Court Opinion

ID: 9471765
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:40:34.61984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:33.998408
License: Public Domain

MANSFIELD, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent. As the majority recognizes (Opin. p. 270), DiMaria’s statement upon arrest that he “came ... to get some cigarettes real cheap” is ambiguous, since the term “real cheap” could refer either to “bootleg” (i.e., lower-taxed) or to *273stolen cigarettes. It would be of defensive use only if it meant the former, in which event to admit the self-serving statement without exposure to the crucible of cross-examination would in my view not only introduce an element of confusion but violate the spirit of the Hearsay Rule. However, although no guarantee of trustworthiness for the defendant’s interpretation is offered, I am persuaded by Judge Friendly’s customary careful and thorough analysis that the Federal Rules of Evidence required its admission.
Where I part company with my colleagues is in the appraisal of the seriousness of the error. In my view, when one examines the obviously weak nature of the statement in the light of the powerful case against DiMaria, the error was harmless. The test to determine whether non-constitutional error is harmless is “what effect the error had or reasonably may be taken to have had upon the jury’s decision.” Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 764, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 1247, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946); United States v. Frank, 494 F.2d 145, 161 n. 19 (2d Cir.1974). In my view no reasonable juror would be swayed by the excluded statement to acquit.
The evidence against DiMaria was extremely strong. It is undisputed that, following the hijacking on the New Jersey Turnpike of the tractor-trailer loaded with 950 cases of cigarettes, each containing 12,-000 cigarettes, and the secret storage of the truck in Jersey City, Anthony Billeci and Irving Birnbaum, with knowledge that the truckload had been hijacked, met repeatedly with DiMaria outside a Brooklyn social club on the evenings of February 17 and 18, 1981, where the three had furtive conversations on the street in cold weather. On the following day Billeci and Birnbaum supervised the transfer of the stolen goods from New Jersey to the Terminal Market yard in Brooklyn, taking the precaution of a mid-trip switch of truck drivers. The stolen cargo was followed by an Oldsmobile that had been near the Brooklyn social club at the time of their discussions with DiMaria on the previous two evenings.
On February 20 an “S & R” rental van entered the Terminal Market yard, where the cigarettes were being guarded by Mici-otta, a friend of DiMaria, and took delivery of 50 cases of the stolen cigarettes, or a total of 600,000 cigarettes. On February 21 DiMaria arrived in his Cadillac, followed by a “Barn” rental van. DiMaria then directed the loading of 45 cases (540,000) cigarettes into the van, took delivery of one broken case in his own Cadillac, and started to drive off with Miciotta when both were arrested. A tally sheet on Miciotta’s person showed that 50 cases had been offloaded on the previous day for “Rich” (Richard Lust-parten)1 and “Lenny” (Leonard DiMaria). Miciotta also had on his person the keys to the doors of the two IRL trailers containing the stolen cigarettes and part of the bill of lading listing the contents of the original trailer when it left Philip Morris in Richmond.
The exposed packages of cigarettes in the split case transferred from the trailers to the back seat of DiMaria’s Cadillac just before his arrest did not bear the tax stamp of a low-tax state (e.g., North Carolina), which would have lent some support to a claim that they were “bootleg”, but instead bore no tax stamps at all. According to Special Agent Brederhoft all continental states require tax stamps and the absence of any stamps at all is strong evidence that the cigarettes either are in transit from a manufacturer (in this case Philip Morris) or have been stolen. “Bootleg” cigarettes are found only in much smaller quantities than those seized here.
In light of the foregoing evidence, even if DiMaria had clearly stated that “I didn’t know the cigarettes were stolen” or “I only came to buy one case,” no jury would have believed his remarks. The furtiveness of DiMaria’s conversations in the cold on two evenings outside the social club with the *274two stolen-goods entrepreneurs (Billed and Bimbaum), viewed in the light of events that followed, demonstrates that he was negotiating for the purchase of a large quantity of stolen goods; one does not engage in such protracted discussions merely to buy a few packs of cigarettes. The delivery of 50 cases of the stolen goods to the “S & R” truck for “Lenny and Rich” on February 20 confirms that DiMaria was purchasing numerous cases, not just a few cigarettes. Finally, DiMaria’s arrival on February 21st with a van and his direction of the offloading of the cases from the trailers into the van leaves no doubt whatever about the quantities involved.
As for DiMaria’s knowledge of whether the cigarettes were stolen or bootleg, it strains credulity beyond the breaking point to think that that subject did not arise during the extensive negotiations and clandestine transfers. Moreover, DiMaria’s possession at the time of arrest of an open case showing that the cigarettes bore no tax stamps at all thoroughly destroys his contention that he thought he was buying bootleg cigarettes bearing a lower-tax stamp. Similarly, DiMaria had ample opportunity to examine the 50 cases offloaded for “Rich and Lenny” the day before the arrest.
In short, the picture is clearly one of a person who knowingly participated in the purchase and distribution of massive quantities of stolen goods, and any self-serving statements to the contrary made by DiMa-ria would be quickly rejected by a reasonable jury. But DiMaria’s remark is not necessarily even exculpatory. The majority suggests that the statement “could be considered by the jury as negating an intention to possess a quantity in excess of 60,000 which § 2341(2) requires for a conviction.” However, without further elaboration — and DiMaria did not testify — the statement sheds absolutely no light on the issue of quantity. Indeed, DiMaria’s briefs do not even raise the point made by the majority. So, too, DiMaria did not say that he thought he was buying bootlegs; his statement leaves that matter as well in a state of complete ambiguity. Although bootleg cigarettes may be “cheap”, stolen cigarettes are even cheaper — “real cheap.”
Since the undisputed evidence of DiMa-ria’s guilty knowledge is so strong and the excluded remark has such minimal significance on that issue (indeed, might even corroborate, rather than rebut, the other evidence of guilt), I would hold that the error is harmless and affirm the judgment of conviction.

. The “S & R” van into which the 50 cases were loaded had been rented by Richard Lust-parten.