Opinion ID: 700703
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Street Dealers.

Text: 24 Wright argues that the Government cannot rely on his relationship with customers to sustain the CCE conviction. The Government replies that evidence of Wright and Hubbard's fronting drugs to the street dealers satisfies the management requirement of Sec. 848 and brings the number of persons organized above the five required by the statute. 5 Although evidence of fronting is certainly relevant to the question of organization or supervision under Sec. 848, see United States v. Graziano, 710 F.2d 691, 699 n. 13 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 937, 104 S.Ct. 1910, 80 L.Ed.2d 459 (1984); United States v. Johnson, 575 F.2d 1347, 1358 (5th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 907, 99 S.Ct. 1213, 59 L.Ed.2d 454 (1979), 6 this Court has never sustained a CCE conviction based solely on fronting. We now join the circuits which have held that evidence of fronting, without more, is insufficient to satisfy the management requirement of Sec. 848. See Ward, 37 F.3d at 248 (6th Cir.) (quoting United States v. Possick, 849 F.2d 332, 336 (8th Cir.1988)); Delgado, 4 F.3d at 787 (9th Cir.); Possick, 849 F.2d at 336 (8th Cir.). Cf. Butler, 885 F.2d at 201 (4th Cir.) (citing Possick 's holding with approval); United States v. Moya-Gomez, 860 F.2d 706, 749 (7th Cir.1988) (noting that courts have found that fronting, alone, is insufficient and explaining why the evidence shows more than mere fronting), cert. denied, 492 U.S. 908, 109 S.Ct. 3221, 106 L.Ed.2d 571 (1989). 25 The Government's reliance on United States v. Aguilar, 843 F.2d 155 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 924, 109 S.Ct. 305, 102 L.Ed.2d 324 (1988), United States v. Cruz, 785 F.2d 399 (2d Cir.1986), and United States v. Adamo, 742 F.2d 927 (6th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1193, 105 S.Ct. 971, 83 L.Ed.2d 975 (1985), is misplaced. In these cases, the defendants' arrangement with their dealers went beyond simple fronting and constituted a consignment or franchise type of operation, with the defendants retaining ultimate control and authority over the drugs. Aguilar, 843 F.2d at 157 n. 5; Cruz, 785 F.2d at 407; Adamo, 742 F.2d at 932. In Aguilar, for example, the evidence showed that when a dealer was unable to repay on time, the defendant would reclaim the drugs. Aguilar, 843 F.2d at 157. Wright and Hubbard never operated at such a level of sophistication. 26 Just as importantly, in Aguilar, Cruz, and Adamo, other substantial evidence helped satisfy Sec. 848's management requirement. See Aguilar, 843 F.2d at 157-58; Cruz, 785 F.2d at 407; Adamo, 742 F.2d at 933. As the Sixth Circuit noted in distinguishing Adamo from a case where fronting was the sole evidence, the government proved many other facts about the organization's activities in Adamo. Ward, 37 F.3d at 250. Finally, to the extent that these cases can be interpreted to sustain a conviction based on fronting alone, we must disagree. Such an expansive reading of Sec. 848 does not comport with the plain meaning of the terms organize or supervise, see Webster's New World Dictionary 1590, 2296 (3d ed. 1976), goes beyond the scope intended by Congress, and violates the rule of lenity. Thus, the evidence of fronting relied on by the Government does not satisfy Sec. 848's management requirement. 7 27 In sum, the Government did not produce enough evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that Wright organized or supervised the street dealers. The record, viewed in the light most favorable to the Government, only supports a conclusion that Wright organized or supervised Hubbard, four short of the minimum number required by Sec. 848. See 21 U.S.C.A. Sec. 848(c)(2)(a).