Opinion ID: 440538
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The RICO Offenses

Text: 149 Subsection (c) of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962 makes it unlawful to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of an enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity. Subsection (d), in turn, makes it unlawful to conspire to violate the provisions of subsection (c). 150 Hobson was convicted of a substantive RICO violation pursuant to subsection (c), as well as a RICO conspiracy under subsection (d). The basis for Hobson's RICO convictions arose from his involvement in the Constellation episode in connection with which he was indicted and convicted of importation and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. 14 Hobson argues that these two convictions were the result of a single attempt on his part to procure marijuana, and that consequently he was not shown to have engaged or conspired to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity. 151 Pattern of racketeering activity is defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(5) as at least two acts of racketeering activity committed within a ten-year period. Racketeering activity is defined to include any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, or dealing in narcotic or other dangerous drugs, which is chargeable under state law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(1) (emphasis supplied). The statutory definition of pattern of racketeering activity has been construed as follows: 152 To be convicted of a Sec. 1962(c) RICO charge, the evidence must show that the defendant participated in the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity. This requires the commission of at least two predicate crimes. 153 United States v. Welch, 656 F.2d 1039, 1057 (5th Cir.1981) (emphasis supplied). Possessing and importing marijuana are two separate crimes and consequently two separate acts for purposes of the RICO statute. The appellants' suggestion that two predicate acts cannot have arisen out of a single transaction was expressly considered and rejected in United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1039 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981). 154 Waldrop's convictions under the RICO statute stem from his involvement in both the Tallahassee warehouse and Constellation episodes. The predicate acts of racketeering activity underlying the RICO counts included: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, in connection with the Tallahassee warehouse venture; and importation and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in connection with the Constellation venture. 15 155 It is Waldrop's position that the Constellation venture was independently undertaken by Cobb, Hobson and Waldrop and was not an affair of the enterprise. If the predicate acts alleged in connection with Constellation venture are stripped from indictment on the ground that they were unrelated to the enterprise's affairs, only one predicate act remains--the possession of marijuana stored at the Tallahassee warehouse--which alone does not constitute a pattern of racketeering activity. In support of his position, Waldrop makes two related arguments. First, Waldrop assigns error to the district court's refusal to read Waldrop's requested instructions concerning the definition of the enterprise, and Waldrop's theory of defense. Second, Waldrop argues that the evidence does not support the conclusion that the Constellation venture was an affair of the enterprise. 156 At trial, Waldrop requested that the following instruction be read respecting the definition of the RICO enterprise in this case: 157 In order to find defendant, Patrick M. Waldrop, guilty of Count 2, you must find that the government has proven, beyond a reasonable doubt that, the enterprise established by Manuel Eric Villanueva, Jose Luis Acosta and Antonio E. Bascaro, as previously described, existed in fact, and that Mr. Waldrop knowingly and willfully participated in the conduct of this particular enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity. In order to conclude that Mr. Waldrop participated through a pattern of racketeering activity, you must find that he committed at least two of the following acts and that they were in furtherance of the conduct of this particular conspiracy: (the three previously mentioned affirmative acts are then recited). 158 The district court rejected Waldrop's proposed instruction in favor of the following: 159 Count 2 of the indictment alleges that from on or about January 1977 and continuously afterwards up to and including September 3, 1981, defendants Manuel Eric Villanueva, Antonio E. Bascaro, Manuel W. James, Gustavo J. Fernandez, Patrick C. Waldrop, and Russell Hobson were persons associated with an enterprise or an enterprise as defined by Title 18, United States Code, Sec. 1961(4), that the enterprise engaged in or its activities affected interstate commerce and that the defendants knowingly and willfully participated in the enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering endeavor in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sec. 1962(c).... Count 2 alleges that the enterprise consisted of a group of individuals associated in fact for the purpose of importing multi-ton quantities of marijuana into the United States from a place outside of the United States, possessing multi-ton quantities of marijuana with the intent to distribute and distributing within the United States, multi-ton quantities of marijuana, a Schedule I controlled substance. Now let me define some of the terms of this statute for you. The term enterprise, as used in the statute, includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity and any group of individuals associated in fact, although not a legal entity.... In order to establish that any of the defendants named in Count 2 of the indictment committed the offense charged in that count, the government must prove as to that particular defendant each of the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt. First, that the defendant was associated with an enterprise as I have defined it for you. Second, that the defendant engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity as I have defined it for you by knowingly and willfully committing, or knowingly and willfully aiding and abetting at least two acts of racketeering activity as hereinafter explained. That at least two acts of racketeering activity occurred within ten years of each other, that one of such offenses took place after October the 10th, 1970, that the offenses were connected with each other by some common scheme, plan or motive so as to constitute a pattern, and not merely a series of disconnected acts. Fourth, that the commission of two or more connected offenses the defendants conducted or participated in the conduct of the enterprise. Fifth, that the enterprise engaged in or that its activities affected interstate or foreign commerce. 160 Waldrop argues that in defining the enterprise as a group associated in fact for the purpose of importing and possessing marijuana, the instruction delivered would lead the jury to find that any marijuana smuggling venture undertaken by one or more of the defendants would necessarily be a venture of the enterprise. Put another way, Waldrop contends that the enterprise was defined for the jury solely in terms of the racketeering activity it allegedly conducted, so that any conduct qualifying as an act of racketeering under the Act would be ascribed to the enterprise, regardless of whether independently undertaken, as Waldrop contends was the case with the Constellation venture. In Waldrop's view, the instruction he proposed avoided this pitfall by more precisely defining the charged enterprise in terms of its principal organizers. 161 Waldrop is quite correct that the existence of an enterprise is an element of a RICO violation distinct from the element of a pattern of racketeering activity in which the enterprise engages. United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1011 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981); United States v. Lemm, 680 F.2d 1193 (8th Cir.1982); United States v. Anderson, 626 F.2d 1358 (8th Cir.1980). We do not agree, however, that the instruction delivered would have the effect Waldrop suggests. 162 The district court described the enterprise in question in terms of a group of individuals defined to include Bascaro, Villanueva, James, Fernandez, Waldrop, and Hobson who were associated in fact for the purpose of importing, possessing and distributing marijuana. We do not believe that this instruction could be misunderstood to permit the jury to ascribe to the enterprise smuggling ventures independently undertaken by one or more of its members. The instruction permitted the jury to find that Hobson and Waldrop's activities with respect to the Constellation smuggling venture could be included among the overt acts of racketeering activity needed to establish a pattern under the RICO statute, only if such activity was associated with the affairs of the enterprise, defined in terms of all named defendants and their common purpose. The court's refusal to read Waldrop's proposed instruction, therefore, was not fatal. 163 Waldrop further argues that even if the court's instruction was proper, it was error not to recite Waldrop's theory of defense. Waldrop's proposed instruction stated as follows: 164 Mr. Waldrop's theory of the defense is that he must be acquitted of the charges contained in Count 2 of this indictment, because the government has not proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, the following: (1) that he knowingly or willfully participated, directly or indirectly, in any enterprise established by Manuel Eric Villanueva, Jose Luis Acosta, and Antonio E. Bascaro through a pattern of racketeering activity; (2) that the evidence fails to establish that he committed two acts of racketeering which were connected, directly or indirectly, to the enterprise established by Manuel Eric Villanueva, Jose Luis Acosta, and Antonio E. Bascaro. 165 A district court's refusal to deliver a defendant's requested instruction will constitute reversible error if and only if the requested instruction (1) is correct, (2) is not substantially covered by other instructions which were delivered, and (3) deals with some point in the trial so 'vital' that the failure to give the requested instruction seriously impaired the defendant's ability to defend. United States v. Stone, 702 F.2d 1333, 1339 (11th Cir.1983). We are satisfied that the requested instruction was substantially covered by other instructions delivered. The only difference between the theory of defense instruction requested and the instruction given was that the instruction given defined the enterprise in terms of its participants and purpose instead of its organizers, which for reasons given above is not a difference so vital as to impair the defendants' ability to defend under the instruction delivered. 166 We are further satisfied that the evidence supported the jury's finding that the Constellation episode was an affair of the enterprise and not a free-lance smuggling venture. The venture was headed by Cobb, a self-described leader of the enterprise. James was called upon to serve as counsel to the participants, just as he had been with virtually all of the affairs of the enterprise. Finally, Acosta assumed responsibility for the venture by stepping in to rescue Cobb after the venture had failed. Viewing the record in a light most favorable to the government, we hold that the above-mentioned facts could combine to lead a reasonable juror to conclude that the Constellation venture was an affair of the charged enterprise. 167