Opinion ID: 583595
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Direct Proceedings.

Text: 14 In the Persico trial, the government offered proof of the Commission conspiracy in order to delineate the bounds of the conspiracy charged against the Persico defendants and to provide background information for certain taped conversations. See Langella, 804 F.2d at 187-88. In the Persico summation, the prosecutor emphasized that the only conspiracy charged was the Colombo family's extortionate conspiracy concerning concrete contracts under two million dollars. 15 On June 13, 1986, the jury in the Persico case returned verdicts convicting Persico and Langella of all racketeering acts and substantive counts arising out of the Colombo Family's extortionate scheme. Id. at 188. Persico and Langella then moved to dismiss the indictment of them in the Commission case on the ground that the Double Jeopardy Clause barred their further prosecution in view of their convictions in Persico. Id. The district court denied the motion, and we affirmed. Id. at 188-90. 16 Persico and Langella contended in Langella that there was only one extortionate conspiracy concerning the concrete-pouring business, and that the government used two million dollars as an arbitrary dividing line to separate a single conspiracy and prosecute it as two separate conspiracies. Id. at 188. We rejected that view. We noted that whether successive prosecutions violate double jeopardy turns upon the  ' allowable unit of prosecution '  as defined by Congress. Id. (quoting Sanabria v. United States, 437 U.S. 54, 69-70, 98 S.Ct. 2170, 2181-82, 57 L.Ed.2d 43 (1978) (quoting United States v. Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp., 344 U.S. 218, 221, 73 S.Ct. 227, 229, 97 L.Ed. 260 (1952))). We noted further that in United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 583, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 2528, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981), the Supreme Court had interpreted the RICO unit of prosecution as the enterprise and the pattern of racketeering. Accordingly, we concluded, for a subsequent indictment to present a double jeopardy problem, 'both the enterprise and the pattern of activity alleged in the [earlier] indictment must be the same as those alleged in the [second] indictment. If either is different, there is no infirmity under the double jeopardy clause.'  Langella, 804 F.2d at 188-89 (quoting United States v. Russotti, 717 F.2d 27, 33 (2d Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1022, 104 S.Ct. 1273, 79 L.Ed.2d 678 (1984) (alterations in Langella)). 17 We then held that the two indictments involved different enterprises (the Colombo family and the Commission) and different patterns of racketeering activity. 804 F.2d at 189. Thus, 18 although there is some identity of participants, statutory offenses, time, and place, we believe the different nature and delineated scope of each racketeering activity are dispositive on this issue. The two indictments address two highly formalized and rigidly structured enterprises, each clearly demarcated with distinct areas of authority and operation. The convictions of Langella and Persico for their participation in the affairs of the Colombo Family in no manner bars the current prosecution for their alleged participation in the affairs of the Commission. 19 Id. at 190. 20 On November 19, 1986, Persico and Langella were convicted on all counts considered by the jury in the Commission case. On October 27, 1987, we affirmed their earlier convictions in the Persico case. Persico, 832 F.2d at 705, 718. On January 31, 1989, we affirmed their convictions in the Commission case, Salerno, 868 F.2d at 524, 543, rejecting their double jeopardy claim for the second time in reliance upon our earlier ruling in Langella. Salerno, 868 F.2d at 538. Petitioners' convictions in Persico became final no later than May 23, 1988, when the Supreme Court denied certiorari to a number of the Persico defendants, including Persico, see 486 U.S. 1022, 108 S.Ct. 1995, 100 L.Ed.2d 227 (1988), and their Commission convictions became final on October 2, 1989, when the Supreme Court denied their application for certiorari. See 493 U.S. 811, 110 S.Ct. 56, 107 L.Ed.2d 24, 25 (1989). 21