Opinion ID: 439957
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Single Conspiracy or Multiple Conspiracies.

Text: 44 1. The Jury Instructions. The appellants contend that the district court misstated the law in its instructions to the jury on the conspiracy count. The district court said, in part, [i]f the Government hasn't proven the overall conspiracy charged ... no one can be found guilty [on the conspiracy count]. The appellants note the similarity between this instruction and the all or nothing charge that was fatal in United States v. Kelly, 349 F.2d 720, 757 (2d Cir.1965), cert. denied, 384 U.S. 947, 86 S.Ct. 1467, 16 L.Ed.2d 544 (1966). The Kelly court held that the all or nothing charge erroneously suggested that the jury could not find any of the defendants guilty of the single conspiracy charged unless it found all of them guilty. The government protests that the appellants failed to raise this issue at trial. We shall assume without deciding that the issue is properly before us. 45 The government argues that taken in their entirety, the district court's instructions on the conspiracy count were correct. In addition to its potentially misleading language, the court instructed that if the jury found that there was a unitary conspiracy, it could then convict any defendant found to have joined that conspiracy. This part of the charge clearly separates proof of the conspiracy from proof of each defendant's participation in the conspiracy, as in United States v. Bynum, 485 F.2d 490, 497-98 (2d Cir.1973), vacated on other grounds, 417 U.S. 903, 94 S.Ct. 2598, 41 L.Ed.2d 209 (1974). 46 During their deliberations, however, the jurors sent a note to the court which read in part, On [the conspiracy count], all must be guilty or none. We conclude that the district court's initial instructions on the issue of conspiracy confused the jury. See Bollenbach v. United States, 326 U.S. 607, 612, 66 S.Ct. 402, 405, 90 L.Ed. 350 (1946) (jury question indicates confusion). 47 When a jury makes explicit its difficulties a trial judge should clear them away with concrete accuracy. Bollenbach, 326 U.S. at 612-13, 66 S.Ct. at 405. Without objection from counsel, the district court gave further instructions to the jury that adequately explained the distinction between proof of the conspiracy charged and proof of its membership. We believe that the district court, unlike the trial court in Bollenbach, remedied the jury's confusion and enabled them to reach a legally correct verdict on the conspiracy count. 7 48 2. Variance of Proof. Although Anthony DiPasquale directed and participated in every incident but one, the Cosmo and Kolzer incidents were collections on behalf of Anthony from associates in his drug transactions, and the Crawford, Rosetti, and Courtney incidents were collections on behalf of the Serubos from persons who worked for or did business with John's Chevrolet. The appellants therefore argue that although the indictment charged a single conspiracy, the evidence proved at least two separate conspiracies. The appellants also suggest that the lapse of time between the Cosmo and Kolzer incidents subdivided the collections on Anthony's behalf into two distinct conspiracies. Such variances of proof, if prejudicial, would be grounds for reversal. Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 764-65, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 1247-48, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946); Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 82, 55 S.Ct. 629, 630, 79 L.Ed. 1314 (1935). 49 The district court meticulously detailed the similarity of method and result, and the partial overlap of participants, in the various incidents. See DiPasquale, 561 F.Supp. at 1350-52. We agree that this evidence is probative of a unitary conspiracy, and we have relied on it in our review. The similarity of the various incidents, however, is not inconsistent with separate adventures of like character, Kotteakos, 328 U.S. at 769, 66 S.Ct. at 1250, quoted in United States v. Jackson, 696 F.2d 578, 583 (8th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1073, 103 S.Ct. 1531, 75 L.Ed.2d 952 (1983). 8 50 We are not persuaded by the appellants' attempt to subdivide the collections on Anthony's behalf into two chronologically distinct conspiracies. A conspiracy terminates when its principal purposes have been accomplished. United States v. Steele, 685 F.2d 793, 801 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 908, 103 S.Ct. 213, 74 L.Ed.2d 170 (1982); United States v. Mayes, 512 F.2d 637, 642 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 422 U.S. 1008, 95 S.Ct. 2629, 45 L.Ed.2d 670, 423 U.S. 840, 96 S.Ct. 69, 46 L.Ed.2d 59 (1975). The extortionate collections of claimed debts arising out of Anthony's drug transactions demonstrated a continuity of purpose and a continued performance of acts, id., and the lapse of a year's time between the Cosmo incidents and the Kolzer incident is not sufficient to prove that there were two similar but separate agreements. 51 The distinction between the collections on Anthony's behalf and the collections on behalf of the Serubos presents a closer question. In Blumenthal v. United States, 332 U.S. 539, 68 S.Ct. 248, 92 L.Ed. 154 (1947), the owner of some whiskey entered into an agreement with Goldsmith and Weiss to sell the whiskey illegally, and these two used three others as intermediaries. The Court acknowledged that in a hypertechnical aspect, the evidence showed one agreement between the owner, Goldsmith, and Weiss, and a separate agreement between Goldsmith, Weiss, and their three intermediaries. Id. at 556, 68 S.Ct. at 256. Nevertheless, the Court concluded that there was one overall conspiracy, evidenced by the intermediaries' awareness that their transactions were part of a larger scheme, which encompassed two interdependent subplots. See id. at 555 n. 14, 556, 558-59, 68 S.Ct. at 255 n. 14, 256, 257. 52 There is sufficient evidence to support the jury's conclusion that the Serubos were aware that the collections in which they participated were part of a larger, ongoing scheme to collect claimed debts by extortionate means. The Serubos described Anthony as the man who took care of their problems, and they concede that the evidence showed that Anthony helped them collect their debts. The Serubos deny knowledge of the Cosmo or Kolzer incidents, but there is considerable circumstantial evidence to the contrary. 53 Anthony introduced the Serubos to Joseph West in February 1981. Although West testified that the purpose of the meeting was to arrange for the Serubos to send work to West's garage, the meeting establishes that there was a connection between Anthony, the Serubos, and West before the last collection incident involving payments to Anthony. During that last incident, while Kolzer was still held captive, Anthony visited John's Chevrolet. 54 In the first incident involving payments to the Serubos, Crawford, the victim, was taken from John's Chevrolet to West's garage. Crawford testified that Anthony, in Peter Serubo's presence, ordered someone to take Crawford to the garage. Joseph West, who was also present, testified that the Serubos suggested that Crawford be taken to the garage and hung on a hook, reminiscent of the Kolzer incident. There was also testimony that suggests that Anthony publicized his exploits among his associates. 55 Given this evidence, it is very unlikely that the Serubos were unaware of Anthony's collection scheme. The appellants argue, however, that because the success of the collections on behalf of the Serubos was not, strictly speaking, dependent on the success of the collections on behalf of Anthony, the two schemes lack the interdependency that was essential to the outcome in Blumenthal. 56 We recognize that in many cases, courts, including our own, have pointed out the interdependency of component agreements in a larger conspiracy. See, e.g., United States v. Kenny, 462 F.2d 1205, 1217 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 914, 93 S.Ct. 233, 34 L.Ed.2d 176 (1972). Interdependency, however, is simply evidence of an agreement. United States v. Taylor, 562 F.2d 1345, 1352 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 432 U.S. 909, 97 S.Ct. 2958, 53 L.Ed.2d 1083 (1977). It is not an element of the offense. United States v. Shoup, 608 F.2d 950, 957 n. 12 (3d Cir.1979); cf. United States v. Rush, 666 F.2d 10, 12 (2d Cir.1981) (court need not instruct jury to apply  'stake in the interest' test). 57 Even the pooling of resources can betoken the interlocking interests of the alleged co-conspirators, supporting the inferences of knowledge and dependency. United States v. Barnes, 604 F.2d 121, 155 (2d Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 907, 100 S.Ct. 1833, 64 L.Ed.2d 260 (1980). Collections on behalf of the Serubos and collections on Anthony's behalf involved the use of common resources, including Joseph West's garage. In addition, participants in the Crawford incident used stories of Anthony's past collections to help persuade Crawford to pay money to the Serubos. By contrast, in cases on which the appellants rely, there was virtually no evidence to connect parallel but distinct schemes. For example, in Jackson, supra, the use of a common arsonist was the only persuasive evidence to connect two sets of fires. See also United States v. Snider, 720 F.2d 985, 989 (8th Cir.1983); United States v. Camiel, 689 F.2d 31, 36-37 & n. 3 (3d Cir.1982). 58 We agree that those convicted of conspiracy must not only be aware of another person's illegal scheme, but must in some sense promote [the] venture himself, make it his own, have a stake in its outcome. United States v. Falcone, 109 F.2d 579, 581 (2d Cir.1940) (Judge Learned Hand writing for the court), aff'd, 311 U.S. 205, 61 S.Ct. 204, 85 L.Ed. 128 (1940). In United States v. Varelli, 407 F.2d 735 (7th Cir.1969), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 1040, 92 S.Ct. 1311, 31 L.Ed.2d 581 (1972), those who participated in only one of the core conspirators' numerous hijackings had no interest in the establishment or maintenance of a continuing conspiracy to hijack trucks. See id. at 744. By contrast, the Serubos were interested in and dependent upon the continuing conspiracy in which they participated. 59 Whether there was one conspiracy is a question of fact, and our only task is to ascertain whether the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the government, supports the jury's finding that there was a single conspiracy. United States v. Brooks, 697 F.2d 517, 523 (3d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1071, 1073, 103 S.Ct. 1526, 1531, 75 L.Ed.2d 949, 952 (1983). We conclude that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding of a single conspiracy to collect claimed debts by extortionate means. 9 60