Opinion ID: 495278
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of the Enterprise Evidence

Text: 45 We further hold that there was sufficient evidence of each of the three enterprise characteristics for a jury to find that an enterprise existed. First, it is abundantly clear that the common-purpose element was present here. Each defendant shared the common purpose alleged in the indictment, to import, receive, conceal, buy, sell, and otherwise deal in narcotic and dangerous drugs, and each to some extent carried out this purpose. See Lemm, 680 F.2d at 1199. 46 Next, the requisite continuity of structure and of personnel has also been demonstrated. Continuity of structure exists where there is an organizational pattern or system of authority that provides a mechanism for directing the group's affairs on a continuing, rather than an ad hoc, basis. Bledsoe, 674 F.2d at 665; Lemm, 680 F.2d at 1199; Riccobene, 709 F.2d at 222. The continuity-of-personnel element involves a closely related inquiry, in which [t]he determinative factor is whether the associational ties of those charged with a RICO violation amount to an organizational pattern or system of authority. Lemm, 680 F.2d at 1199, citing Bledsoe, 674 F.2d at 665; see Riccobene, 709 F.2d at 223. The continuity of these elements need not be absolute; the group's system of authority may be modified, old members may leave, and new members may join. Bledsoe, 674 F.2d at 665; Lemm, 680 F.2d at 1199; 12 Riccobene, 709 F.2d at 222-23. That some changes in structure and personnel occur does not mean that there is no mechanism for continuing direction of group affairs; both the structure and the personnel of an enterprise may undergo alteration without loss of the enterprise's identity as an enterprise. 47 As one might expect, both the structure of and the personnel associated with the organization here underwent some changes during the course of its various activities. Nonetheless, the activities of the group exhibit a pattern of roles and a continuing system of authority; the essential identity of the enterprise endured. Kragness, Deters, Holbrook, Caspersen, and Lager were all members of the organization from at least 1979 until it ceased operations. Other participants in the organization's drug activities came and went, and there was a significant expansion of the operation with the addition of Benanti and his associates in the cocaine-and-quaalude project, but the core group remained involved throughout. 48 Kragness and Deters occupied positions of authority, arranging and directing the group's drug importation and distribution. They recruited and assigned personnel, oversaw the provision of logistical and materiel requirements, such as airfields and planes, and provided and organized financial backing. Both Kragness and Deters personally performed more low-level tasks, such as piloting planes on drug runs, during the early days of their involvement in the drug business, and progressed to perform more hands-off supervisory roles. Caspersen and Prescott performed distribution functions throughout the course of their involvement in the business; Caspersen provided a safe house for drugs and distributed marijuana and cocaine, and Prescott distributed quaaludes and cocaine. Lager was recruited by Kragness to act as a transporter, and performed, this role throughout his involvement; he also performed the tasks of finding both the La Junta and Anadarko airstrips, and performed banking functions throughout the course of the enterprise. Holbrook also acted as a transporter, and assisted in flying both Mexican marijuana flights and Colombian cocaine-and-quaalude trips. Others in the business also played consistent roles, e.g., Schieche acted as a pilot on a number of flights to Colombia. In addition to the activities of the participants, further evidence of the existence and structure of this organization is provided by a number of statements that participants made to other persons; for example, Kragness once stated to a girlfriend that he objected to the use of drugs by anyone in his organization. Tr. 559 (Testimony of Rita O'Flaherty). We therefore conclude that there was sufficient evidence of continuity of structure and of personnel. 49 Lastly, we hold that there was also sufficient evidence of an ascertainable structure distinct from the pattern of racketeering activity. As the Third Circuit has observed, to establish this element, 50 it is not necessary to show that the enterprise has some function wholly unrelated to the racketeering activity [such as a legitimate line of business], but rather that it has an existence beyond that which is necessary merely to commit each of the acts charged as predicate racketeering offenses. The function of overseeing and coordinating the commission of several different predicate offenses and other activities on an on-going basis is adequate to satisfy the separate existence requirement. 51 Riccobene, 709 F.2d 223-24. See Bledsoe, 674 F.2d at 665. For example, in United States v. Lemm, supra, a case which involved an arson ring, we found that the enterprise had not impermissibly been found from the predicate acts where, if the predicate acts of mail fraud were all put to one side, there was still evidence of other legal and illegal acts, such as legitimate purchases and repairs of property and acts of arson, that showed an on-going structure. 680 F.2d at 1201. 52 Here there was evidence of a number of activities aside from the commission of the alleged predicate acts that demonstrate that the enterprise had an on-going structure, and that its members were not simply engaged in sporadic, ad hoc criminal activity. The organization made investments in its criminal future, such as purchasing the La Junta property, acquiring planes that were suitable for drug flights to Mexico, and renting the Anadarko hangars and the Chickasha house; these assets were not exhausted with a single drug run, but were used repeatedly over the course of a number of criminal episodes. The various banking and financial services performed by Lager are further nonpredicate-act evidence of the organization's on-going structure. 53 In sum, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence of each of the three characteristics of an enterprise enumerated in Bledsoe to support the jury's conclusion that an enterprise existed.