Opinion ID: 506589
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Co-conspirator Statements and the Substantive Charges Against Kazonis and Angiulo

Text: 64 On the substantive charges that Angiulo engaged in an illegal gambling business and Kazonis obstructed justice (Counts 5 and 7), the jury was permitted to consider statements of alleged co-conspirators for the bearing such statements might have on the defendants' intent, motive or other state of mind. 65 We can understand that the statements of members or associates of the Patriarca Family could be relevant to show how it deals with those who either fail to cooperate with the Family or interfere with its operations. In that sense, statements of the alleged RICO co-conspirators pertaining to murder plans could be relevant to show why individuals knowledgeable in the affairs of the Family would carry out certain offenses on its behalf. 20 As part of its Petrozziello findings, the district court found, by a preponderance of evidence, that both Angiulo and Kazonis were associates of the Patriarca Family and knowledgeable in its affairs and that they carried out the predicate acts charged in the indictment in furtherance of the Family's interests. Thus, statements by the RICO conspirators showing generally how the Family dealt violently with uncooperative individuals could have been relevant to show Angiulo's and Kazonis's states of mind in agreeing to carry out the predicate offenses underlying the RICO counts as the court instructed. Cf. United States v. Daly and Giardina, 842 F.2d 1380, 1387 (2d Cir.1988) (taped conversations of alleged RICO co-conspirators not mentioning defendant admissible to show setting of alleged offense). 66 On the other hand, as both Kazonis and Angiulo point out, the relevance of such statements is highly attenuated when there is no proof that they had actual knowledge of the contents of those statements. The fact that such conversations included discussions of murder added the possibility that they could prejudice the defendants if given undue weight by the jury. We might question the propriety of the court's instruction, in this light, were it not for the subsequent limitation (italicized in the excerpt above) that minimized the weight that the jury attached to such statements; the jury was only permitted to consider such statements, beyond implications as to the defendants' states of mind, if they were made in the presence of the particular defendant in question and related to the offense for which that defendant was charged. 67 For Angiulo, the statements of alleged co-conspirators relating to murder plans, made outside of his presence and unrelated to the charge that he operated an illegal gambling business, were not probative on that alleged offense. That the Patriarca Family was willing to murder people that interfered with, or failed to carry through, its operations was irrelevant to Angiulo's state of mind in conducting such an operation. Nevertheless, the limiting instruction (set forth in italics above) properly directed the jury not to consider those statements in deciding whether Angiulo participated in the illegal gambling offense unless he was present when the statements were made and they related to that offense. 21 Looking at the instruction as a whole, we conclude that it did not result in prejudicial error warranting reversal of Angiulo's conviction for operating an illegal gambling business. Cf. United States v. Porter, 764 F.2d at 13 (appropriate limiting instructions adequately safeguarded against evidentiary spillover; we will not entertain speculative allegations of prejudice). 68 For Kazonis--who was found by the district court, in its Petrozziello findings, to be a member of the alleged RICO conspiracy, knowledgeable about the Family's general operations (including murders), and to be furthering the Family's interests through the obstruction of justice--evidence of the Family's practices in dealing violently with those they disapproved of may have had some bearing on his intent or motive to interfere with LaFreniere's testimony before the grand jury. See United States v. Daly and Giardina, supra at 1387. In any event, the limiting instruction insured that, in assessing Kazonis's participation in the substantive obstruction of justice offense, the jury would not consider the statements concerning the Family's murder plans, other than those involving Walter LaFreniere, see supra note 18, because those statements were made outside of Kazonis's presence and were unrelated to the alleged obstruction of justice. Beyond this, the district court properly instructed the jury on the specific facts that the government was required to prove in order to convict Kazonis for obstructing justice, see supra note 19, and there was more than sufficient evidence for the jury to convict him on that count, without any consideration of statements pertaining to murder plans. See supra pp. 961-962. 69