Opinion ID: 492031
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Single or Multiple Conspiracy

Text: 15 Appellants contend that the trial evidence taken as a whole does not support the jury's verdict that there existed a conspiracy to import heroin and a conspiracy to distribute heroin, which we have referred to as a single conspiracy to import and distribute heroin. Rather, appellants argue, the evidence showed no conspiracy at all, or at most, the existence of multiple, smaller conspiracies to import and distribute heroin. For the reasons hereafter stated, we disagree. 16 We recently reaffirmed the oft-stated principle that the issue of single versus multiple conspiracies is one which is committed to the province of a properly instructed jury. United States v. Calbas, 821 F.2d 887, 892 (2d Cir.1987); accord United States v. Teitler, 802 F.2d 606, 616 (2d Cir.1986); United States v. Cambindo Valencia, 609 F.2d 603, 625 (2d Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 940, 100 S.Ct. 2163, 64 L.Ed.2d 795 (1980). In a charge tailored to the facts of this case, the district court instructed the jury on the issue of single versus multiple conspiracies, stressing specifically that proof of separate conspiracies would not be sufficient to meet the government's burden on [the conspiracy counts]. Appellants do not claim error in the trial court's instruction, and we perceive of none. Accordingly, we turn to an examination of the evidence to see if it was sufficient to support the jury's finding that a single conspiracy existed as to the relevant counts. United States v. Heinemann, 801 F.2d 86, 91 (2d Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1308, 94 L.Ed.2d 163 (1987). 17 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government and construing all permissible inferences in its favor, as we must, United States v. Carson, 702 F.2d 351, 361 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1108, 103 S.Ct. 2456, 2457, 77 L.Ed.2d 1335 (1983), we conclude that there was ample evidence to support the jury's finding. The jury reasonably could have inferred from the evidence that there existed over a period of time a single conspiracy to import and distribute heroin consisting of core members who organized and oversaw the importation and distribution, family assistants, interconnected suppliers in the Middle East, couriers who actually transported the heroin, and local redistributors and customers who purchased quantities of heroin. See United States v. Bynum, 485 F.2d 490, 495-97 (2d Cir.1973), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 417 U.S. 903, 94 S.Ct. 2598, 41 L.Ed.2d 209 (1974). See generally Cambindo Valencia, 609 F.2d at 622-25 (collecting cases involving single conspiracies). 18 Appellants Pazienza and Nersesian argue that the evidence showed three separate and distinct conspiracies. In their view, one extended from the initial 1982 agreement between Sami Annabi, Cannata, and Restaino and concluded when Restaino was dropped from the conspiracy. A second conspiracy began with Sami Annabi's and Cannata's agreement with the sky marshals to import heroin, involved a supplier in Union City and someone known as 'Davey' in Boston, and ended when Sami Annabi purportedly began cooperating with the DEA. A third conspiracy began on an unspecified date and ended with appellants' arrests. However, a single conspiracy is not transposed into a multiple one simply by lapse of time, change in membership, or a shifting emphasis on its locale of operations. Cambindo Valencia, 609 F.2d at 625. The jury need not have concluded that the same people were involved throughout the entire period of the conspiracy in order to find one conspiracy. The jury reasonably could have concluded that some members of the conspiracy charged participated throughout the entire period of the conspiracy, while others were involved in its early stages, and still others became involved in its late stages. 19 Sami Annabi argues that the evidence reveals instances of distrust, anger, and argument among appellants which are inconsistent with a single enterprise. However, it is not at all uncommon for disagreements to occur in a common enterprise. That conspirators may have problems or difficulties in dealing with one another which result in angry accusations or heated discussions does not necessarily negate the existence of a single conspiracy. See Heinemann, 801 F.2d at 92. The jury could have believed that any acrimony exhibited among the conspirators simply related to the common business of the single conspiracy charged.