Opinion ID: 196165
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: money and drugs

Text: 67 In order to obtain a conviction on the money laundering counts, as charged in the superseding indictment, the government had the burden of proving that the laundered funds were derived from the narcotics trade. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1956(a)(2). Appellant challenges both the admissibility and the sufficiency of the evidence introduced for this purpose. The challenge is unavailing. 68
69 A district court has considerable discretion when determining whether evidence is admissible. See United States v. Paulino, 13 F.3d 20, 25 (1st Cir.1994); Zannino, 895 F.2d at 16-17; United States v. Nivica, 887 F.2d 1110, 1126 (1st Cir.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1005, 110 S.Ct. 1300, 108 L.Ed.2d 477 (1990). Where, as here, the court finds that evidence is relevant, Fed.R.Evid. 401, but the defendant nonetheless objects to it on the ground that its value is overborne by the potential mischief it may cause, Fed.R.Evid. 403, the trial court must strike a balance between probative worth and likely prejudice. Zannino, 895 F.2d at 16-17. The district court is the primary arbiter of how these scales should be calibrated. On appeal, we will reverse its determination only if admitting the evidence constituted a palpable abuse of discretion. See United States v. De La Cruz, 902 F.2d 121, 124 (1st Cir.1990); United States v. Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d 153, 155-56 (1st Cir.1989). This is a difficult row to hoe: Only rarely--and in extraordinarily compelling circumstances--will we, from the vista of a cold appellate record, reverse a district court's on-the-spot judgment concerning the relative weighing of probative value and unfair effect. Freeman v. Package Mach. Corp., 865 F.2d 1331, 1340 (1st Cir.1988). 70 When no contemporaneous objection appears of record, the complaining party's burden increases. In that situation, appellate review is for plain error. United States v. Sepulveda, 15 F.3d 1161, 1187 (1st Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 2714, 129 L.Ed.2d 840 (1994); see also Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b). When the plain error standard prevails, we reverse only if a miscue so poisoned the well that the trial's outcome was likely affected. Sepulveda, 15 F.3d at 1188 (quoting United States v. Mejia-Lozano, 829 F.2d 268, 274 (1st Cir.1987)). 71 A different standard of review takes center stage when a defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. In that connection, the inquiry turns on whether, after assaying all the evidence in the light most amiable to the government, and taking all reasonable inferences in its favor, a rational factfinder could find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the prosecution successfully proved the essential elements of the crime. United States v. O'Brien, 14 F.3d 703, 706 (1st Cir.1994). In performing the requisite analysis, we do not assess the credibility of witnesses, see id., nor do we force the government to disprove every reasonable hypothesis of innocence, see United States v. Echeverri, 982 F.2d 675, 677 (1st Cir.1993). 72
73 Appellant contends that the prosecution made unfair use of impermissibly suggestive innuendo and stereotypes about Colombians, thereby inviting reversal. Appellant's argument focuses on evidence adduced, or remarks made, at four different points during his trial. First, appellant accuses the government of eliciting testimony concerning the birthplaces of Escobar and Garcia (both of whom were born in Colombia), while not inquiring about any other individual's place of birth. Second, the court permitted Sharir to testify that appellant told him to be careful because he was dealing with Colombians, who would go after his family if they were crossed. Third, when Donald Semesky, an IRS agent, offered expert testimony as to the modus operandi of Colombian drug cartels, he mentioned, among other things, that two Colombian cartels control the illegal importation of cocaine into the United States, and that their narcotics trafficking generates much cash, necessitating money laundering. Fourth, the government's summation hammered these same points. 74 Due to the singular importance of keeping our criminal justice system on an even keel, respecting the rights of all persons, courts must not tolerate prosecutors' efforts gratuitously to inject issues like race and ethnicity into criminal trials. See McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 309 & n. 30, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 1777 & n. 30, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987); United States v. Doe, 903 F.2d 16, 21 (D.C.Cir.1990). Emphasizing a person's national origin not only may raise concerns of relevancy, undue prejudice, and prosecutorial misconduct, but also may pose issues of constitutional dimension. See, e.g., United States v. Vue, 13 F.3d 1206, 1213 (8th Cir.1994); United States v. Rodriguez Cortes, 949 F.2d 532, 541 (1st Cir.1991). 75 This does not mean, however, that all evidence touching upon race or national origin automatically must be excluded. A trial involves a search for the truth, and, as such, it cannot be entirely antiseptic. The trick is to separate impermissible uses of highly charged evidence from those uses that are proper and permissible. See United States v. Alzanki, 54 F.3d 994, 1007-08 (1st Cir.1995); Doe, 903 F.2d at 25. Thus, while it has proven acceptable on occasion for a prosecutor to introduce evidence of oppressive Kuwaiti customs to buttress the reasonableness of the victim's professed belief, see Alzanki, 54 F.3d at 1008, or to make an unembellished reference to evidence of race simply as a factor bolstering an eyewitness identification of the culprit, Doe, 903 F.2d at 25 (dictum), or to remark that an Iranian defendant likely assumed that his American wife would not be searched at customs, United States v. Tajeddini, 996 F.2d 1278, 1285 (1st Cir.1993), 14 or to describe drugs as coming from Colombia to give the jury a complete view of the conspiracy's endeavors to import cocaine, see United States v. Ovalle-Marquez, 36 F.3d 212, 220 (1st Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1322, 131 L.Ed.2d 202 (1995), aggressive prosecutors sometimes go too far. When that occurs, courts must act. We have, for instance, reversed convictions when, as in Rodriguez Cortes, the government's strategem blatantly invited the jury to find the defendant guilty by reason of his national origin. See Rodriguez Cortes, 949 F.2d at 541 (finding abuse of discretion in admission of defendant's Colombian identification card); see also Vue, 13 F.3d at 1212-13 (reversing conviction because district court admitted testimony tying defendant's ethnic group, the Hmong, to 95% of the local opium trade); Doe, 903 F.2d at 23-27 (reversing conviction due to admission of testimony on modus operandi of Jamaican drug gangs and prosecutor's inflammatory comments thereon). 76 In determining the propriety of evidence implicating ethnicity or national origin, context is critical. In the case at bar, all the evidence about Colombia, viewed in context, was properly admitted and used. By like token, the prosecutor's comments were not beyond the pale. 77 Appellant's first contention is factually incorrect. The prosecutor asked several witnesses other than Escobar and Garcia (e.g., Sharir and Slomovits) where they were born. Seen in this light, the casual questioning about place of birth, not objected to at trial, cannot conceivably plunge to the plane of plain error. 78 Similarly, Sharir's testimony that Saccoccia told him to be wary because he was dealing with Colombians is highly probative on the issue of appellant's knowledge that the laundered funds were derived from illegal activities. Moreover, common sense suggests that drug traffickers are more likely than, say, Avon ladies, to harm the families of business associates if a deal sours. It is, therefore, a gross exaggeration to declare that the evidence had no purpose other than to suggest that Colombians are prone to violence. 79 Similarly, Agent Semesky's testimony was relevant and appropriate in several respects. First, it went a long way toward explaining the nature of money laundering and the basis for appellant's activities. This is a perfectly legitimate use of evidence. See Doe, 903 F.2d at 19 & n. 21 (citing cases). Even the testimony about the cartels' control over the American drug trade was relevant on the issue of whether the cash that appellant scrubbed clean was in fact derived from illegal activities. The evidence could support a jury's plausible, though circumstantial, inference of an illicit source of funds based on appellant's repeated wire transfers of millions of dollars in laundered money to a country that functions as the nerve center of the world's traffic in cocaine. 80 The only remotely problematic references to Colombia are those contained in the summation. For example, a prosecutor stated: 81 [Agent Semesky] told you as an expert, something you probably already knew, that cocaine comes from Colombia. That it's run by cartels in Colombia. That they ship the money up here and it gets out into the streets. That's the reason for all these ten and twenty dollar bills. These are grams of coke.... 82 Later on, after reminding the jurors that the case involved roughly $100,000,000 generated on the streets of New York that is sent back to Colombia, a prosecutor posed a series of rhetorical questions: 83 If we're not talking about cocaine, what are we talking about? Is this from coffee vendors? Is this money coming from people out in the streets selling Colombian coffee? Oh, I have had a good day today. Five hundred thousand dollars, unfortunately, it's all in twenty dollar bills. Think of the change they had to give. This is a case about Roberto Juri and Tulio Alzate and Fernando Duenas and Stephen Saccoccia, not Juan Valdez, ladies and gentlemen. The evidence in this case and the only reasonable inference you can draw is drug money. 84 Appellant did not interject a contemporaneous objection to any of these comments. 15 85 It strains credulity to suggest, as Saccoccia does, that the prosecution was arguing that only drugs and coffee come from Colombia. The remark about coffee vendors was obviously intended to show the unlikelihood that any legitimate business would generate the volume of cash that flowed through appellant's operation. The quip about Juan Valdez, 16 while an unnecessary aside, cannot be said to emphasize emotion over facts. See Doe, 903 F.2d at 25. Viewed as a whole, the prosecution's evidence and comments about Colombia provide no basis for disturbing the jury's verdict. 86 Before ending our elaboration we note, as an adscript, that appellant himself is not Colombian, but is of Italian ancestry. This mitigates one of the most serious dangers of evidence about a person's national origin: that the jury will believe the defendant is guilty because of stereotyping. Appellant has not cited any case in which a court has reversed a conviction due to evidence touching upon a national origin not shared by the defendant. This is not to say that injustice and unfair prejudice may never result from a conviction based on improper use of evidence about the national origin of a defendant's friends or business associates. But, the ricochet effect of such evidence is likely to do less harm, on average, than the direct impact of evidence about the defendant's country of origin. 87
88 Appellant faults the district court for admitting evidence that Bosco von Schleudersitz (Bosco), a nine-year-old German shepherd trained to detect narcotics, 17 alerted to the presence of drugs in bundles of cash brought to local banks by appellant's henchmen. At trial Bosco's handler, Sgt. Edward Conley, testified that he took Bosco to a bank in Cranston, Rhode Island on March 23, 1990. Bosco searched several areas of the bank, such as the vault and teller stations, and did not react. Conley then took Bosco to a room in which a bag containing $9,000 was located, and, when he instructed Bosco to search for drugs, the dog showed a strong, positive aggressive alert, shaking the bag, ripping it apart, grabbing the money in his mouth, and ripping the money. According to Conley, a similar search, with similar results, took place on April 20, 1990, at a different bank in Johnston, Rhode Island. In each instance, the currency to which Bosco reacted had been brought to the bank by appellant's associates in order to purchase cashier's checks. 89 To meet this testimony, appellant called two experts who attacked the reliability of Bosco's response. One of these witnesses, Thomas Knott, testified that the manner in which Conley orchestrated the sniff tests did not properly control against the possibility of a false alert. The second expert, Dr. James Woodford, criticized the testing protocol because the sniff tests were not verified by chemical field tests. Woodford also testified as to the widespread contamination of United States currency with illegal drugs and the tenuous nature of the link between a canine alert and a conclusion that particular currency derived from narcotics trafficking ([I]f there were drugs on that money, it doesn't mean that it is drug money.). 18 90 Appellant insists that the probative value of the dog sniff evidence is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect, and that the district court erred in refusing to exclude the evidence under Fed.R.Evid. 403. This claim deserves serious attention, for recent decisions about the evidentiary value of a trained dog's alert to currency are not uniform. Compare, e.g., United States v. U.S. Currency, $30,060.00, 39 F.3d 1039, 1041-43 (9th Cir.1994) (noting widespread contamination and concluding that the probative value of a positive dog alert in currency forfeiture cases in Los Angeles is significantly diminished); United States v. Carr, 25 F.3d 1194, 1215 (3d Cir.) (Becker, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (stating that a substantial portion of United States currency now in circulation is tainted with sufficient traces of controlled substances to cause a trained canine to alert), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 742, 130 L.Ed.2d 643 (1994); and Jones v. DEA, 819 F.Supp. 698, 721 (M.D.Tenn.1993) (suggesting that continued reliance of courts and law enforcement officers on dog sniffs to separate 'legitimate' currency from 'drug-connected' currency is logically indefensible) with, e.g., United States v. $67,220.00 in U.S. Currency, 957 F.2d 280, 285-86 (6th Cir.1992) (noting that a positive dog reaction [to currency] is at least strong evidence of a connection to drugs); United States v. $215,300 U.S. Currency, 882 F.2d 417, 419 (9th Cir.1989) (upholding forfeiture based in part on a canine alert to currency), cert. denied, 497 U.S. 1005, 110 S.Ct. 3242, 111 L.Ed.2d 752 (1990); and United States v. Hernando Ospina, 798 F.2d 1570, 1583 (11th Cir.1986) (finding canine sniff evidence to be both probative and helpful to the jury in concluding that laundered money constitutes drug proceeds). 91 In the end, we reject appellant's asseveration. We do not think that the district court, based on the information of record in this case, abused its discretion in admitting the canine sniff evidence. 19 92 Even though widespread contamination of currency plainly lessens the impact of dog sniff evidence, a trained dog's alert still retains some probative value. Ordinary experience suggests that currency used to purchase narcotics is more likely than other currency to have come into contact with drugs. Here, moreover, the evidence supports an inference that Bosco's frenzied reaction was caused by more than a mere trace of contamination. 93 The record contains corroboration of Bosco's olfactory evidence. Several witnesses testified that ordinary human senses could detect something unusual about the money that appellant's associates brought to the banks. One teller testified that he occasionally noticed that the money felt dusty ... almost floury from pizza dough, that type of feeling. Another teller reported that she noticed an odor or fragrance, akin to that of an orchid. This evidence, along with Conley's testimony that the dog did not react in other areas of the banks, buttressed the lower court's belief that the dog sniff evidence had probative force. 94 Conversely, though the dog sniff evidence likely bolstered the prosecution's case and served to inculpate the defendant, we are not convinced that it presented a substantial risk of unfair prejudice. See generally Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d at 156 (By design, all evidence is meant to be prejudicial; it is only unfair prejudice which must be avoided.). After all, the court allowed appellant to call two expert witnesses who debunked Bosco's reaction to the currency. If, on one hand, the jury believed the experts, it doubtless discounted the value of the canine alert. If, on the other hand, the jury disbelieved appellant's experts, it was entitled to place a greater value on the canine sniff. See, e.g., Quinones-Pacheco v. American Airlines, Inc., 979 F.2d 1, 5 (1st Cir.1992) (explaining that expert opinion testimony, even if not directly contradicted, is not ordinarily binding on a jury). 95 In any event, considering the high degree of deference we owe to a district court's balancing of probative value against unfairly prejudicial effects, see Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d at 156, we cannot say that the trial court abused its wide discretion in admitting the evidence of Bosco's reaction to the currency delivered by appellant's associates. 96
97 Juan Carlos Garcia, a participant in the money laundering activities, testified for the government at appellant's trial. Garcia said that in 1987, while living in the United States, he began working for his brother-in-law, Fernando Duenas. Following Duenas' orders, Garcia would respond when paged on his beeper, arrange to retrieve a quantity of cash, and deposit the money in one of several bank accounts maintained under the names of Duenas, Duenas' wife (Garcia's sister), or Duenas' brother. By the end of 1987 the cash had mushroomed from $10,000-$20,000 per shipment to $150,000-$200,000 per shipment. 98 Garcia met appellant for the first time in May 1989. With Duenas' blessing, the two men agreed that appellant would accept bundles of cash from Garcia and send the money to Colombia. On countless occasions thereafter, appellant received money from Garcia and redirected it to accounts controlled by Duenas. 99 At trial, the district court permitted Garcia, over objection, to testify that, in 1988, Duenas told him that a man named Caesar would call and give him something other than money. Garcia knew Caesar because Caesar had brought money to him on a previous occasion. Caesar called and informed Garcia that he would be delivering a kilogram of cocaine. Subsequently, Caesar handed Garcia a shopping bag containing a block of a granular substance, beige in color. Garcia tried to sell the merchandise, as directed by Duenas, but he was unable to do so. He eventually delivered the package to another individual on Duenas' instructions. 100 Appellant assigns error to the trial court's admission of the testimony anent the package. The assignment of error has twin foci: (1) the conversations between Duenas and Garcia, and (2) Caesar's assurance that the package contained cocaine. 20 We believe that the court lawfully admitted the evidence. 101 The Evidence Rules provide that a statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy is not considered hearsay. Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). Here, the first prong of the rule is satisfied. The record contains adequate evidence that Duenas, Garcia, and Caesar were involved in a single conspiracy to launder money. By joining that conspiracy at a later date, appellant effectively adopted coconspirator declarations previously made. See United States v. Murphy, 852 F.2d 1, 8 (1st Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1022, 109 S.Ct. 1145, 103 L.Ed.2d 205 (1989); see also United States v. Baines, 812 F.2d 41, 42 (1st Cir.1987) ([A] conspiracy is like a train. When a party knowingly steps aboard, he is part of the crew, and assumes conspirator's responsibility for the existing freight--or conduct--regardless of whether he is aware of just what it is composed.). 102 The second prong of the rule is also satisfied; the statements were made during and in furtherance of the very conspiracy that appellant joined. For one thing, we have held that when a number of people combine efforts to manufacture, distribute and retail narcotics, there is a single conspiracy, a 'chain conspiracy,' despite the fact that some of the individuals linking the conspiracy together have not been in direct contact with others in the chain. United States v. Rivera-Santiago, 872 F.2d 1073, 1080 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 492 U.S. 910, 109 S.Ct. 3227, 106 L.Ed.2d 576 (1989). For another thing, money laundering and narcotics trafficking are symbiotic activities, each of which may require the other in order to continue. Duenas' efforts to have Garcia sell the cocaine for him and the group's ongoing campaign to launder money can rationally be seen as adjacent links in the lengthy chain that binds up the narcotics trafficking cycle. Thus, the district court acted within its proper province in deeming both activities part of the same conspiracy, and in holding that the attempted narcotics sale was in furtherance of it. Consequently, the challenged statements were properly admitted under Rule 801(d)(2)(E). 103 We note, moreover, as did the district court, that a statement made by an unavailable declarant 21 falls outside the hearsay exclusion if the statement at the time of its making ... so far tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability ... that a reasonable person in the declarant's position would not have made the statement unless believing it to be true. Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(3). Duenas' and Caesar's statements to Garcia were tantamount to admissions that they were dealing cocaine. Because such statements were against the declarants' penal interest, they came within the encincture of Rule 804(b)(3) and were admissible on that basis. 104 Finally, appellant's suggestion that the admission of Garcia's testimony abridged the Confrontation Clause is off base. It is well settled that a statement falling within a firmly rooted hearsay exception will not be held to violate the Confrontation Clause. See Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2539, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980); Puleio v. Vose, 830 F.2d 1197, 1204-05 (1st Cir.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 990, 108 S.Ct. 1297, 99 L.Ed.2d 506 (1988). It is equally well settled that the exceptions for coconspirator declarations and for declarations against penal interest are both firmly rooted in our jurisprudence. See Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 183, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 2782-83, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987) (discussing coconspirator exception); United States v. Innamorati, 996 F.2d 456, 474 n. 4 (1st Cir.1993) (discussing declaration against interest exception), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1073, 127 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994). 105
106 In the late 1980s, the DEA set up a network of sham corporations ostensibly to provide a money laundering service to underworld elements. DEA Special Agent James Shedd participated in this reverse sting operation (dubbed Operation Pisces). Duenas dealt with the Pisces network in 1987 and 1988. At trial, a prosecutor suggested that Shedd would testify as follows: Mr. Duenas told him that ninety-nine percent of the money that he was turning over to the undercover agent was, in fact, drug money. On the basis of this representation, the lower court denied a motion in limine by which the defense sought to exclude Shedd's testimony regarding Duenas' statements. Shedd told the jury about thirty-seven transactions in which Duenas supplied cash that the DEA undercover operation laundered for him. Shedd also described several conversations with Duenas in which Duenas reportedly said that he laundered money for Colombian drug traffickers and that ninety-nine percent of the money that money-launderers deal in Bogota comes from narcotics proceeds. 107 During cross-examination, appellant's counsel challenged Shedd about this statement. Shedd and Duenas conversed in Spanish, and some of their conversations had been recorded. Defense counsel called Shedd's attention to one such conversation. The translation indicated that Duenas made the contested comment during a discussion in which he explained that, although it was against the law, foreign currency routinely circulated in Colombia. He apparently added: Logically, the [foreign] currency that circulates the most over there ... is the dollar ... which ninety-nine percent of it comes from drug dealing. Shedd responded that his direct testimony had been premised not on a single discussion, but on an overall impression gained from a lengthy conversation with Duenas. 22 Appellant then moved to strike Shedd's testimony. Judge Torres denied the motion. 108 Appellant maintains that the district court made no fewer than four errors in connection with this testimony. First, appellant posits that Duenas' statements were barred by the hearsay rule. This claim fails. The court was warranted in finding that these were coconspirator declarations and, thus, admissible under Rule 801(d)(2)(E). See, e.g., Sepulveda, 15 F.3d at 1180; Ortiz, 966 F.2d at 714-15. 109 Appellant's second contention is that Duenas' statement, in its true form, was irrelevant because it was nothing more than a gross generalization about the Colombian economy. We disagree. Though courts are sometimes cautious about admitting abstract data as proof of what actually happened in an individual case, a percentage like ninety-nine percent is quite powerful, and far surpasses the usual test that evidence is relevant if it has any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Fed.R.Evid. 401. Trial courts are afforded wide discretion in determining whether evidence clears this low threshold, see United States v. Tierney, 760 F.2d 382, 387 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 843, 106 S.Ct. 131, 88 L.Ed.2d 108 (1985), and we will disturb an exercise of that discretion only if manifest abuse appears, see Sepulveda, 15 F.3d at 1194; United States v. Griffin, 818 F.2d 97, 101 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 844, 108 S.Ct. 137, 98 L.Ed.2d 94 (1987). 110 Under this deferential standard, the district court acted within its lawful powers in deeming Duenas' statements relevant to the issue of whether the money appellant laundered was in fact derived from narcotics trafficking. Duenas' remark, even in the diluted form that was heralded on cross-examination, has at least some probative value in ascertaining whether the drug trade was the source of the funds that appellant washed, much as the fact that a lake is contaminated has some probative value in ascertaining whether a stream that feeds the lake is contaminated. 111 Appellant's third sally alleges error in Shedd's explanation that his initial testimony about Duenas' statement was based on an overall impression from several hours of conversation. Although a witness is generally not permitted to testify about his subjective interpretations of what has been said by another person, he may do so if his opinion is rationally based on his perception and is helpful either to an understanding of his testimony or to the determination of a fact in issue. See United States v. Cox, 633 F.2d 871, 875 (9th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 844, 102 S.Ct. 159, 70 L.Ed.2d 130 (1981). In this case, we conclude that the district court acted lawfully in leaving the testimony intact. 112 Shedd tendered his explanation of Duenas' statement in direct response to a question by appellant's counsel on cross-examination. The answer was not followed by a timely objection or motion to strike. While appellant challenged Shedd's qualifications to offer an opinion about Duenas' state of mind in a subsequent motion to strike, this was too late. See United States v. Moore, 923 F.2d 910, 915 (1st Cir.1991) (holding that Evidence Rule 103 requires that objections be made at the time evidence is offered); United States v. Parodi, 703 F.2d 768, 783 (4th Cir.1983) (same). The proper time to have registered an objection to Shedd's explanation was immediately after it was uttered. Accordingly, any objection to the explanation has been waived. And, moreover, even if the court erred in permitting the answer to stand, it looms as harmless beyond all doubt in the context of a very efficacious cross-examination. 113 Appellant's final contention is that the prosecution knowingly offered Shedd's testimony despite having a transcript that refuted it, and, to make a bad situation worse, deliberately withheld the transcript from the defense. Having carefully examined the record, we find no valid reason to conclude that the prosecution intentionally mischaracterized Shedd's proposed testimony during the in limine hearing, and no hint of prosecutorial misconduct in the handling of the transcript. At any rate, it is perfectly clear that defense counsel obtained the unexpurgated transcript in ample time to conduct a very effective cross-examination on the following day. There was no prejudice and, hence, no reversible error. See Devin, 918 F.2d at 290. 114
115 The district court allowed the prosecution to introduce tape recordings of two conversations in which Saccoccia's employees made reference to drugs. The tapes are not entirely audible, and the parties disagree about what was said during two potentially significant conversations. The government asserts that, in a discussion that took place at Trend's offices, Kenneth Saccoccio referred to cash that he and Hurley were counting as fuckin' drug money. Appellant claims that this portion of the tape was inaudible. The other conversation took place at Saccoccia Coin Company. In it, Stanley Cirella spoke to Stephen Pizzo about an ongoing investigation of appellant's organization. According to the government, Cirella declared that he--a pronoun that we take in context to refer to Saccoccia--had told him that they [the authorities] ain't doin' this [conducting the investigation] because of the coke, they're doin' this because of the washing of money. Appellant contends that Cirella said gold rather than coke. 116 The issue on appeal is whether the district court abused its discretion in allowing the taped conversations to be presented to the jury in conjunction with the government's transcript. In appellant's view, the inaudible portions of the tapes are so critical as to make the rest more misleading than helpful. See United States v. Carbone, 798 F.2d 21, 24 (1st Cir.1986). Having listened to the tapes, see United States v. Carbone, 880 F.2d 1500, 1503 (1st Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1078, 110 S.Ct. 1131, 107 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1990), we believe that they are reasonably audible and that the judge appropriately left their interpretation to the jury. What was or was not said during a tape-recorded conversation is ordinarily a question of fact, not a question of law. 117 Appellant's fallback position is that, even if the government accurately transcribed the tapes, the lower court erred in failing to tell the jury that any statements about the source of the laundered money were relevant only to the speakers' subjective beliefs. This position hinges on the premise that, in the absence of a concinnous foundation showing the speakers' knowledge, the comments cannot constitute proof vis-a-vis Stephen Saccoccia (who did not participate in the discourse) as to whether the money in fact emanated from drug transactions. 118 We disagree with appellant's premise for two reasons. First, Evidence Rule 104(b) provides that [w]hen the relevancy of evidence depends upon the fulfillment of a condition of fact, the court shall admit it upon, or subject to, the introduction of evidence sufficient to support a finding of the fulfillment of the condition. In addressing foundational issues, the trial judge acts as a gatekeeper, examining the evidence and deciding whether the jury could reasonably find the conditional fact ... by a preponderance of the evidence. Huddleston v. United States, 485 U.S. 681, 690, 108 S.Ct. 1496, 1501, 99 L.Ed.2d 771 (1988). The conditional fact may be based on reasonable inference from the circumstantial evidence. Onujiogu v. United States, 817 F.2d 3, 5 (1st Cir.1987); see, e.g., Veranda Beach Club Ltd. Partnership v. Western Sur. Co., 936 F.2d 1364, 1372 (1st Cir.1991). 119 In light of the wide discretion afforded to trial judges in deciding whether an adequate foundation has been laid, see Real v. Hogan, 828 F.2d 58, 64 (1st Cir.1987), we think that Judge Torres acted unexceptionably in determining that the jury could rationally infer that appellant's employees would not refer to the cash as drug money without some basis in fact. The men who made the statements were substantially involved in appellant's operation and could easily have had opportunities to learn of the money's origins. 120 As we have indicated, there is a second reason why appellant is mistaken insofar as he sees personal knowledge about the source of the funds as a prerequisite to general admissibility of the comments. Both statements were made by coconspirators and are thus admissible under Evidence Rule 801(d)(2)(E) without a showing of personal knowledge. See United States v. Goins, 11 F.3d 441, 443-44 (4th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 2107, 128 L.Ed.2d 668 (1994) (holding that the personal knowledge requirement of Evidence Rule 602 does not apply to statements of a co-conspirator admissible as non-hearsay under Rule 801(d)(2)(E)); cf. Brookover v. Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hosp., 893 F.2d 411, 415-18 (1st Cir.1990) (finding no requirement of personal knowledge for admission of a statement under Rule 801(d)(2)(D)). 121 For these two reasons the challenged statements were properly before the jury, and the court acted appropriately in refusing appellant's proposed limiting instruction. 122
123 Viewing the evidence as a whole and keeping in mind that the prosecution's burden of proof can be satisfied by either direct or circumstantial evidence, see O'Brien, 14 F.3d at 706, we conclude that a rational factfinder could determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the money appellant laundered was in fact derived from the narcotics trade. 124 Rehashing the evidence would serve no useful purpose. We do take special note, however, that appellant's money-washing operation matched Agent Semesky's description of how Colombian drug rings traditionally laundered ill-gotten gains, and that, as the district court observed, it is difficult to conceive of any non-narcotics-related business that could create a comparable cascade of creased currency. That the waves of cold cash typically appeared in well-worn bills of small denomination makes the tie tighter. Then, too, the jury heard competent evidence that Duenas, who furnished money for appellant to launder, himself performed monetary ablutions for narcotics traffickers (and, on one occasion, supplied cocaine for an associate to sell). The canine alert to currency that appellant's associates had gathered furnished some added support for the theory that the money emanated from drug sales. Finally, appellant's own employees suggested on two occasions that the washed funds were linked to narcotics. 125 Taken in the ensemble, these pieces of evidence provide an adequate foundation on which the jury could build a finding that appellant laundered drug money. Jurors, after all, are not expected to resist commonsense inferences based on the realities of human experience. See Veranda Beach Club, 936 F.2d at 1372 (The law is not so struthious as to compel a factfinder to ignore that which is perfectly obvious.); United States v. Ingraham, 832 F.2d 229, 240 (1st Cir.1987) (similar), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1009, 108 S.Ct. 1738, 100 L.Ed.2d 202 (1988).