Opinion ID: 661707
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admissibility of Evidence of Mob Warfare and Joinder of the Weapons Count

Text: 22 Amato claims that he was unfairly and substantially prejudiced by the admission of evidence concerning the Colombo family internecine war between the Persico and Orena factions of the Colombo family. Amato concedes that the warfare evidence was properly admitted with respect to Count Seven of the indictment, which charged Amato with illegal possession of a gun and ammunition. He claims, however, that the weapons count should have been severed under either Rule 8(a) or Rule 14 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, in order to avoid prejudicial spillover. 23 The basis for the weapons possession count against Amato was a Davis Industries .380 gun and five rounds of .380 ammunition turned up during a search of Amato's residence in January 1992. Further investigation revealed that the gun found in Amato's house was one of a batch of six such guns purchased in Ohio on July 31, 1991. One of the other Davis Industries .380 guns was found in Joey Amato's possession and a third was found in the possession of an associate of another made member of the Colombo family. 24 Amato defended himself against the weapons count by arguing that he did not knowingly possess the gun and ammunition, which were not found on his person, but in his house. To prove such knowledge, the government was entitled to introduce evidence of the fact that guns from the same consignment as Amato's were found in the possession of fellow Colombo family members, and that these members were collectively motivated to acquire the guns because of a common peril--the Colombo family internecine war. The warfare evidence introduced for this purpose was limited, and cast Amato in the role of potential victim rather than active combatant. 25 The joinder of two or more offenses is permitted if they are based on ... two or more acts or transactions connected together. Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(a). Joinder is proper where the same evidence may be used to prove each count. United States v. Blakney, 941 F.2d 114, 116 (2d Cir.1991). In Blakney, a defendant was charged with selling both narcotics and firearms. The evidence showed that he sold both commodities to the same customers and attempted to barter one good for another. We held that [t]he evidence in support of the two counts was thus interconnected, and the interests of judicial efficiency were served by having the counts tried together. Id. 26 In Amato's case, the evidence offered to prove the gun count--particularly the disputed element of knowing possession--was interconnected and overlapping with the evidence offered to prove the RICO, loansharking and murder counts. For all of these counts, the government needed to establish Amato's membership in the Colombo crime family, the structure and methods of the family's criminal operations, and Amato's relationship to other family members, including members who also possessed guns from the single consignment of Davis Industries .380s. Indeed, the gun itself was evidence of Amato's membership in the Colombo family and could have been admitted to prove the RICO counts, even if those counts had been tried separately. Thus, considerations of economy and speed outweighed possible unfairness to Amato and justified the joinder of the gun count under Rule 8(a). See United States v. Turoff, 853 F.2d 1037, 1042 (2d Cir.1988) (Rule 8 reflects a policy determination that gains in trial efficiency outweigh the recognized prejudice that accrues to the accused); United States v. Werner, 620 F.2d 922, 929 (2d Cir.1980) (same); see also United States v. Orena, 986 F.2d 628, 631 (2d Cir.1993) (government may properly employ joint trials as a means of economizing judicial and other resources, and comply with its due process obligations). 27 Notwithstanding proper joinder, counts charged in the same indictment may be severed, under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14, if joinder presents a risk of prejudice. Given the balance struck by Rule 8, which authorizes some prejudice against the defendant, a defendant who seeks separate trials under Rule 14 carries a heavy burden of showing that joinder will result in substantial prejudice. Turoff, 853 F.2d at 1043; see United States v. Cervone, 907 F.2d 332, 341 (2d Cir.1990) (defendant must show he was so severely prejudiced by spillover evidence that joint trial constituted a miscarriage of justice), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1028, 111 S.Ct. 680, 112 L.Ed.2d 672 (1991). A motion for severance under Rule 14 is addressed to the discretion of the trial court, ... and the sound exercise of that discretion is virtually unreviewable. United States v. Arocena, 778 F.2d 943, 949 (2d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1053, 106 S.Ct. 1281, 89 L.Ed.2d 588 (1986). 28 Amato complains that the evidence of internecine warfare prejudiced him because it linked him to killings in which he did not participate, thus making it more likely that the jury would believe he participated in the Ocera murder. However, the evidence of how and why Amato came to possess a gun--namely his desire to defend himself in a gang war--was relevant to establish his membership in the Colombo family, and was independently admissible as to the RICO counts. Given this overlap in evidence and the court's repeated cautionary instructions to the jury limiting the use that the jury could make of the war evidence, we find no merit in the claim of prejudicial spillover. See United States v. Villegas, 899 F.2d 1324, 1347 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 991, 111 S.Ct. 535, 112 L.Ed.2d 545 (1990). Moreover, the most lurid evidence of a gang war was elicited as a result of the defense strategy to impeach Ambrosino, a cooperating coconspirator, with evidence that he was one of the most ferocious participants in the war, and attempted to kill about 17 members of the Orena faction.