Opinion ID: 514214
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admissibility of Certain Tapes

Text: 34 Part of the government's proof that Scopo and Montemarano were members of the Colombo crime family consisted of surveillance tapes of conversations intercepted at a Manhattan social club pursuant to court orders entered under Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (Title III), 18 U.S.C. Secs. 2510-2521 (1982 & Supp. IV 1986). These tapes had been judicially sealed in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518(8)(a). When they were offered at the trial of Scopo and Montemarano, defendants objected on the ground that the tapes as then offered were not sealed. The district court, declining to reach the issue of whether defendants had waived their objection by failing to raise it prior to trial, see id. Sec. 2518(10)(a), overruled the objection on the ground that the tapes had been unsealed pursuant to court orders for use in several cases including the present case, Salerno I, and a second Salerno case, United States v. Salerno, No. 86 Cr. 245 (S.D.N.Y. May 1, 1986) (Salerno II ), and that there is no statutory requirement that judicially unsealed tapes be resealed. 35 Defendants renew their challenge here, arguing that the tapes should have been resealed in order to ensure their integrity. Though we would agree that at some point resealing should occur, that point was not reached here. 36 As we have noted, an important purpose of the statutory sealing requirement is the prevention of manipulation or alteration of the recordings of the intercepted conversations. United States v. Massino, 784 F.2d 153, 156 (2d Cir.1986); United States v. Gigante, 538 F.2d 502, 505-06 (2d Cir.1976). Thus, tapes made pursuant to Title III may not be admitted in evidence without the seal provided for by [Sec. 2518(8)(a) ], or a satisfactory explanation for the absence thereof. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518(8)(a). The statute envisions continuous judicial scrutiny of the entire process of obtaining and utilizing recorded conversations, United States v. Gigante, 538 F.2d at 506, and we are persuaded that once the trial level proceedings to which the unsealing order pertained have concluded, the tapes should be resealed in order to preserve their integrity should their admission be sought in another trial--either in another case or in a retrial of the same case after appeal. 37 Nonetheless, absent some condition imposed by the unsealing judge, we conclude that where tapes have been unsealed pursuant to court order for use in given proceedings, there is no requirement that they be resealed prior to the conclusion of those proceedings. For this reason, we reject defendants' challenge to the admission of the tapes in question on this appeal. The proceedings in Salerno II, for which an unsealing order had been entered, were still in progress at the time Scopo and Montemarano went to trial. Hence the absence of a seal was satisfactorily explained.