Source: http://openjurist.org/464/us/16
Timestamp: 2015-08-30 08:11:32
Document Index: 318053563

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1962', '§ 1963', '§ 1962', '§ 1962', '§ 1961', '§ 1963', '§ 1341', '§ 1963', '§ 1962']

464 US 16 Russello v. United States | OpenJurist
464 U.S. 16 - Russello v. United States Home
464 US 16 Russello v. United States 464 U.S. 16
104 S.Ct. 296
78 L.Ed.2d 17
Joseph C. RUSSELLO, Petitionerv.UNITED STATES.
Petitioner was convicted in Federal District Court, under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) chapter of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, of violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(c) and (d) by being involved in an arson ring that resulted in his fraudulently receiving insurance proceeds in payment for the fire loss of a building he owned. The District Court also entered a judgment of forfeiture against petitioner for the amount of the insurance proceeds pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(a)(1), which provides that a person convicted under § 1962 shall forfeit to the United States "any interest he has acquired or maintained in violation of § 1962." The Court of Appeals affirmed.
This is yet another case concerning the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) chapter of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970. Pub.L. 91-452, Title IX, 84 Stat. 941, as amended, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968. At issue here is the interpretation of the chapter's forfeiture provision, § 1963(a)(1), and, specifically, the meaning of the words "any interest [the defendant] has acquired . . . in violation of section 1962."
* On June 8, 1977, petitioner Joseph C. Russello and others were indicted for racketeering, conspiracy, and mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1962(c) and (d), and 2. App. 5. After a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, petitioner was convicted as charged in four counts of the indictment. The jury then returned special verdicts for the forfeiture to the United States, under 18 U.S.C. § 1963(a), of four payments, aggregating $340,048.09, made to petitioner by a fire insurance company. App. 54-57. These verdicts related to the racketeering activities charged in the second count of the indictment under which petitioner had been convicted. The District Court, accordingly, entered a judgment of forfeiture against petitioner in that amount. Id., at 58.
Petitioner took an appeal to the former United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. A panel of that court affirmed petitioner's criminal conviction, United States v. Martino, 648 F.2d 367, 406 (1981), and this Court denied certiorari, 456 U.S. 943, 102 S.Ct. 2006, 72 L.Ed.2d 465 (1982), as to that aspect of the case. The panel, however, reversed the judgment of forfeiture. App. 64-69. The full court granted rehearing en banc on the forfeiture issue and, by a vote of 16-7, vacated that portion of the panel opinion, and then affirmed the forfeiture judgment entered by the District Court. 681 F.2d 952 (1982). Because of this significant division among the judges of the Court of Appeals, and because the Fifth Circuit majority, id., at 959, stated that its holding "squarely conflict[ed]" with that of the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Marubeni America Corp., 611 F.2d 763 (1980), we granted certiorari. --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. ----, 77 L.Ed.2d ---- (1983).1 Since then, the Seventh Circuit has issued an opinion agreeing with the Ninth Circuit. United States v. McManigal, 708 F.2d 276, 283-287 (1983).
Title 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) states that it shall be unlawful "for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate . . . commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt."