Opinion ID: 370140
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence of Cash Transactions

Text: 36 Ariza argues that the evidence that large amounts of cash were deposited in his bank account in Puerto Rico and that a bank time deposit slip for $1,203,691 was found in his left shoe when he was arrested was irrelevant and inadmissible. Rodriguez similarly objects to the evidence that $5 million in cashier's checks was found on Ariza. They stress that there was no allegation that Ariza had received the money illegally and no evidence that the money was linked to the crime charged. 37 We think that the evidence in question did bear on defendants' guilt and was admissible. The crime charged was a conspiracy to make a large-scale, multimillion dollar drug transaction, and the source of Ariza's funds, which had not been declared as money either brought into or earned in Puerto Rico, was highly suspect. The money involved was a large amount by any standard, and was brought into the bank in Puerto Rico in five, ten and twenty dollar bills packed in suitcases in one instance it had taken until eleven o'clock at night to count it out. A jury might reasonably believe that one engaged in a legitimate commodities business would not operate in this way. From the modus operandi involving cash in such amounts, the jury could logically infer that defendants were in fact engaged in illicit activities of the sort indicated in the other evidence. This evidence was relevant and was properly admitted. United States v. Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087, 1105 (2d Cir.), Cert. denied, 423 U.S. 832, 96 S.Ct. 54, 46 L.Ed.2d 50 (1975) (evidence of possession of large amounts of unexplained cash in connection with evidence of narcotics trafficking on a large scale); See United States v. Viserto, 596 F.2d 531 (2d Cir. 1979); Falley, 489 F.2d at 38; United States v. Hinton, 543 F.2d 1002, 1012-13 (2d Cir.), Cert. denied, 429 U.S. 980, 1051, 1066, 97 S.Ct. 493, 764, 796, 50 L.Ed.2d 589, 767, 783, 430 U.S. 982, 97 S.Ct. 1677, 52 L.Ed.2d 376 (1976). 11