Opinion ID: 696656
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hegney, Sears, and Cave

Text: 109 Hegney, Sears, and Cave also contend that the government failed to prove the fourth and fifth substantive RICO offense elements--that they participated in the conduct of the affairs of the enterprises charged through a pattern of racketeering activity. The jury found that the government had proven Hegney committed three predicate acts of narcotics distribution and five predicate acts related to the Stefano murders. The jury found that the government had proven Sears committed two predicate acts of narcotics distribution and one predicate act of murder. Finally, as to Cave, the jury found that the government had proven one predicate act of extortion against Iris Geoghagen, one predicate act of extortion against Serge Seguin, and four predicate acts of narcotics distribution. After viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, we conclude that there is ample evidence to support the jury's verdicts against Hegney, Sears, and Cave. 110 The fourth substantive RICO element was proven, because the predicate acts of each of these three appellants establish that each had some part in directing the affairs of the South Florida Outlaws, the enterprise charged in the substantive count, and that satisfies the Reves operation or management test. There was ample evidence in this record that Hegney, Sears, and Cave, like the members of the Green Dragons in United States v. Wong, 40 F.3d at 1374, were thoroughly indoctrinated participants in the criminal activities of the Outlaws. Moreover, we agree with the First Circuit that one may be liable under the operation or management test by knowingly implementing decisions, as well as by making them. Oreto, 37 F.3d at 750. Hegney's and Sears's knowing implementation of the decision to commit murder qualifies under the Reves operation or management test. The murders were for the purpose of preventing witnesses of Outlaw criminal activity from being able to testify against the Outlaws. By permanently silencing the witnesses, Hegney and Sears had some part in directing the affairs of the enterprise. 111 Moreover, Hegney, Sears, and Cave did not just implement decisions, they made them as well. Hegney initiated the distribution relationship with Debra Slocum after overhearing her conversation with someone else about wanting to find a source for narcotics. Cave set up a PCP lab at his house in Indiana on his own initiative so that he could pay his debt to the Outlaws' bail bondsman. And Sears, along with government witness Thomas Belcher, ordered other Outlaws to deliver narcotics to Illinois so that they could finance their trip, which was for Outlaw business. Although the Supreme Court has not yet decided how far down the ladder of operation to extend RICO liability, we are confident that these appellants do not stand so low on the ladder that they should be excluded from RICO liability. 112 All three appellants' predicate acts involving narcotics were clearly related to the enterprise for purposes of proving the fifth RICO element. The government presented numerous witnesses who testified that the South Florida Outlaws regularly used and dealt drugs. This narcotics activity furthered the anti-social lifestyle that is the raison d'etre of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club. At least one witness testified that the proceeds of narcotics sales contributed to the purchase of an Outlaw clubhouse, which in turn provided a home for numerous members of the club and was where the weekly Outlaw meetings were held. This evidence demonstrates that these acts of narcotics distribution are sufficiently related to the South Florida Outlaws. E.g., Carter, 721 F.2d at 1527 (predicate acts found related to legitimate dairy farm enterprise where dairy farm was regularly used as the location for drug smuggling activities). Because the jury found that each of these three appellants had engaged in at least two acts of narcotics distribution, we need not decide whether the other predicate acts were related to the enterprise. 113 Finally, the predicate acts the jury found these three appellants had committed also satisfy the pattern requirement of the fifth RICO element. Even if we look only at the narcotics predicate acts, we find that the government proved the required relationship plus continuity for Hegney's three predicate acts. Hegney's three predicate acts of narcotics distribution involved the same participants--Hegney and undercover officer Debra Slocum--and the same kind of narcotics. In addition, Hegney and Slocum followed the same sequence of events leading up to each sale: Slocum would call Hegney at the Outlaw clubhouse and say that she needed to see him, which was the code they had established for her to request narcotics. These predicate acts displayed the required threat of continuity, because Hegney told Slocum that he could get her any narcotics she wanted, and then followed through on that promise three times. See Church, 955 F.2d at 694 (holding that defendant's offer to provide as much cocaine in future as buyer wanted established threat of continuity even though defendant's two predicate acts spanned only three months: [I]t is the association's long-term existence and regular way of doing business that poses the threat of continued racketeering activity.). 114 Cave's four predicate acts of narcotics distribution and Sears's two predicate acts of narcotics distribution also satisfy the pattern requirement. Cave's predicate acts are all related to one another by the common purpose of paying the Outlaws' bail bondsman and by the involvement of the same Outlaw participants in the transactions. Sears's predicate acts are related to one another because they all involved the same narcotic substance and all occurred at the concerts of a former Outlaw, David Allen Coe. In addition, both Cave's and Sears's predicate acts display the requisite continuity: they are a series of related predicates extending over a substantial period of time--two years for Cave and between two and seven years for Sears. H.J. Inc., 492 U.S. at 242, 109 S.Ct. at 2902. Thus, the government's evidence was sufficient to establish the fifth RICO element against these three appellants. 115 We therefore hold that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support Hegney's, Sears's, and Cave's convictions under Sec. 1962(c). We also hold that the jury could have inferred from the evidence in the record against Hegney, Sears, and Cave that they each manifested an agreement to participate in the Outlaw Motorcycle Club through a pattern of racketeering activity, thus supporting their convictions for RICO conspiracy under Sec. 1962(d). 116