Opinion ID: 610901
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Joseph DiSomma

Text: 4 In the fall of 1989, Lawrence Tinnirello, Lawrence Taylor, and Richard Skowronski conspired to rob the Telco Jewelry store where Skowronski worked. United States v. Skowronski, 968 F.2d 242 (2d Cir.1992). The government alleges that Joseph DiSomma, Skowronski's closest friend, was part of this conspiracy and was instrumental in its planning. The store carried between $200,000 and $300,000 in inventory and was equipped with a safe and a metal roll-down gate which covered the storefront at closing. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the period of the conspiracy, the store also employed security guards during the evening hours of business. The plan called for the robbers to enter the Telco store after the exterior window gates had been closed for the day and clean ... the whole ... place out. 5 Government wire-taps revealed that on November 18, Tinnirello and Taylor discussed the proposed robbery. Tinnirello indicated that he would check ... out the Telco store, pretending to be an ordinary customer, and that they would move if the store contained at least $200,000 in jewelry. Two days later, Tinnirello left a message on DiSomma's answering machine saying that he wanted to meet Richie [Skowronski] this week and take a look at that thing. DiSomma returned the call, saying that he had spoken with Skowronski about the plan. The two agreed that they should meet with Skowronski after Thanksgiving. On November 27, Tinnirello informed DiSomma that he and Taylor would check out the Telco store the following day, but would warn Skowronski of their planned visit. DiSomma added that Skowronski should not greet them, thereby revealing that he knew them, but should just be cool when they arrived at the store. 6 On Thanksgiving morning, Tinnirello recruited Charles Lachterman, a professional thief, for the robbery, saying: 7 I got an inside guy that works somewhere. The same thing that me and you are into.... Its just him and two girls, and he wants to take the whole ... place.... I already, right, have two guys.... Now my friend works in there. You understand? So it's a setup. Ya put the ... gate down, ya take the showcases, the ... vault, and leave. 8 On December 13, attempting to prevent the robbery, FBI agents visited Skowronski, accused him of planning to rob the Telco store, and implied that one of his associates had informed on him. Skowronski asserted his innocence, denied knowledge of any wrongdoing, and the agents left. Skowronski drove to a phone booth, made three phone calls, and returned home. Shortly thereafter, DiSomma arrived at Skowronski's residence. The two drove to a pay phone booth and called Tinnirello. DiSomma told Tinnirello that [w]e got trouble and urged him to go out to a pay phone and call me back. Tinnirello protested that he had no car available and asked what was wrong. DiSomma answered that there was trouble for them and Skowronski, but told Tinnirello to keep quiet. When Tinnirello insisted his phone was not tapped and pressed DiSomma for details, DiSomma refused to disclose more, saying only that the situation was serious and that Tinnirello must get to a pay phone. 9 Later that day, DiSomma and Tinnirello spoke of the FBI's visit to Skowronski and the possibility that Skowronski would cooperate with the government. DiSomma argued that Skowronski would not cooperate because he is a stand-up kid. DiSomma later advised Tinnirello that he had taken care of Skowronski's nervousness. Two days later, DiSomma told Tinnirello in a coded conversation that Skowronski's co-worker at the Telco Jewelry store had been contacted by the FBI but that everything is good. Tinnirello conveyed that DiSomma should dispose of his firearm, and DiSomma replied that both he and Skowronski already had. 10 DiSomma was later arrested and charged with RICO conspiracy and substantive offenses, a Hobbs Act violation, and mail fraud. A jury convicted him only on the Hobbs Act charge. He attacks this conviction as unsupported by the evidence, violative of his due process rights, and improper because the lower court should have dismissed the charge for lack of venue. He also challenges the sentencing court's three-point addition for possession of a firearm in connection with the robbery conspiracy. We affirm. 11 The government cross-appeals DiSomma's sentence, arguing that the district court improperly applied U.S.S.G. § 2X1.1 and improperly considered the obstruction of justice enhancement as discretionary. We agree and remand for resentencing. 12 DiSomma argues that the evidence does not support his conviction under the Hobbs Act. First, he claims that there is insufficient evidence of any conspiracy at all. The wiretaps, in his view, record only Tinnirello's rambling, incoherent monologues and not a conspiracy joined by others. He next argues that, even if Tinnirello and others were planning a robbery, there is insufficient evidence that he was involved. DiSomma characterizes his phone calls to Tinnirello as part of his effort to help his cousin through a difficult time. As for the references to the thing involving Telco Jewelry, DiSomma claims that it is just as likely that he was simply directing Tinnirello and Taylor to Telco in order to facilitate a legitimate jewelry purchase. He claims Taylor was looking for a diamond engagement ring and that he referred him to Skowronski for the purchase. He also argues that his incriminating phone calls to Tinnirello following the FBI visit may be equally well understood as reflecting his concern over unrelated schemes. 13 DiSomma mistakes our task on appeal. DiSomma's testimony was submitted to the jury who weighed it and found it wanting. It is not for us to weigh, as DiSomma would have us, competing inferences and explanations about which explanation is more likely. United States v. Stanley, 928 F.2d 575, 577 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 141, 116 L.Ed.2d 108 (1991). We cannot reverse a conviction merely because the defendant's exculpatory account is plausible. Rather, we must affirm so long as, drawing all inferences in the government's favor, a reasonable jury might fairly have found DiSomma guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Buck, 804 F.2d 239, 242 (2d Cir.1986). The evidence here was sufficient. 14 First, we have already rejected Skowronski's challenge as to the sufficiency of the evidence as to the Telco conspiracy. Skowronski, 968 F.2d at 247-48. We therefore obviously reject DiSomma's first contention that the evidence will not support the finding of conspiracy; at the very least, Skowronski and Tinnirello could be found to have actively conspired to rob the store. 15 Second, DiSomma's challenge to the evidence of his involvement is similarly unsuccessful. After establishing the existence of the Telco scheme, the government presented evidence that DiSomma: set up a meeting with Skowronski and Tinnirello to talk about the plan, warned Tinnirello not to visit the store without first warning Skowronski, and made incriminating phone calls to Tinnirello upon learning of the FBI's visit to Skowronski. This evidence was more than sufficient to allow the jury to conclude that DiSomma was one of the two [other] guys with whom Tinnirello and Skowronski were conspiring to rob the store. 16 In addition to this affirmative evidence of guilt, the jury was entitled to draw negative inferences from DiSomma's testimony at trial. United States v. Eisen, 974 F.2d 246, 259 (2d Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1840, 123 L.Ed.2d 467 (1993). By taking the stand and offering his own version of events, [DiSomma] ' waive[s] any claim as to the sufficiency of the Government's case considered alone. '  United States v. Roldan-Zapata, 916 F.2d 795, 803 (2d Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1397, 113 L.Ed.2d 453 (1991) (quoting United States v. Tyler, 758 F.2d 66, 69 (2d Cir.1985)) (citations omitted). DiSomma's testimony was, as Judge Cedarbaum found, entirely incredible. In light of the government's evidence, the jury was entitled to conclude that DiSomma's version of the events was false and thereby infer his guilt. United States v. Marchand, 564 F.2d 983, 985-86 (2d Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1015, 98 S.Ct. 732, 54 L.Ed.2d 760 (1978). In short, there is substantial evidence that DiSomma was part of a conspiracy to rob the Telco Jewelry store. 17 DiSomma next argues that his conviction must be reversed because the conspiracy did not contemplate a real, but only a fake robbery. Skowronski's cooperation, he claims, meant that no property would be taken from or in the presence of another, against his will, by means of actual or threatened force, or violence, or fear of injury. 18 U.S.C. § 1951(b)(1). We rejected this argument in Skowronski's appeal and need not discuss it here. Skowronski, 968 F.2d at 248. 18 DiSomma also objects to being tried in the Southern District. He claims that the conspiracy's sole connections to the district were phone calls from Tinnirello, in Long Island, to Lachterman, in Manhattan. According to appellant, when the Hobbs Act charge against Lachterman was dropped after trial, the conspiracy's ties to the Southern District were severed and venue was thereafter improper. We disagree. 19 Title 18 U.S.C. § 3237(a) (1988) provides for venue in a district where the evidence establishes that an offense was begun or continued. The phone calls alone establish this venue in the Southern District. The fact that no Manhattan resident was convicted for participating in the conspiracy is irrelevant for the purposes of the statute. Simply put, the phone calls were sufficiently probative of a conspiracy to establish venue, although not sufficiently probative to establish Lachterman's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Nicoll, 664 F.2d 1308, 1311 (5th Cir.) (holding that, when venue hinges largely on phone calls to alleged coconspirator, acquittal of coconspirator does not defeat venue), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1118, 102 S.Ct. 2929, 73 L.Ed.2d 1330 (1982), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Henry, 749 F.2d 203, 206 (5th Cir.1984); United States v. Sandy, 605 F.2d 210, 217 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 984, 100 S.Ct. 490, 62 L.Ed.2d 412 (1979). 20 Finally, DiSomma appeals the district court's calculation of his sentence. Judge Cedarbaum found that the conspirators actually possessed guns for use in the robbery and therefore added three points to DiSomma's offense level. U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(C) (1989); see also U.S.S.G. § 2X1.1 Application Note 2 (indicating that the enhancement can apply to robbery conspiracies). DiSomma claims that the evidence in this case is too weak to justify this enhancement. We disagree and have already rejected a similar appeal by appellant's coconspirator, Richard Skowronski. Skowronski, 968 F.2d at 248-49. 21 The government, on cross-appeal, also challenges DiSomma's sentence. It claims that Judge Cedarbaum wrongly awarded a three-point reduction under U.S.S.G. § 2X1.1. We agree. United States v. Skowronski, 968 F.2d 242 (2d Cir.1992), decided after the sentencing by Judge Cedarbaum, held that Section 2X1.1 did not apply to defendants convicted of a Hobbs Act conspiracy. Id. at 249. DiSomma's sentence should therefore be recalculated in light of our opinion in Skowronski. 22 The government also contends that Judge Cedarbaum wrongly withheld a two-point enhancement for obstruction of justice. DiSomma testified that he was completely uninvolved in the robbery conspiracy, was simply trying to help Taylor get a diamond engagement ring, was trying to help Tinnirello through a difficult time, and that his panicked telephone calls to Tinnirello (following the FBI visit to Skowronski) reflected only his concern over unrelated schemes. DiSomma denied any involvement in or knowledge of a robbery conspiracy, portraying himself in his brief as one who had done well for a kid, in his legitimate little business which he enjoyed. 23 The jury obviously disagreed. Moreover, the jury's guilty verdict, in light of DiSomma's complete denial, necessarily constitutes a finding that DiSomma lied about material facts. Judge Cedarbaum apparently concurred, calling DiSomma's version of the facts entirely incredible and describing it as a false statement under oath. She also stated that she had no doubt that testimony was not believable. 24 Nevertheless, Judge Cedarbaum declined to impose a two-level obstruction of justice enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1, given to those who commit perjury. She indicated that she could simply [choose] not to apply the enhancement, in contrast to enhancements such as that for weapons enhancement, which must be applied if the court found the appropriate factual predicate. In short, Judge Cedarbaum apparently declined to impose the obstruction of justice enhancement on the belief that the enhancement was discretionary. We disagree. 25 The obstruction of justice enhancement, like the weapons enhancement charge, is mandatory once its factual predicates have been established. Upon a proper determination that the accused has committed perjury at trial, an enhancement of sentence is required by the Sentencing Guidelines. United States v. Dunnigan, --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1111, 1119, 122 L.Ed.2d 445 (1993). 26 Under the criminal perjury statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1621 (1988), a witness commits perjury if she gives false testimony concerning a material matter with the willful intent to provide false testimony, rather than as a result of confusion, mistake or faulty memory. Dunnigan, --- U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 1116. DiSomma denied all involvement in the conspiracy. This was obviously testimony about a material fact that both the judge and jury considered false. We therefore vacate DiSomma's sentence and remand for more specific factual findings as to whether or not DiSomma committed perjury.