Opinion ID: 626552
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Conviction and Subsequent Proceedings

Text: In an Opinion filed on September 22, 1993, we affirmed the November 6, 1992, judgment of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Reena Raggi, Judge) [following a jury trial,] convicting [Pitera] of various offenses including racketeering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) (1988); supervising a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE), in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(a), (c) (1988); murder in furtherance of a CCE, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(e)(1)(A) (1988); and several narcotics and firearms offenses. United States v. Pitera, 5 F.3d 624, 626 (2d Cir.1993). We determined that [t]he evidence ... abundantly established that Pitera was the ringleader of a criminal group that engaged in murder, drugs trafficking, kidnapping, armed robbery, and various other crimes. Several of the murders were personally committed by Pitera, who dismembered the victims' bodies and buried them in a Staten Island bird sanctuary. Id. The criminal group has been identified as the Pitera Crew of the Bonanno Organized Crime Family. Pitera v. United States, Nos. 99 CV 191, 90 CR 424, 2007 WL 3005791, at  (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 10, 2007). The jury's verdict included a decision not to recommend the death penalty. Following the verdict, the District Court sentenced Pitera to seven terms of life imprisonment, four terms of imprisonment for twenty years, and five terms of imprisonment for ten years. The court directed that three of the life terms, two of the twenty-year terms, and one ten-year term run consecutively and imposed a fine of $250,000. Pitera, 5 F.3d at 626. At several times since his conviction and incarceration almost twenty years ago, Pitera has sought post-conviction relief in various proceedings. Many of these endeavors have centered on Pitera's challenges to the testimony of accomplice witness Frank Gangi in relation to the murders for which Pitera was convicted. In rejecting one such challenge, brought in the form of a motion for reconsideration of an earlier dismissal of a motion to vacate conviction made pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (and alternatively pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241), then-District Judge Raggi, who presided at the trial, wrote the following: Pitera ... insists that Gangi's arrest files show that he had possession of certain guns and bags similar to those used in some of the charged murders. Pitera submits that this proves that Gangi was the true killer. Certainly, Gangi candidly acknowledged at trial that he was a direct participant in many of the gruesome murders charged in the indictment. What he explained to the jury, however, was that he had committed these crimes with Pitera. This testimony is not undercut by Pitera's new evidence. Pitera v. United States, No. CV 99-191(RR), 2000 WL 33200254, at  (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 21, 2000) (emphasis in original). Judge Raggi went on to note that Pitera's involvement in the murders was corroborated in many important respects, citing two specific examples of corroborating evidence. Id.