such as in the case of adultery. United States v. Previte, 648 F.2d 73, 76 (1st Cir. 1981). A RICO conspiracy and a RICO violation do not necessarily require the participation of the same people. Instead, the agreement to violate RICO by conspiring to commit racketeering acts could be made by a different group of people than the ones who actually end up committing the substantive violation.
Angiulo also held that "to make out a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination under Batson, the defendants must be members of the ethnic or racial group that they contend was discriminated against by the government." 847 F.2d at 984; see also Bucci, 839 F.2d at 833 n.12 ("We also note that neither appellant presented evidence that 'he is a member of [the Italian-American] group.'" (quoting Batson, 476 U.S. at 96) (alteration in original)). This rule is no longer good law. See Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 415 (1991) ("[A] defendant in a criminal case can raise the third-party equal protection claims of jurors excluded by the prosecution because of their race."); see also Chakouian v. Moran, 975 F.2d 931, 932-34 (1st Cir. 1992) (discussing the effect of Powers).
Although this court has never articulated this broad standard for association with the enterprise in a criminal RICO case, it has done so in a civil RICO case. Aetna Cas. Sur. Co. v. P&B Autobody, 43 F.3d 1546, 1558-59 (1st Cir. 1994) (defining "associated with" to include one who buys an insurance policy from an insurer). We have also stated that "it is appropriate to rely on civil RICO precedent when analyzing criminal RICO liability. The standard is the same for both criminal and civil RICO violations." Shifman, 124 F.3d at 35 n.1.
Fed. R. Evid. 806. The issue was instead the credibility of the cooperating witnesses who testified to the declarants' statements; this the district court addressed fully.
Home277 f3d 11 united states of america v. vincent michael marino