Opinion ID: 437587
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Tony Scire

Text: 29 Scire was convicted under Counts One and Six, respectively, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. At trial he was the sole defendant to take the stand. Scire portrayed himself as a mild-mannered south Florida businessman who lived alone next door to his mother with no companionship except for his attack dog Gina. Although not an Outlaw himself, he and Hawkins were good friends. The two, inveterate gamblers, frequently met and placed bets at racetracks in Florida, Kentucky and elsewhere. Scire admitted his gambling association with Hawkins, but adamantly denied any involvement in Outlaws drug trafficking. 30 Other Outlaws came to know or know of Scire through Hawkins. Their testimony painted a different picture of Scire's dealings. Jerry Luke Owens, for instance, worked for Hawkins as a drug courier to Detroit in 1980. Owens testified that, according to Hawkins, a Tony in Miami or south Florida supplied the bulk cocaine that Owens sold. 31 Government witness Paul Clendening met Scire through Hawkins. Beginning in September 1981, after Clendening moved into Hawkins' house in Tampa, Hawkins began taking the Outlaws recruit to Miami for the stated purpose of visiting Scire and obtaining cocaine. The pair made a total of four trips. Clendening testified that Hawkins carried cocaine only on the return leg. On the first trip, Clendening testified, Hawkins arrived at Scire's house and asked where he could get some cocaine. Scire replied that he didn't know, but that he would check into it. He and Hawkins then disappeared into Scire's bedroom. Hawkins emerged with a quarter ounce of cocaine. After an overnight stay at Scire's home, Hawkins and Clendening returned to Tampa, where they weighed the cocaine, cut it with procaine, and bottled it for sale. 32 On each of the following three visits, according to Clendening, Hawkins asked Scire whether he could procure some cocaine, with varying results. On the second return trip, Hawkins produced cocaine from a folded paper towel and snorted it with Clendening in a gas station men's room. The following time Scire promised to check into getting some cocaine, but none materialized. The fourth visit was entirely unproductive: Scire told Hawkins that the supply was dry, there wasn't any. 33 On appeal Scire argues that the evidence establishes at best that Scire provided Hawkins with cocaine for personal use rather than for large-scale distribution. According to Scire, the quarter ounce of cocaine Hawkins obtained on the first trip was too small a quantity to demonstrate an agreement to join a massive drug distribution ring. Alternatively, he argues that Hawkins' agreement to buy what Scire had to sell, standing alone, does not establish the joint objective necessary to prove a conspiracy. 34 These arguments miss the mark. The evidence shows involvement far beyond one or two isolated sales. The government offered testimony from which a reasonable jury could infer that Scire supplied Hawkins with cocaine for distribution to Detroit and elsewhere as early as 1980. During Clendening's 1981 visits to Scire's house, Scire's consistent agreeability to checking into cocaine confirms that he extended his hospitality to the Outlaw callers to the extent of transacting drug sales. Although Hawkins returned from Miami with what seemed to be a small supply of cocaine, the first trip nevertheless yielded enough to cut and prepare for resale. From these facts, taken together, the jury could have reasonably concluded that Scire had an ongoing agreement to supply Hawkins with cocaine for redistribution. 10 Compare United States v. Mancillas, 580 F.2d 1301, 1307 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 958, 99 S.Ct. 361, 58 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978), with United States v. Caro, 569 F.2d 411, 418-19 (5th Cir.1978). The evidence likewise supports Scire's conviction on the substantive count.