Opinion ID: 1361622
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Sciascia Murder Was Relevant Conduct

Text: The Government charged DeFilippo with the murder of George Sciascia as both an independent offense (Counts 8, 9, and 10) and as racketeering acts under the Count 1 RICO conspiracy. According to the Government, the head of the Family, Joseph Massino, had ordered Sciascia killed in retaliation for Sciascia having been disrespectful of a member of the Family. A cooperating witness testified about his involvement in the murder, and he stated that DeFilippo was the shooter. At trial, the jury found that the Government had failed to prove DeFilippo's responsibility for the murder of George Sciascia, either as an independent offense or as a racketeering act under Count 1. At sentencing, however, the district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that DeFilippo was responsible for the Sciascia murder, and it included the Sciascia murder as relevant conduct under the Guidelines. DeFilippo objected to the inclusion of the Sciascia murder as relevant conduct on the bases of both relevance and lack of proof. On appeal, DeFilippo does not challenge the district court's factual finding that DeFilippo was responsible for the Sciascia murder. Instead, he argues that the Sciascia murder was not relevant conduct because it was not related to a conspiratorial object of which DeFilippo was convicted. DeFilippo claims that in Count 1, the RICO conspiracy, he was charged with a conspiracy having multiple objects (i.e., the racketeering acts identified in the Indictment). According to DeFilippo, these racketeering acts fall into two categories relating to two overarching conspiratorial objectives: (1) generating money for members and associates of the Family; and (2) employing Family resources to settle personal grievances. At trial, DeFilippo argues, he was convicted only of racketeering acts that fell into the generating money category (i.e., the gambling acts and the Nunez murder), while he was not found guilty of the racketeering acts that fell into the personal grievances category (i.e., the Sciascia murder, which was allegedly in retaliation for Sciascia's disrespect of a Family member). He believes that the jury therefore found him guilty of a conspiracy that had as its objective generating money for members and associates of the Family. He believes that the jury did not find him guilty of a conspiracy that had revenge as its purpose. He further concludes that because the jury did not find him guilty of a revenge conspiracy, the Sciascia murderwhich he claims was related only to the revenge conspiracyis not relevant to his conviction. For support, DeFilippo relies on Sentencing Guidelines § 1B1.2(d), which instructs the sentencing court, when faced with a conviction for a multi-object conspiracy, to treat it as several convictions for single-object conspiracies. The Commentary emphasizes that when a guilty verdict or plea does not establish which offense was the object of the conspiracy of which the defendant was convicted, the district court should apply § 1B1.2(d) to that offense only if it finds the defendant guilty of conspiring to commit that offense beyond a reasonable doubt. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.2(d) cmt. app. n. 4 (2006). DeFilippo urges us to find that because the jury verdict did not establish that he was guilty of the revenge offense, which he asserts was an object of his RICO conspiracy, the district court erred in finding him responsible for the revenge offense by only a preponderance of the evidence.
DeFilippo is mistaken in his reliance on Sentencing Guidelines § 1B1.2, which governs the Guidelines calculation for multi-object conspiracies, because a RICO conspiracy is not a multi-object conspiracy. A RICO conspiracy is a single-object conspiracy, with the object being to engage in racketeering; predicate racketeering acts are not conspiratorial objects. 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (2006) (It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section. (emphasis added)); see also United States v. Yannotti, 541 F.3d 112, 129 (2d Cir.2008) ([T]he RICO conspiracy with which he was charged had only one objectto conduct or participate in the affairs of the charged enterprise ... through a pattern of racketeering.); United States v. Ruggiero, 726 F.2d 913, 923 (2d Cir.1984) (A RICO conspiracy under § 1962(d) based on separate conspiracies as predicate offenses is not merely a `conspiracy to conspire' as alleged by appellants, but is an overall conspiracy to violate a substantive provision of RICO .... (emphasis added)) (abrogated on other grounds by Salinas v. United States, 522 U.S. 52, 118 S.Ct. 469, 139 L.Ed.2d 352 (1997)); United States v. Carrozza, 4 F.3d 70, 79 (1st Cir.1993) ([Sentencing Guidelines] § 1B1.2(d) was enacted to deal with multiple object conspiracies charged in a single count. A RICO conspiracy, however, is considered a single object conspiracy with that object being the violation of RICO.). Sentencing Guidelines § 1B1.2 is, therefore, inapplicable. Yannotti, 541 F.3d at 129. Instead, a RICO offense is governed by Sentencing Guidelines § 2E1.1, which also governs the treatment of underlying predicate acts. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2E1.1(a) (2006) (instructing the court to apply offense level 19 or .. . the offense level applicable to the underlying racketeering activity); id. at cmt. app. n. 1 (instructing that [w]here there is more than one underlying offense, the court should treat each underlying offense as if contained in a separate count of conviction). When reviewed in light of the Guidelines that do apply, we find that the district court appropriately considered the Sciascia murder to be relevant conduct. Conduct is relevant if it was committed, aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, induced, procured, or willfully caused by the defendant ... during the commission of the offense of conviction, in preparation for that offense, or in the course of attempting to avoid detection or responsibility for that offense. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.3(a)(1) (2006). When the offense of conviction is a RICO conspiracy, relevant conduct may include underlying predicate acts, even if not proven at trial beyond a reasonable doubt, as long as the sentencing court finds that they were proven by the lower preponderance of the evidence standard. Yannotti, 541 F.3d at 129 (citing United States v. Vaughn, 430 F.3d 518, 526-27 (2d Cir.2005)). The Sciascia murder was underlying racketeering activity, and while DeFilippo has challenged the burden the district court applied in making its finding, he does not challenge the finding itself that DeFilippo was responsible for it. We therefore affirm the district court's inclusion of the Sciascia murder as relevant conduct in its Guidelines analysis.