Opinion ID: 718193
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Arrests, Trial, and Conviction

Text: 11 Fingerprints taken from the getaway car abandoned after the Dubovsky robbery led to the identification of defendant James Rogers. James Loizzo then became a confidential informant. The other conspirators were thereafter arrested and charged. The six co-conspirators--Loizzo, Rogers, Small, Donohue, Martorella, and Thomas Nocella--entered guilty pleas. Pipola stood trial and was convicted before a jury. 12 At trial, cooperating witnesses Small, Loizzo, and Rogers described the roles of the participants, including Pipola, as explained earlier. The government also produced the Anchor employees who witnessed the crimes, tapes of conversations in which Pipola incriminated himself, and telephone records reflecting communications between the conspirators. Jose Ledesma, an Anchor guard, testified that on September 21, 1992 he was attacked by three men as he exited the Dubovsky & Sons warehouse. Two of the assailants threatened him and his partner with guns, and took a bag containing checks and cash. Jose Lugo, another Anchor guard, described the September 26 robbery, stating that two men armed with handguns forcefully took currency that he and his partner were delivering to Citibank. 13 Pipola was convicted of all five counts. On appeal he contends the jury was improperly charged with respect to the aiding and abetting the use or carrying of firearms, the evidence produced against him was insufficient to support his convictions on those counts, and the trial court erred in admitting evidence of previous transactions involving him and his co-conspirators. We discuss each of these contentions in order.