Opinion ID: 546225
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Successive RICO Prosecutions of Joseph Ciancaglini

Text: 68 Ciancaglini filed a pretrial motion to dismiss the RICO charges against him on double jeopardy grounds, citing his earlier conviction for a RICO conspiracy involving the same enterprise. United States v. Riccobene, 709 F.2d 214 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 849, 104 S.Ct. 157, 78 L.Ed.2d 145 (1983). We rejected his double jeopardy claim in an earlier appeal, reasoning that the successive RICO charges did not involve the same offense for double jeopardy purposes because they alleged different patterns of racketeering activity occurring over different time periods. United States v. Ciancaglini, 858 F.2d 923, 930 (3d Cir.1988). 69 Ciancaglini now urges us to reconsider our decision in light of the record developed at trial. Specifically, he contends that the government relied on identical evidence in both trials and that it expressly conceded the existence of a single RICO conspiracy, thus shifting its ground from pretrial, where it alleged that it intended to prove the same enterprise but successive conspiracies. Brief for Ciancaglini at 14. In support of these contentions, he points to two intercepted conversations, one dated April 20, 1976, and the other, November 4, 1977, which were introduced at both trials and which the government claimed were necessary to prove the existence of the enterprise. 31 Brief for Ciancaglini at 15-16. In the course of his response to Ciancaglini's objection on relevancy grounds to the admission of the tapes, the prosecutor stated: 70 This tape was played ... in the prosecution of-in 1982 of Harry Riccobene, Mr. Ciancaglini and a number of other defendants.... [I]t's a very essential piece of evidence. Its coming from the mouths of these very defendants the fact that there is in fact a La Cosa Nostra, that Mr. Scarfo is a participant in this conversation, this is an ongoing conspiracy. 71 The conspiracy in this case by the indictment begins in April of 1976, a year before this tape-a year and a half before this tape was even made. The very nature of La Cosa Nostra is this is an ongoing criminal enterprise. 32 72 According to Ciancaglini, these remarks constitute an admission on the part of the government of a single RICO conspiracy. Therefore, he argues, we are not constrained by our earlier decision because it rested on an assumption that the government intended to prove successive conspiratorial agreements. He further argues that even if we conclude that the developments at trial did not undercut our reasoning in his prior appeal, Grady v. Corbin, supra, requires a different analysis. 73 In Ciancaglini, we held that double jeopardy is offended by successive RICO prosecutions only where, under a totality of the circumstances test, there is no material difference between the enterprise and the pattern of racketeering activity charged in the two indictments. Id. at 929. We specifically rejected a double jeopardy analysis for RICO conspiracies which focused solely on whether the indictments alleged the same conspiratorial agreement. 858 F.2d at 928. We reasoned that because a RICO conspiracy is nothing more than an agreement to violate a substantive provision of RICO, the double jeopardy analyses for successive prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. Secs. 1962(c) and (d) must be identical where, as here, both charges allege the same enterprise and underlying pattern of racketeering activity. 858 F.2d at 929. Indeed, it is meaningless to speak of a conspiratorial agreement under RICO without reference to the enterprise and pattern of racketeering activity. 74 We fully appreciated the fact that this case involved the same enterprise as that charged in Riccobene. 858 F.2d at 929. However, we were not troubled by that circumstance because Congress could not possibly have intended that 75 a defendant should be prosecuted only once for an ongoing RICO enterprise when, after being convicted of carrying out the enterprise's activities through one pattern, he allegedly continues to carry them out through a separate pattern. 76 Id. at 928-29. 77 After carefully reviewing the indictments, we concluded that the alleged pattern of racketeering in this case differed substantially from that charged in Riccobene. 858 F.2d at 930. Accordingly, we rejected Ciancaglini's double jeopardy claim. Id. 78 Under our reasoning in Ciancaglini, the government's reliance on the same evidence adduced in Riccobene to establish the existence of the enterprise hardly means that this prosecution subjected Ciancaglini to double jeopardy. Furthermore, we simply do not agree that the government conceded the existence of a single conspiratorial agreement. 33 Thus, the developments at trial do not require us to re-examine our prior decision, as the patterns of racketeering proven in the two RICO prosecutions were distinct. Of course, as Ciancaglini asserts, if our prior decision is inconsistent with Grady v. Corbin, we could not rely on it here. But we do not think that Grady undermines Ciancaglini. 79 As discussed above in conjunction with Scarfo's double jeopardy claim, Grady held that the Double Jeopardy Clause bars a subsequent prosecution if, to establish an essential element of an offense charged in that prosecution, the government will prove conduct which constitutes an offense for which the defendant already has been prosecuted. 110 S.Ct. at 2087 (emphasis added). By its own terms, Grady does not bar successive RICO prosecutions of the same defendant where the only common element of the two prosecutions is the enterprise because the enterprise, in itself, is not conduct ... constitut[ing] an offense for which the defendant already has been prosecuted. First, as the RICO statute requires proof of both an enterprise and a pattern of racketeering activity, United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 583, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 2528, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981), the government's proof of the enterprise in the first RICO prosecution could not be considered proof of the conduct giving rise to the offense of which Ciancaglini previously was convicted. We do not think that under Grady, there necessarily is a double jeopardy problem whenever there is an overlap between the facts satisfying the elements of the successively charged offenses. Grady holds only that the double jeopardy clause bars a subsequent prosecution where, to prove an essential element of the offense charged in that prosecution, the government will relitigate conduct amounting to an offense subject to a previous conviction of the defendant. 80 Second and even more significantly, Ciancaglini is fully consistent with Grady because an enterprise within RICO does not include any conduct element. Although in this case, the enterprise was defined as a group of individuals associated in fact, Jt.App. at 127A, evidence of the appellants' association was offered not to prove any illegal conduct but to prove the existence of the enterprise which, itself, is an entity. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1961(4). See also Turkette, 452 U.S. at 583, 101 S.Ct. at 2528. 34 We believe that any other construction of the RICO statute would confuse the association giving rise to the enterprise with a conspiracy. It is true that where the enterprise is defined as an association for criminal purposes, proof of the enterprise implicitly may prove an unlawful agreement. However, as the Supreme Court's language in Turkette suggests, see supra at 1114 n. 34, a RICO enterprise is not a conspiracy. Thus, while Grady may bar successive RICO prosecutions where the patterns of racketeering activity charged against the defendant substantially overlap, 35 we do not think that our prior decision conflicts with Grady, as the government's proof of the same enterprise was not proof of the same conduct. 36 81 Moreover, even if we were to interpret Grady as implicitly overruling Ciancaglini, we would have no cause to disturb Ciancaglini's conviction because his double jeopardy challenge falls squarely within the exception recognized in Grady for offenses which had not occurred at the time of the earlier indictment. 110 S.Ct. at 2090 n. 7. 37 In this regard, we reiterate our observation in Ciancaglini that all of the racketeering acts charged against Ciancaglini in this RICO prosecution occurred after the indictment was filed in the Riccobene case, and many occurred after the Riccobene trial began in April of 1982. 858 F.2d at 930. Ciancaglini has argued that the district court's jury instructions in this case amounted to a quasi-Pinkerton charge which encouraged the jury to look beyond the alleged predicate acts and find guilt based on conduct occurring at the time of the earlier indictment. For reasons explained more fully later in this opinion, we reject this contention. See infra at 1147 & n. 91. To us, the fact that completely different patterns of racketeering were proven in the two cases is dispositive of the double jeopardy question raised here. Thus, we reject Ciancaglini's claim.