Opinion ID: 610805
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: 26 Bowery

Text: 43 Prior to the seizures at the French Ice Cream Parlor, Interdonato knew from a confidential source, a title search of the building at 26 Bowery, and tax returns filed by Bowery Mansion, Inc. and Chinese Moon Palace Restaurant, Inc.: that Eng had an interest in 26 Bowery; that he conducted a business, Chinese Moon Palace Restaurant, at that location; that Eng was president of Bowery Mansion, Inc., the corporation that purchased the property; that the name of the selling corporation was 26 Bowery Corp.; that the name of the seller's attorney was Ronald De Petris; and that the names of Eng's attorneys were Frank Lam and Hwa Min Hsu. The illegal search revealed the names of the owners of 26 Bowery Corp.--Sol Leitner and Frieda Grant. A subpoena to Leitner and Grant in November of 1989 produced deposit slips, deeds, checks and a mortgage note. 44 A subpoena to De Petris produced closing statements and checks drawn on World Express International Holding Corp. A subpoena to Lam produced an escrow ledger and various checks relating to 26 Bowery. The title search, tax returns and documents provided by the seller and De Petris reflected that 26 Bowery was purchased in December of 1986 for 1.7 million dollars, half of which was paid at the closing and the other half of which was paid in the form of a mortgage given to the seller. The district court found that this evidence certainly would have been uncovered absent the illegal search, since the 26 Bowery building was an important source of information going to Eng's tax responsibilities. Id. at 1220. We expressed our concern that 45 [t]he important evidence admitted at trial concerned closing information on the price paid and amount borrowed by Eng to purchase the 26 Bowery building. At least some of the closing information admitted at trial may have been provided only by Leitner and Grant. To the extent that Leitner and Grant were the source of the closing information, inevitable discovery of the evidence in their possession becomes more difficult to prove because their identities were discovered in the search of the safe, and alternate routes to discovery of these parties may be attenuated. 46 Eng I, 971 F.2d at 863. The district court found that we had overlooked evidence from sources other than Interdonato which clearly reveals that misconception. Eng II, 819 F.Supp. at 1220. This evidence establishes: (1) that on the day of Eng's arrest, the government sought forfeiture of the 26 Bowery building by filing a complaint in rem against the property; and (2) that the complaint reflected the government's awareness of the identities and addresses of Leitner and Grant and of the fact that they had taken back a mortgage from Eng. See id. Since Interdonato and the government had information concerning the building and the parties involved prior to the search, the district court concluded that all of the information relating to Eng's purchase of 26 Bowery would have been discovered. Considering that all information concerning 26 Bowery would have been essential to Interdonato's tax evasion investigation and that Eng's interest in the property was known prior to the unlawful search, it was inevitable that the unlawfully obtained information would have been discovered. 47