Opinion ID: 496185
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Abbamonte's Continuing Criminal Enterprise

Text: 28 Abbamonte concedes that the evidence established his supervision of four persons but argues that since the Government did not meet the requirement of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 848 that he acted in concert and organized, supervised, or managed five persons, he must be acquitted of this offense. See Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 16-17, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 2150, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978). We agree with the Government, however, that the historical evidence relating to Abbamonte's 1982-83 operations with Joseph Delvecchio satisfies the missing element. Appellant argues that the sole evidence presented by the Government to establish that he acted in concert with and organized, supervised, or managed Joseph Delvecchio, was derived from the facts underlying Abbamonte's 1983 conspiracy conviction and that use of that prior conspiracy conviction or the facts underlying it in a later prosecution for operating a CCE violates the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment. See Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 493, 501, 104 S.Ct. 2536, 2542, 81 L.Ed.2d 425 (1984); Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 169, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 2227, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977) (double jeopardy forbids successive prosecutions for greater and lesser offense). We agree with the Government that the district court properly admitted facts underlying Abbamonte's 1983 conspiracy and substantive narcotics convictions and correctly instructed the jury on its use. 29 Even if the Government were somehow precluded from using the 1983 conspiracy conviction to satisfy the in concert element of section 848, it nevertheless could use his 1983 convictions for substantive offenses for this purpose. United States v. Boldin, 772 F.2d 719, 731 (11th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1048, 106 S.Ct. 1269, 89 L.Ed.2d 577 (1986). See also United States v. Stricklin, 591 F.2d 1112, 1123-24 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 963, 100 S.Ct. 449, 62 L.Ed.2d 375 (1979). Any error in admitting the conspiracy conviction was necessarily harmless since evidence that Abbamonte organized, supervised, or managed Joseph Delvecchio during two 1982 heroin transactions also proved two substantive narcotics violations. Moreover, evidence in this case showed that the crimes to which Abbamonte pleaded guilty in 1983 were but a small part of the enterprise that operated from on or about June 1, 1981, to on or about August 26, 1986. 30 Congress intended CCE to be a separate offense. Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. 773, 784, 105 S.Ct. 2407, 2414, 85 L.Ed.2d 764 (1985). Moreover, the double jeopardy clause does not preclude prosecution for both the predicate offenses and the CCE offense, even when prosecution for a CCE offense follows conviction for one of the predicate offenses. Id. at 784-86, 793, 105 S.Ct. at 2414-15, 2419. Congress did not intend to authorize cumulative penalties under the drug conspiracy section, 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846, and the CCE section, 21 U.S.C. Sec. 848, Jeffers v. United States, 432 U.S. 137, 157, 97 S.Ct. 2207, 2219, 53 L.Ed.2d 168 (1977); United States v. Mourad, 729 F.2d 195, 202 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 855, 105 S.Ct. 180, 83 L.Ed.2d 114 (1984), so that a defendant found guilty of both a conspiracy and a CCE may not be sentenced more than the maximum authorized by section 848. United States v. Mourad, 729 F.2d at 202. However, [t]he same is not true of the substantive offenses created by the Act and conspiracy, and by the same logic, it is not true of the substantive offenses and CCE. Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. at 794, 105 S.Ct. at 2420. Since this case involves substantive offenses and a CCE, evidence underlying Abbamonte's 1983 conviction involving his supervision of Delvecchio establishes the missing fifth person thereby permitting prosecution of Abbamonte for CCE. 31