Opinion ID: 709030
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence of a Single Enterprise

Text: 8 Appellants argue that the evidence failed to establish the single enterprise charged in the indictment but instead established two parallel enterprises that eventually merged into a third enterprise. The government, on the other hand, argues that the JLO existed throughout the time frame alleged in the indictment and that other individuals, including Noble Bennett, associated with the JLO for specific, short-term criminal activities. The government concedes that during part of the time frame alleged in the indictment Noble Bennett headed his own criminal enterprise. After Bennett's enterprise failed, however, its members, including Bennett, joined the JLO. To determine whether multiple conspiracies exist when a single large conspiracy has been charged by the government, this Court considers the totality of the circumstances, including the nature of the activities involved, the location where the alleged events of the conspiracy took place, the identity of the conspirators involved, and the time frame in which the acts occurred. United States v. Bascope-Zurita, 68 F.3d 1057, 1061 (8th Cir. Oct. 13, 1995). We conclude that the evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that only one conspiracy existed throughout the time frame alleged in the indictment, although personnel varied. 9 The indictment in this case alleged that twenty-four named individuals (nine defendants, including the seven appellants, and fifteen unindicted co-conspirators) had associated in fact for the purpose of (1) obtaining an income from the distribution of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana; (2) protecting and preserving the distribution enterprise from competition and interference from law enforcement; and (3) promoting the enterprise and its activities. Superseding Indictment at 3. The indictment alleged that these individuals committed acts of criminal racketeering while engaging in interstate commerce and other activities affecting interstate commerce. These acts of racketeering included (i) murder and acts and threats involving murder; (ii) [felony] act(s) involving dealing in narcotic and other dangerous drugs chargeable under state law ... and (iii) felonious ... dealing in narcotic and other dangerous drugs, punishable under any law of the United States. Id. at 2-3. The indictment also alleged that the enterprise achieved its purposes through (1) the possession and distribution of controlled substances; (2) the possession, transfer, concealment and use of one or more firearms; (3) the commission of murder, act(s) involving murder, threat(s) involving murder, and attempts to conceal such acts and the identities of the responsible individuals from law enforcement officers; (4) utilization of motels, digital paging devices, telephones, [and] two-way radios ... to facilitate (i) the distribution of [controlled substances]; (ii) the commission [and concealment] of ... murder or acts or threats involving murder; and (iii) the attempt to use, or the use of intimidation, to prevent a witness from testifying or to hinder or prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer or judge of the United States of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a federal offense. Id. at 3-4. 10 At trial, the government offered the testimony of several participants in the events alleged in the indictment to establish that the JLO constituted a single enterprise and that members of the Bennett enterprise joined the JLO during the time frame alleged in the indictment. One government witness, Rudy Weaver, joined the MSTA while in prison and learned that a group of MSTA members, including appellants Lewis, Williams, Amerson, and Darden, distributed drugs in the St. Louis area. Weaver recruited prospective members for the drug-dealing branch of the MSTA while in prison. After being released from prison, Weaver began selling cocaine in Kansas City. Some of the cocaine he sold was supplied by Ronnie Thomas, Lewis's first cousin and a St. Louis MSTA member. Weaver moved from Kansas City to St. Louis in the fall of 1987 and associated with members of the JLO. He called a pager to set up a meeting with Jerry Lewis at a Ponderosa restaurant in St. Louis. At a subsequent meeting attended by Williams, appellants Lewis and Hopkins agreed to supply Weaver and Williams with cocaine for resale. Cocaine deliveries occurred at a convenience store operated by Hopkins. At other times appellant Raymond Amerson or JLO member Gary Hamell delivered cocaine to Weaver. 11 As Weaver became a trusted member of the JLO, he learned about murders that had been carried out by members of the JLO, plans for future murders, and the JLO's sources for cocaine and distribution methods. Weaver testified that the purpose of this information sharing was to enable JLO members to sell cocaine more effectively, avoid apprehension, and defeat competitors. Weaver's testimony also established that the JLO continued operations through 1990 and even after many of its key members were arrested in January 1991 when the initial indictment in this case was handed down. The JLO's principal cocaine supplier, Juan Alfaro Gonzalez, delivered cocaine to Jerry Lewis in November 1990 and attempted to deliver four kilograms of cocaine to Weaver in February 1991. Weaver, however, was cooperating with authorities, and Gonzalez was arrested. 12 Ronnie Thomas, Lewis's first cousin, testified that he began selling heroin with Lewis sometime after September 1974. Thomas also testified that since at least April 1978 Lewis controlled the affairs of the drug distribution enterprise in which he participated. Like Weaver, Thomas stated that members of the JLO shared information to protect their drug trade, avoid apprehension, and defeat competitors. Thomas also testified that the group laundered money through legitimate businesses such as the Family Market and the Star and Crescent Market. Thomas repeatedly explained how the JLO resorted to murder to protect the organization and further its interests. Thomas also stated that the JLO would hold meetings immediately following a shooting to review what had happened. 13 Michael Lewis, Jerry Lewis's younger brother, testified that he became involved with the JLO in 1980-81 and participated in the management and sale of large quantities of T's and blues. He explained that Jerry Lewis directed the JLO's drug trade and that JLO members used pay phones and pagers to evade detection. Michael Lewis also testified that JLO members carried weapons and murdered people who they suspected were informants or whose interests they perceived to be adverse to the JLO. 14 Earl Parnell, one of Bennett's heroin distributors, testified that prior to 1988 he had delivered large quantities of heroin to Lewis, provided weapons to Lewis and his associates, and received cocaine for personal use and for redistribution from Lewis and his associates. Parnell described a stash pad used in 1981 by both the JLO and Bennett organizations to store cocaine, marijuana, and firearms. Parnell testified to other instances of cooperation between Bennett and Lewis prior to 1988. In May 1988, however, the relationship changed because Bennett's supplier was no longer able to deliver heroin. Bennett turned to the JLO for heroin and arranged to sell this heroin through George Noel, one of Bennett's dealers. Realizing that the substandard JLO heroin was not producing much of a profit, Bennett arranged to receive cocaine from Lewis. The Bennett enterprise thus became a distribution arm of the JLO during the late 1980s. 15 George Noel's testimony confirms Parnell's version of the merger of the JLO and the Bennett enterprise. Noel testified that sometime in the summer of 1987 members of the JLO, including Jerry Lewis, and members of Bennett's organization met at Bennett's house to discuss joining together to sell drugs. Thereafter Noel, who had been selling heroin for Bennett, started to receive his heroin through the JLO. 16 In addition to the evidence described above, the testimony of several other witnesses tends to prove that the JLO was a single enterprise throughout the time frame of the indictment and that the members of the Bennett organization joined the JLO to continue to profit from the sale of drugs after the Bennett organization was no longer viable. A narcotics investigator described the organizations as intertwined and commingled extensively. Tr. vol. 28 at 42, 62. Participant-witnesses Noel and Gonzales also described a single organization throughout the relevant time frame. Even after the initial indictment was handed down and many JLO leaders were jailed, the JLO continued to function as a single enterprise and its remaining members took steps to keep the organization alive. These steps included making threats to the family of a cooperating witness, ordaining a sham MSTA minister to enable contact visits with Lewis, then in jail, so that Lewis could continue to direct JLO activities, and preparing a defense witness to commit perjury. 17 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, as we must, we conclude that sufficient evidence was presented at trial to show that the JLO was a single enterprise throughout the time frame alleged in the indictment. A single conspiracy may be found when the defendants share a common overall goal, ... even if the actors are not always the same. Bascope-Zurita, 68 F.3d at 1061. The evidence, including the reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the evidence, overwhelmingly supports the jury's verdict on this issue.