Opinion ID: 340081
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Authorization for the Application for the Wiretap Order.

Text: 85 Appellants argue that the wiretap evidence should have been suppressed because the government's application for the interception order lacked the authorization required by the statute. 18 U.S.C. § 2516(1) provides that: 86 The Attorney General, or any Assistant Attorney General specially designated by the Attorney General, may authorize an application to a Federal judge of competent jurisdiction for . . . an order authorizing or approving the interception of wire or oral communications . . . . 87 In this case, the written application and the application for an extension stated that Attorney General Mitchell had specially designated Acting Assistant Attorney General Henry Peterson to authorize the application to the federal court, and Peterson's letter was attached. 88 After their indictment, appellants moved to suppress the wiretap evidence on the ground that an acting assistant attorney general had no authority to authorize wiretaps pursuant to § 2516. Appellants argue that the applications were insufficient on their face. Section 2518(10)(a)(ii) provides that the contents of intercepted communications may be suppressed on the ground that the order of authorization or approval under which it was intercepted is insufficient on its face. 89 In United States v. Vigi, 515 F.2d 290 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 912, 96 S.Ct. 215, 46 L.Ed.2d 140 (1975), our court considered this argument and held that it was unnecessary to determine whether an acting assistant attorney general who signed the letter authorizing the application could give effective approval under § 2516, because the Attorney General himself had actually approved the application. Accord, United States v. Swann, 526 F.2d 147 (9th Cir. 1975); United States v. Acon, 513 F.2d 513 (3d Cir. 1975); United States v. Robertson, 504 F.2d 289 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 913, 95 S.Ct. 1568, 43 L.Ed.2d 778 (1975). The same situation is present in this case. The district court found that Peterson had submitted the papers supporting the request for authorization to Attorney General Mitchell, and that Mitchell himself approved the application. The government submitted the affidavit of Sol Lindenbaum who stated that the Attorney General had approved the request for authorization to apply for wiretap orders. Attached to this affidavit were copies of a memorandum from Mitchell to Peterson. In his deposition Lindenbaum identified the handwritten initials on the memos as Mitchell's. Judge Kennedy, who issued the wiretap orders, was told that Mitchell had approved the application. 90 Appellants also contend, however, that Attorney General Mitchell's internal memoranda were ineffective because 28 C.F.R. § 0.180 required the designation of formal orders. Appellants contend that this section is applicable by its own terms to all documents relating to the assignment . . . or delegations of authority, functions, or duties by the Attorney General. These documents are to be designated as formal orders to be issued by the Attorney General in a numbered series. This section is not applicable to delegations of the special authority over applications for interception orders, or to the Attorney General's personal approval of an application for an interception order. Other courts have found even verbal approval by the Attorney General to be sufficient. United States v. Falcone, 505 F.2d 478 (3d Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 955, 95 S.Ct. 1339, 43 L.Ed.2d 432 (1975). 91 Appellants also contend that the affidavit in support of the application for the wiretap failed to make the averments required by 18 U.S.C. § 2518(1)(c). Section 2518(1)(c) requires that an application for an electronic surveillance order contain a complete statement as to whether or not other investigative procedures have been tried and failed or why they appear to be unlikely to succeed if tried or to be too dangerous . . . . We hold that the affidavit of Agent Garibotto was a satisfactory statement of the investigative steps taken to date, and that it affords a sufficient reason why normal investigative procedures appear to be unlikely to succeed. 11 92 However, appellants argue that the averments were false and misleading because a government informant, Roosevelt Nabors, had been asked to become a lieutenant in the organization, but had refused on the advice of government agents. This opportunity for infiltration, they argue, would have permitted the government to investigate the organization by normal procedures. The affidavit did not discuss the invitation for Nabors to become a lieutenant. The district judge rejected this argument because, even as a lieutenant, Nabors would have had difficulty in learning all the complex details of the widespread organization, and its aiders and abettors. Moreover, in view of Nabors' lengthy prior criminal record, the government would have had great difficulty in establishing criminal liability by his testimony alone. 93 We agree with the district court's analysis. The availability of an informant who was offered and declined an opportunity to penetrate deeper into a criminal organization under investigation did not render insufficient Garibotto's statements of the need for wiretaps to discover and prove the liability of the conspirators. See United States v. Pacheco, 489 F.2d 554, 564-565 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 909, 95 S.Ct. 1558, 43 L.Ed.2d 774 (1975). 94 Appellants' final contention regarding the wire interception is that the affidavit submitted with the application for the wiretap order did not meet the requirement of 18 U.S.C. § 2518(3)(d) that it afford the district court probable cause for belief that the facilities from which, or the place where, the wire or oral communications are to be intercepted are being used, or are about to be used, in connection with the commission of (an offense specified) . . . . Appellants contend that the application failed to establish probable cause to believe that the telephone in the house on Hubbell Street was being, or was about to be, used to facilitate the distribution of narcotics. 95 The affidavit recited that on two separate occasions, on October 22 and November 4, a government informant, who consented to having government agents monitor his conversation, called the number registered to the Hubbell Street address and set up a sale at the Hubbell Street house, and the purchased substance was tested and found to be heroin. During the exchange, the agent observed the telephone ring a number of times. He saw appellants Blair and Brown answer the calls. Additionally, Garibotto averred that based upon his experience in narcotics investigations, a telephone was regularly used to negotiate the time, place, and manner of selling, buying, possessing, concealing, delivering, distributing, or paying for controlled substances. 96 On review, we must view the affidavit in a common sense fashion, and we think that it afforded probable cause to believe that the telephone at the Hubbell Street address was being used to make the arrangements for a series of narcotics transactions. This is sufficient to satisfy the requirement of § 2518(3)(d). 97