Opinion ID: 397156
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: rico-related challenges97

Text: 261 Echezarreta, Fisher and Platshorn attack their RICO convictions. Echezarreta contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction on the RICO conspiracy count. Echezarreta also claims that his RICO conspiracy conviction must be vacated because the two counts listed as the predicate acts of racketeering activity did not satisfy the requirements of RICO. Fisher urges that his RICO substantive and conspiracy convictions must be reversed on the basis that he did not engage in a pattern of racketeering because the two predicate acts of racketeering activity (counts 14 and 15) both arose out of the same transaction-the PRESIDENTIAL incident. The crux of Fisher's contention is that a RICO pattern of racketeering cannot be discerned from a single transaction even though multiple criminal offenses arise therefrom.
262 Echezarreta was convicted of two violations of 21 U.S.C.A. § 841(a) for possession with intent to distribute and actual distribution of the same 200 pound load of marijuana; he was also convicted for one violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1962(a) for engaging in a pattern of racketeering and for one violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1962(d) for conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering. After trial, the district court, relying on United States v. Hernandez, 591 F.2d 1019 (5th Cir. 1979) (en banc), ruled that possession with intent to distribute and actual distribution of the same marijuana were but one criminal act. Since under 18 U.S.C.A. § 1961(5) a pattern of racketeering requires at least two criminal acts and since in Echezarreta's case the only acts of racketeering that might have occurred were the violations of Section 841(a) that the district court had found to be one offense, the district court dismissed the conviction for a substantive violation of RICO. The district court did not discuss or explain why it did not dismiss the conviction for conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering. We do not believe under these facts the conspiracy conviction of Echezarreta can be upheld. 263 The standard for proving the existence of a conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1962(d), announced in United States v. Elliott, 571 F.2d 880, 903 (5th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Hawkins v. United States, 439 U.S. 953, 99 S.Ct. 349, 58 L.Ed.2d 344 (1978), is that an individual, by his words or actions, must have objectively manifested an agreement to participate, directly or indirectly, in the affairs of an enterprise through the commission of two or more predicate crimes (emphasis in original). As the quotation indicates, and as this Court stated in United States v. Sutherland, 656 F.2d 1181, 1187 n.4 (5th Cir. 1981), no actual acts of racketeering need occur; there need only exist a conspiracy to perform the necessary acts plus some overt action by one of the conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy. 264 We have repeatedly stated that the predicate acts necessary for finding a pattern of racketeering must be two separate crimes. See, e. g., Elliott, supra; United States v. Welch, 656 F.2d 1039, 1057 (5th Cir. 1981). These crimes need not, however, be in the context of independent schemes or objectives. The discussion of the Seventh Circuit in United States v. Starnes, 644 F.2d 673, 677-78 (1981), Supreme Court appeal pending, illuminates the nature of the acts that are the necessary predicates for finding the existence of a RICO conspiracy. Defendants charged that there was only one predicate act because there was only one incident of arson involved. The court rejected that argument. Rather, it held that the acts of racketeering punishable under RICO included not only the arson punishable under state law, but also the violations of federal mail fraud laws and federal laws prohibiting interstate travel with intent to commit arson that occurred in furthering the single act of arson. 265 Holding similarly to Starnes is another Seventh Circuit case, United States v. Weatherspoon, 581 F.2d 595, 601-02 (1978), a non-conspiracy RICO case in which the court declined to follow defendant's argument that there was no pattern of racketeering because she was involved in only one scheme to defraud an individual. Rather, noting that Weatherspoon had engaged in several mailings as part of her scheme to defraud and that each mailing was a separate violation of the mail fraud statute, the court held that defendant had engaged in several acts of racketeering. Again the court emphasized the separate crimes that the defendant had committed in determining whether there had been the required number of acts of racketeering. 266 Applying Starnes and Weatherspoon to Echezarreta's situation, we find that he could be guilty of participating in a RICO conspiracy, even though the conspiracy had the single objective of importing the 200 pound load of marijuana, so long as he committed or agreed to commit at least two separate crimes in furtherance of the conspiracy's single objective. It follows, however, that, if the district judge was correct, and we believe that he was, in finding that Hernandez holds that the crimes of possession with intent to distribute and of actual distribution were merged into one, there was no separate crime performed in furtherance of the conspiracy's objective that would constitute the necessary second act of racketeering. 267 In Hernandez we considered whether consecutive sentences could be imposed on an individual for possession with intent to distribute and for distribution of drugs. Both crimes are violations of 21 U.S.C.A. § 841(a). The Court held that consecutive sentences could not be imposed. The element of the Court's decision critical here is whether the holding merely means that sentencing for the two convictions is merged or whether the two separate offenses merge into one. The intent of the Court is not altogether clear, but the clearest statement in the opinion is that (w)hen the intent to distribute was executed by a successful sale, the possession with intent to do so merged into the completed offense, 591 F.2d at 1022, indicating that the Court believed the actual crimes merged into one. This conclusion concerning the Court's intent is bolstered by the Court's emphasis of Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 75 S.Ct. 620, 99 L.Ed. 905 (1955), in which the Supreme Court, striking down the imposition of consecutive sentences for violations of the Mann Act in the transportation of two women across state lines at one time, found the act ambiguous concerning whether the actions at issue were one or two crimes and adopted a rule of lenity providing that doubt will be resolved against turning a single transaction into multiple offenses. 349 U.S. at 84. 268 The predominant emphasis in Hernandez is on merger of offenses. We recognized this in United States v. Colmenares-Hernandez, 659 F.2d 39, 43 (1981), and United States v. Caston, 615 F.2d 1111, 1117 (1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 831, 101 S.Ct. 99, 66 L.Ed.2d 36 (1981). 269 In summary, unless there occurred two separate acts which Echezarreta agreed to do in furtherance of the conspiracy to import marijuana, there was no pattern of racketeering necessary for conviction for participation in a RICO conspiracy. There were no two separate acts.
270 Fisher's contention, as stated earlier, is that because the two predicate acts underlying his RICO conviction arose from a single criminal transaction-the PRESIDENTIAL mission-there was no showing of a pattern of racketeering activity. The two predicate acts at issue here are the aiding and abetting the attempted importation offense, and the travel in foreign commerce in aid of racketeering offense. As we stated in our discussion of Starnes and Weatherspoon in the context of Echezarreta's claims, a transaction standard such as that proposed by Fisher is inappropriate for determining whether there occurred the requisite number of predicate acts. We decline to adopt such a standard.
271 Platshorn claims that marijuana offenses are not within the ambit of RICO because marijuana is not a narcotic or dangerous drug. However, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. See, e. g., United States v. Erwin, 602 F.2d 1183, 1185 (5th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1071, 100 S.Ct. 1014, 62 L.Ed.2d 752 (1980). Marijuana may be the subject matter of a RICO charge. See United States v. Smith, 574 F.2d 308 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 931, 99 S.Ct. 321, 58 L.Ed.2d 325 (1978), subsequent appeal sub nom. United States v. Stratton, 649 F.2d 1066 (5th Cir. 1981).