Opinion ID: 215914
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Events and Aftermath of May 26, 1999

Text: On May 25, Persico and Cutolo paged each other several times, and they later spoke by telephone. ( See id. at 4223; Government Exhibit (GX) 70C.) Betty Anne Fox, Cutolo's girlfriend of some 20 years ( see Tr. 4588-89), testified that Cutolo was upset that night, telling her that he could not spend time with her the next day as planned because he had had to reschedule a planned appointment from the 25th to the 26th ( see id. at 4571-72). On Wednesday May 26, Cutolo went to the Manhattan office of the union of which he was an officer; Wednesday was his usual day there, but he remained a shorter time than usual. ( See id. at 394, 3709-10.) Marguerite Cutolo (Peggy Cutolo or Peggy), Cutolo's wife of some 30 years ( see id. at 553), paged Cutolo around midday, and testified, over defendants' objections, that when he called back he told her he had to go to Brooklyn to meet The Kid, by whom she understood him to mean Allie Boy Persico ( id. at 567). As discussed in greater detail in Part II.A.2. below, Peggy testified that Cutolo had told her he habitually met with Persico at 92nd Street and Shore Road (or 92nd and Shore) in Brooklyn, near an overpass where they could avoid surveillance by the FBI ( see id. at 567-68). In the early afternoon of May 26, Cutolo proceeded to drive to Brooklyn; but because he was having problems with his car, he drove it to a repair shop. At his request, the mechanic accompanied Cutolo to 92nd Street and Shore Road and left him there at about 3:15, taking the car back to the shop to be repaired. ( See id. at 214-18.) Cutolo said he would come for his car around 5:30; he did not. ( See id. at 215, 223.) Cutolo's family and friends never saw or heard from him again. On Wednesday nights, Cutolo normally went to his club, where members of his crew would assemble and spend the evening. If he could not be there, he normally called to let them know. ( See Tr. 1431.) On the evening of Wednesday May 26, his crew became concerned when Cutolo neither came nor called. Cutolo's son, William Cutolo Jr. (Cutolo Jr.), tried unsuccessfully to reach him by telephone. ( See id. at 1432.) Cutolo Jr. called his mother, who became anxious ( see id. at 568-69); she had tried to reach Cutolo by telephone that afternoon, without success ( see id. at 293-94). Peggy Cutolo continued to try to call or page her husband all the following day. ( See, e.g., id. at 294-95, 569, 800-01.) Early on the morning of May 27, Cutolo Jr., practically crying ( id. at 594), went to his parents' house and told his mother, nobody knows where daddy is. Nobody, nobody heard from him. Nobody even beeped him. He never got callednobody called, hehe wasn't there ( id. at 569). Campanella and other members of Cutolo's crew arrived at Cutolo's home in the late morning of May 27. ( See id. at 1294-95.) Peggy Cutolo was distraught; Campanella himself was devastated because he knew Bill ain't never coming home ( id. at 1295; see id. at 372, 595 (Campanella was in tears, crying like a baby)). DeRoss, according to Peggy Cutolo, had arrived at the Cutolo home on May 27 at 5 or 6 a.m.barely eight hours after Cutolo could be considered missing. ( See Tr. 794, 570.) DeRoss demanded the records and the papers, which Peggy understood to refer to the Colombo Family books of all the money that was out in loansharked loans. ( Id. at 569-70.) She testified, There wasn't a tear in his eye.... I knew at that point that my husband was dead. ( Id. at 570.) DeRoss went to Cutolo's house again a day or two later, and returned every few days thereafter ( see id. at 595-96, 598), insisting that there must be books and records. Barbara Jean Cardinale, Cutolo's daughter, who had moved, with her husband and two young daughters, into her parents' home in order to take care of her mother after her father's disappearance ( see id. at 323), testified that DeRoss's tone in demanding the records implied that he was entitled to them ( id. at 300). DeRoss searched Cutolo's office, the bedrooms, and the attic, going through drawers, cabinets, and bookshelves, looking behind and under furniture, and knocking on walls to locate secret panels. ( See id. at 300-01, 598-99.) Peggy Cutolo knew there were records, as well as money $1.65 million, as it turned out, see Part II.D.1. belowhidden in a vent above the stove and in tubing in the attic, but she repeatedly stonewalled DeRoss. ( See, e.g., id. at 596, 649-50.) In none of his conversations with the Cutolos after May 26 did DeRoss mention any effort to locate Cutolo. ( See id. at 301.) On one occasion, DeRoss suggested that Cutolo might have gone on the lam; but Peggy Cutolo knew that if Cutolo had simply absconded or gone into hiding, he would have taken what was there, and he had taken nothing. ( Id. at 597-98.) Cardinale testified, over objection, that it was her beliefwhich she communicated to others ( see id. at 305-07, 423-26)that Vincent DeMartino had carried out the order to kill [her] father ( id. at 307). When word of her statements reached DeRoss, he summoned her to meet with him and said that I shouldn't be talking like that. I have kids here and to think about everybody else before I talk like that. ( Id. at 308.) In addition, as discussed in greater detail in Parts II.A.3. and B.2. below, DeRoss thereafterin a recorded conversationwarned Cardinale, Cutolo Jr., and Peggy Cutolo against making statements about what they believed had happened to Cutolo, especially statements to the law (GX 67B at 6). DeRoss told them, inter alia, Worry about your family ( id. at 8); You got little, you got kids here ( id. at 5). You understand what I'm telling you babe? You've been, you've been around this life. ( Id. at 6.) Cardinale, who had known since the age of 14 that her father was connected to organized crime and had overheard many of Cutolo's organized-crime-related conversations ( see Tr. 286, 288-89), testified that she understood DeRoss to be threatening the safety of her family ( see id. at 324-28, 328-31).