Opinion ID: 537726
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Cafe Pompeii and Cash

Text: 239 Defendants Gennaro, Donato and Francesco Angiulo challenge the sufficiency of the evidence underlying the forfeiture of their interests in the Cafe Pompeii, located at 280 Hanover Street. Francesco also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the forfeiture of $41,025 in cash found in his apartment. 240 The jury found that the Cafe Pompeii afforded defendants a source of influence over the enterprise and thus was subject to forfeiture under Sec. 1963(a)(2). Defendants do not dispute that the property was properly forfeitable if it was used to further the affairs of the enterprise. See United States v. Zielie, 734 F.2d 1447, 1459 (11th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1189, 105 S.Ct. 957, 83 L.Ed.2d 964 (1985). Their contention is that the evidence was not sufficient to support a finding that the Cafe Pompeii was so used. 241 In considering such a challenge, we must sustain the jury's forfeiture verdict if, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, there is substantial evidence to support it. See Ofchinick, 883 F.2d at 1177; United States v. Cauble, 706 F.2d 1322, 1349 (5th Cir.1983). After carefully reviewing the relevant portions of the record, we find that there was sufficient evidence to support forfeiting the defendants' interests in the Cafe Pompeii on the ground that it was used to further the affairs of the enterprise. 242 Tape-recorded conversations revealed that Donato Angiulo met with representatives of the Winter Hill gang to resolve certain misunderstandings that had arisen with respect to some racketeering activities involving the Angiulos and the Winter Hill gang. The conversations referred to these meetings as having taken place at the coffee shop. Donato related the substance of these meetings to Gennaro Angiulo, and received instructions from Gennaro as to how to handle the matter. 243 The defendants acknowledge that these tape-recorded conversations took place, but argue that no evidence was introduced to establish that the coffee shop referred to in the conversations was indeed the Cafe Pompeii, as the government contends. We disagree. The evidence revealed that in January, 1981, the Cafe Pompeii was cited for various licensing violations. In tape-recorded conversations discussing these violations, defendants referred to the Cafe as the coffee shop. Thus, the jury could permissibly infer that the coffee shop and the Cafe Pompeii are one and the same entity. This connection, in turn, establishes that the meetings held by Donato with the Winter Hill gang to resolve business disputes did indeed occur at the Cafe Pompeii. Such meetings clearly served to further the affairs of the RICO enterprise, and provided sufficient basis for forfeiting the Cafe under Sec. 1963(a)(2). Furthermore, other tape-recorded conversations revealed that Donato met with an individual named Walter LaFreniere in the Cafe. A jury could infer that these conversations related to collection of the weekly payments owed to the enterprise by LaFreniere's father, Louis Venios, as a result of loansharking transactions. All this evidence was more than sufficient to support a jury's finding that the Cafe Pompeii was the coffee shop and was forfeitable under Sec. 1963(a)(2) on the ground that it furthered the affairs of the enterprise. 244 Francesco Angiulo also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence underlying the forfeiture of $41,025 in cash that was found in his apartment by FBI agents during the execution of a search warrant. The jury found that this cash was subject to forfeiture on two grounds. First, 50% of the cash was forfeitable on the ground that it constituted proceeds or profits of racketeering activities under Sec. 1963(a)(1). Second, the cash was forfeitable because it afforded a source of influence over the enterprise under Sec. 1963(a)(2). We already have reversed that part of the forfeiture that was premised on the source of influence theory, due to the trial court's failure to give a proportionality instruction. We now consider whether there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that 50% of the cash was forfeitable as proceeds or profits. 245 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, we find sufficient basis to support forfeiting the cash as proceeds or profits of racketeering activity. Ample evidence was introduced at trial to connect Francesco's apartment at 95 Prince Street with the operation of the enterprise's illegal gambling businesses. Government agents testified that an adding machine was found in the apartment--a discovery consistent with Francesco's role as accountant for the enterprise. Agents also discovered an unauthorized telephone line that had been patched into the apartment, supporting an inference that Francesco was managing illegal operations from the apartment. Furthermore, the jury heard various tape-recorded conversations in which Gennaro Angiulo expressed concern about possible search warrants and ordered their property to be cleaned up so no incriminating evidence would be found. He specifically asked about the existence of stuff at 95 Prince Street, and later reminded Francesco that if police walked into a private house and found $25,000 in a drawer: [w]e got a fuckin problem. 246 This evidence furnished a more than adequate basis for the jury to conclude that Francesco's apartment was connected with the enterprise's unlawful activities, and that any cash found there was forfeitable under Sec. 1963(a)(1) as proceeds or profits of such activities. We reject Francesco's claim that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's forfeiture of 50% of the $41,025 in cash found in his apartment.