Opinion ID: 572629
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Verdicts and the Sentences

Text: 24 Based on the A & A dumping operation and the Environmental Contractors medical waste collection operation, a 12-count superseding indictment charged all defendants with a substantive RICO violation, to wit, conducting and participating in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) (count 1); and with RICO conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (count 2). It charged all defendants except McDonald and Environmental Contractors with five counts of scheming to defraud the City of dumping revenues and license fees in connection with the A & A dump site, in violation of the mail fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (counts 3-7), and with two counts of scheming to defraud CSX of the value of its Arlington Yard property through the A & A dumping operations, also in violation of § 1341 (counts 8 and 9). Counts 10 and 11 charged Paccione and Vulpis, along with their co-racketeers and certain of their respective companies, with schemes to defraud certain hospitals in connection with the disposal of infectious or medical waste, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 2. Finally, the indictment charged that Paccione, Vulpis, McDonald, and Environmental Contractors had schemed to defraud their medical customers of money and property by charging them high rates attributable to lawful transport, storage, and disposal of medical waste without providing those services lawfully, and had implemented that scheme through, inter alia, mailings of letters and invoices to a certain doctor, in violation of § 1341 (count 12). The alleged schemes to defraud also formed the basis for 17 RICO predicate acts charged in counts 1 and 2. 25 The trial lasted 12 weeks. The jury, empaneled anonymously over defendants' objections, deliberated from May 22 to June 8, 1990, and found each of the defendants guilty on some counts and not guilty on others. All of the defendants charged in counts 3, 4, 10, and 11 were acquitted on those counts. In addition, the jury found McDonald and Environmental Contractors guilty on count 12 but not guilty on counts 1 and 2. It found Vulpis guilty on counts 1, 2, and 5-9, but not guilty on count 12. It found Paccione guilty on counts 1, 2, 5-9, and 12. It found the corporate defendants guilty on counts 1, 2, and 5-9. With respect to the RICO counts, as discussed in greater detail in Part II.C. below, the jury also completed a special verdict form, making findings on each of the alleged predicate acts. 26 On June 8, 1990, the district court approved the parties' June 6, 1990 letter agreement with respect to forfeitures under RICO (forfeiture agreement). That agreement principally removed from the jury any issue of RICO forfeitures and provided that Paccione, Vulpis, and the corporate defendants, if convicted of RICO offenses, would be jointly and severally liable to the government for $22 million, in satisfaction of forfeiture, court-imposed fines, and restitution. The forfeiture agreement established a periodic payment schedule and required that those defendants pay the government in full within 90 days. No payments were made. 27 On October 3, 1990, the district court sentenced Paccione and Vulpis principally to 151-month terms of incarceration, and sentenced McDonald principally to a 12-month term of incarceration and ordered him to pay a fine that later was reduced by stipulation to $79,500. For reasons discussed in greater detail in Part III.B. below, the sentences imposed on Paccione and Vulpis were more severe than those recommended in the Probation Department's Presentence Reports, in part because the district court found that Paccione and Vulpis had entered into the forfeiture agreement with intent not to perform.