Opinion ID: 196836
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 We consider the facts as set forth in the unobjected-to portions of the Presentence Investigation Report (PSI) and the transcript of the sentencing hearing. See, e.g., United States v. Peppe, 80 F.3d 19, 20 (1st Cir.1996); United States v. Grandmaison, 77 F.3d 555, 557 (1st Cir.1996). On October 15, 1993, Philip Cali was arrested pursuant to count sixty-nine of a seventy-one count indictment charging him with conducting, financing, managing, supervising, directing, and owning all or part of an illegal gambling business which involved five or more persons between October 1986 and December 1992. The result of an eight year Massachusetts State Police (State Police) investigation into large-scale racketeering conspiracies, the indictment named nine individuals, four of whom--Joseph Yerardi (Yerardi), William Maguire (Maguire), Anthony Grabiec Jr. (Grabiec), and Salvatore M. DeAngelis (DeAngelis)--were charged in count sixty-nine with Cali. Cali, who is sixty-five and has a criminal history which includes convictions for gambling-related activities, was not charged in any of the indictment's other counts. 3 During the course of their racketeering investigation, the State Police obtained authorization to intercept phone conversations over a cellular telephone utilized by Yerardi from June to August 1991. Their surveillance of the telephone revealed that Yerardi presided over extensive loansharking and gambling businesses. The gambling business, which operated under the auspices of Boston's Winter Hill Gang and generated funds for Yerardi's loansharking business, included over twenty-five bookmaking agents, two principal offices, and had a gross daily revenue of $2,000.00. Though Yerardi headed the gambling enterprise, Maguire was its principal supervisor and the individual responsible for collecting money owed to the organization and paying out money owed to agents and bettors. 4 Transcripts of numerous calls between Yerardi and Cali intercepted by the State Police revealed that Cali and DeAngelis played the same role in the gambling enterprise, though they operated out of different locations. Yerardi stationed Cali, who frequently placed bets with the business and was often one of its debtors, at one of the business's principal bookmaking offices to receive calls from the various agents. The agents, who identified themselves by code only and received a percentage of the business's profits as compensation, communicated information about sporting event bets to Cali. After taking and recording that information, Cali transmitted it directly to Yerardi, with whom he was in daily telephone contact. The majority of the calls intercepted by the State Police were made by Yerardi to Cali at the bookmaking office. 5 Cali often reviewed betting results with and reported agents' makeup figures--those monies that have to be worked off before any money can be paid out--to Yerardi during these telephone conversations. He also assisted in charting bets for the gambling business. Charting involves tracking daily bets made by agents and monitoring the business's projected risk of loss on individual sporting events. Though Cali answered directly to Yerardi and was responsible for completing charting analyses, there is no evidence that he received a percentage of the business's profit or played any role in setting policy regarding odds or bet placement. 6 On June 1, 1995, Cali pled guilty to participating in the operation of an illegal gambling business. The district court scheduled a sentencing hearing and prior thereto received a PSI from the Probation Department. The PSI prepared by the Probation Department, to which both the government and Cali registered objections, recommended a total adjusted guideline offense level of ten. This recommendation reflects a two level decrease in the base offense for acceptance of responsibility. See U.S.S.G. §§ 2E3.1(a); 3E1.1. The PSI concluded, based on the information provided by the government and the defendant's description of his duties that an adjustment for role in the offense would not be warranted. 7 The Probation Department assigned Cali three criminal history points for prior gambling convictions and, as a result, placed him in Criminal History Category II. The district court, however, later found that the Probation Department had erroneously assigned Cali criminal history points for offenses committed while working for Yerardi and identified the appropriate criminal history category as I. Placement in Criminal History Category I, at a total adjusted offense level of ten, results in a sentencing range of six to twelve months.