Opinion ID: 3001485
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Indicted

Text: More than a year after Cozzo and Useni relinquished control of the Grand Palace to Bingo Partners, Cozzo became aware of an FBI investigation and took steps to head off prosecution. Cozzo attempted to ensure that Marotta kept quiet. (Recall that Marotta had been the Grand Palace’s biggest supplier and therefore knew the extent of the Grand Palace’s operation.) In October 1997, Cozzo met with Marotta at Finkel’s Deli. Cozzo told Marotta that the heat was on and that they were being investigated by the FBI. Cozzo warned Marotta to keep his mouth shut and to say nothing or else he would be a “dead man.” Cozzo later repeated his threat to Marotta, this time over the phone after Marotta had met with the FBI, again telling Marotta that he was a “dead man.” Cozzo’s efforts to stave off a federal prosecution were unsuccessful, though he was not formally charged until April 2002, when the government indicted him, Useni, Shlifka, Mariani, Trombetta, Sarno, DiMarco, Lenoci, Riccio, and James Prebis, who had replaced Bingham as the Grand Palace’s bookkeeper during the tenure of Bingo Partners.5 In count one of the indictment, Cozzo and Useni were charged with conspiring to conduct an 5 Bingham died before the grand jury handed down the indictment. 14 Nos. 06-1978 & 06-2107 enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d). The government alleged that Useni and Cozzo agreed to conduct and participate in the conducting of the affairs of an association-in-fact enterprise consisting of the Grand Palace, Cozzo, Useni, Shlifka, Mariani, Bingo Partners, and the members of Bingo Partners, through a pattern of racketeering activity that included operating an illegal gambling business and mail fraud. Count two of the indictment alleged that Cozzo and Useni conducted an illegal gambling business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955. Counts three through nine alleged that Cozzo and Useni committed mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 2 because the bingo and pull-tab license applications Bingo Partners had submitted to the state on behalf of the IAWV posts in 1997 were part of a scheme to defraud. Count twenty-five alleged that Cozzo and Useni had conspired to commit tax fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 by concealing income from the gambling at the Grand Palace. Counts twenty-six and twentyseven alleged that Useni wilfully understated the Grand Palace’s corporate income on the two corporate tax returns he signed as the Grand Palace’s owner in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1).