Court Opinion

ID: 9476330
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:53:15.171024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:15.392402
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result.
While I concur in the result, I write separately to state my view that persons who do not directly participate in gambling operations should not be counted as persons “involved” in the “conduct” of such business within the purview of 18 U.S.C. § 1955(b).
Thus, neither cocktail waitresses nor passive lessors of the betting place who do not partake in the gaming process should be counted in the determination of whether or not a defendant “conducts, finances, manages, supervises, directs, or owns all or part of an illegal gambling business,” 18 U.S.C. § 1955(a), as has been determined by the Tenth Circuit in United States v. Boss, 671 F.2d 396 (1982) and United States v. Morris, 612 F.2d 483 (1979).
We need not disapprove of the results reached in the Tenth Circuit’s decisions in order to affirm here. Crawford on occasion participated directly in the gambling operation and the evidence entitled the jury to conclude that Hammond’s gambling activity included at least five persons.