Opinion ID: 739314
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Tusas

Text: 9 To sustain the Tusas' mail fraud convictions, the Government had to prove: (1) the existence of a scheme to defraud, (2) the use of the mails to execute the scheme, and (3) the specific intent on the part of the defendants to commit fraud. See United States v. Fagan, 821 F.2d 1002, 1008 (5th Cir.1987). The Tusas assert that they were legitimate businessmen operating within the confines of the Video Poker Law, and they maintain that the Government did not establish that Bayou Casino was controlled by organized crime. Accordingly, they contend that the Government failed to establish that they had the specific intent to defraud. The Tusas repeatedly draw exculpatory inferences from the evidence purportedly showing that they operated a legitimate business, but we must accept all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the verdict. See Resio-Trejo, 45 F.3d at 910. Doing so, we conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support the Tusas' mail fraud convictions. 10 In establishing that Bayou Casino, the Tusas' video poker route operator company, was controlled by organized crime, the Government relied primarily upon the testimony of Christopher Tanfield and the audiotapes of numerous inculpatory conversations between the Tusas and other co-defendants recorded by the Government microphone and telephone wiretap hidden at Frank's Deli. Tanfield's testimony establishes that organized crime did have significant control over Bayou Casino, and it is undisputed that the Tusas did not inform the Video Gaming Division of such control, as required by the Video Poker Law. Specifically, Tanfield testified that Joseph Marcello Jr. both instructed Tanfield to give the Tusas preferential treatment and also mediated disputes that arose between the Tusas and other companies involved in the enterprise. In addition, Tanfield testified that Bayou Casino eventually (in November 1992) became a front company for organized crime. 11 Tanfield's testimony was supported by the audiotaped conversations and FBI Agent Richard McHenry's testimony regarding those conversations. Although the actual text of the taped conversations was at times seemingly innocuous, Agent McHenry testified extensively as to the meaning of the conversations and interpreted them for the jury. The tapes, and Agent McHenry's testimony regarding the tapes, establish that the Tusas dealt extensively with Carollo, Marcello, and the Gaglianos; that the Tusas believed these people to be involved in the operation and control of Worldwide Gaming and LRO; and that Carollo, Marcello, and the Gaglianos had some degree of control over Bayou Casino. Although the tapes do not rule out the Tusas' contention that they engaged in arms-length, legitimate business negotiations with Tanfield, Bolson, Carollo, Marcello, and the Gaglianos, it is also reasonable to draw, as the jury did, more inculpatory inferences from the tapes. See McCord, 33 F.3d at 1439. 12 Upon reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that a reasonable jury could have believed that the Government proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the Tusas committed the essential elements of mail fraud.