Opinion ID: 714140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events Leading to Conviction.

Text: 6 On September 8, 1988, defendant Victor Ventura was introduced to Miguel Teixeira by Sergio Quijada-Rey at the Buccaneer Diner in Queens. Both Teixeira and Quijada-Rey were paid informants for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). At that meeting, Ventura gave Teixeira two heroin samples and discussed plans for possible narcotics transactions. A second meeting on September 21, 1988, at the Cantina restaurant in Manhattan was attended by Teixeira, Ventura, Juan Silvestro (Ventura's brother-in-law) and Quijada-Rey. During that meeting, Teixeira told Ventura that he wanted to buy two kilograms of heroin and five kilograms of cocaine. Ventura told Teixeira that his partner, who (Ventura claimed) operated a drug distribution business out of a Manhattan service station, could supply these quantities. Ventura did not mention the name of this partner at that meeting. As DEA agents trailed Ventura over the next month, they observed him on occasion in Figueroa's company at a Texaco service station in Manhattan. 7 On November 8, 1988, Ventura advised Teixeira by phone that he was prepared to sell him five kilograms of cocaine and two kilograms of heroin, and arranged a meeting at a restaurant located next to the Texaco station at which DEA agents had previously observed Figueroa. Before Teixeira arrived at the restaurant, named Mexico-Next-To-Texaco, DEA agents watched an unidentified man carry several plastic grocery bags into the office of the adjoining Texaco gas station and then carry those same bags out of the office to a car parked across the street. Later that evening, Teixeira, Ventura, Quijada-Rey and defendant Pedro Taveras met at Mexico-Next-To-Texaco to do the deal. Once the terms were settled, Ventura instructed Teixeira to park his car next to the gasoline pumps at the Texaco station. There, Figueroa showed Teixeira a kilogram of heroin and told him that the rest of the drugs were in a car across the street. Teixeira then left the gas station, ostensibly to retrieve cash to pay for the drugs. When he returned to the gas station, he was instructed to enter the garage, where Figueroa gave him a paper bag containing heroin. At this point, DEA agents descended on the scene and arrested so many persons that, according to Figueroa, they ran out of handcuffs. Agents recovered two kilograms of heroin from the Texaco station and four kilograms of cocaine from plastic grocery bags located in the car parked across the street. Later that evening, they arrested defendant Hector Rivera as he drove into the Texaco station. 8 Figueroa, Rivera, Ventura and three others were charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and with possession of two kilograms of heroin with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). In addition, Figueroa, Rivera and Ventura were charged with possession of four kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B). 2 Prior to trial, Ventura pleaded guilty to one count of possession of heroin and agreed to testify for the government. In a motion dated March 9, 1989, defense counsel demanded that the government turn over all materials required to be produced under 18 U.S.C. § 3500 and Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). On April 20, 1989, the district court granted that motion. 9 The trial began on May 12 and ended on May 30, 1989. Teixeira was the government's star witness. Teixeira testified that for over six years he had worked as a full-time confidential informant with various law enforcement agencies. For the preceding two years, Teixeira worked with the DEA as a full-time informant, and before that had worked as an informant for the New Jersey police and the New Jersey Narcotics Task Force. Teixeira proceeded to testify as to his involvement with the defendants and the events described above, furnishing some of the most inculpatory evidence against Figueroa. 10 On direct examination, Teixeira testified that he was paid a salary of $2,000 per month, and was eligible for bonuses based on the number of arrests made and the quantity of drugs seized as a result of his services. On cross-examination, Figueroa's counsel demonstrated Teixeira's alleged bias in favor of the government by eliciting testimony that, over an eighteen-month period, Teixeira had realized income of more than $82,000 from the government under this arrangement, and more than $11,500 of that sum in the single month prior to trial. Figueroa's counsel also asked Teixeira whether he paid taxes on his income from the government, to which Teixeira's responded, I always did my taxes, adding that he had turned in his figures to the IRS for [t]his year--presumably the 1988 tax year. Much later in his testimony, however, while under cross-examination by counsel for one of Figueroa's co-defendants, Teixeira admitted that he had filed no tax return for 1988, that he had spoken to the IRS concerning a possible extension of the filing deadline for his 1988 tax return, and that his fiancee's father was preparing his 1988 return. On re-cross by Figueroa's counsel, Teixeira declared that he had paid his taxes every year since entering the country (in 1980), but admitted moments later that he did not file a 1987 tax return. In summation, defense counsel exploited this change of testimony about taxes, as well as the evidence of bias and interest, to attack Teixeira's credibility. 11 Ventura testified that he had been employed at the Texaco station for less than a year, that Figueroa and Rivera were partners in a heroin business operated out of the station, and that he assisted them from time to time by delivering heroin and collecting money. Ventura also testified as to the sequence of events leading up to his arrest and as to Figueroa's participation in the attempted drug sale. Several DEA agents described their surveillance activities, the seizure of physical evidence and the arrest of the defendants. 12 The jury convicted Figueroa and Rivera on all counts. On September 19, 1989, Judge Keenan sentenced Figueroa to 24 years of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, and imposed a $20,000 fine. Rivera was sentenced to 21 1/2 years of imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. 13