Berthoff v. United States

140 F. Supp. 2d 50, 2001 WL 396368
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedApril 9, 2001
DocketCIV.A.97-10883-WGY
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 140 F. Supp. 2d 50 (Berthoff v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berthoff v. United States, 140 F. Supp. 2d 50, 2001 WL 396368 (D. Mass. 2001).

Opinion

140 F.Supp.2d 50 (2001)

Frederic W. BERTHOFF, Petitioner,
v.
UNITED STATES of America, Respondent.

No. CIV.A.97-10883-WGY.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

April 9, 2001.

*51 Michael C. Bourbeau, Boston, MA, for Frederic W. Berthoff, Petitioner.

Andrew Levchuk, United States Attorney's Office, Springfield, MA, Thomas C. Frongillo, United States Attorney's Office, Boston, MA, for United States of America, Respondent.

REPORT

YOUNG, Chief Judge.

[The] executive take[s] idealistic, energetic, ambitious young men and[, in elected politics,] turn[s] them into whores in five years; the judiciary takes old, tired, experienced whores and turns them into virgins in five years.[1]
*52 The role of the American jury, the central vehicle for citizen participation in the legal system, is being sharply limited by new laws, court rulings and a legal culture that is moving away from trials as a method of resolving disputes.[2]

These observable — but apparently unrelated — phenomena are, in the main, true. This report explores their relationship in the context of federal criminal sentencing.

This report necessarily involves an explanation of my[3] sentencing practices. It makes most sense to start at the beginning.

Along with five associates, ... Frederic W. Berthoff ["Berthoff"] was indicted on seventeen felony charges. Following a jury trial, he was convicted of conspiring to possess marijuana and hashish with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841, 846 (Count 1), possessing hashish with intent to distribute, id. § 841 (Count 2), [tax evasion, 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) (Count 3),] ... money laundering, 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a) (Counts 7-14), [and witness tampering, 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3) (Count 16)].
On several occasions between 1984 and 1986, Berthoff enlisted Brad Welch ["Welch"], Stephen Marble and Albert Mello ["Mello"] to transport marijuana and its proceeds from Florida and Arizona to Massachusetts. Berthoff himself went along on at least one trip. In addition, between 1984 and 1991 Berthoff sold large quantities of marijuana to or through Welch, Mello, Thomas Cimeno ["Cimeno"], and Wes Schifone ["Schifone"].
During the 1986-87 period, Berthoff expanded the scope of his illegal drug operation by arranging to finance and import 4,000 pounds of hashish from Portugal for distribution in the United States. Some of the hashish was stored at Berthoff's Massachusetts residence. It was sold both within Massachusetts and elsewhere. In 1988, Scott Holland ["Holland"], a coconspirator in the hashish importation, was arrested on unrelated criminal charges. Shortly thereafter, Berthoff reassured another coconspirator, Cimeno, that Holland would not inform on them because Berthoff was selling Holland's share of the hashish, and holding the proceeds for Holland.
In November 1988, Berthoff and Mello traveled to Zurich, Switzerland, where they opened a bank account and deposited *53 $90,000 in drug proceeds. Upon his return to Massachusetts, Berthoff wrote the Swiss bank and authorized a $75,000 withdrawal and wire transfer to Mello in Massachusetts. After Mello received the transfer, he drove to Key West, Florida, and deposited the proceeds in a bank account previously established for the purpose. The funds eventually were transferred by Mello into a corporate bank account controlled by Berthoff. On another occasion, Berthoff made a $100,000 interest-free loan from illegal drug proceeds to Cimeno, insisting that Cimeno repay the loan with checks identifying the payments as returns on a real estate investment.

United States v. Berthoff, No. 94-1719, 70 F.3d 1253, 1995 WL 703506, at *1 (1st Cir. Nov.29, 1995) (unpublished table decision) (footnote omitted).[4]

Berthoff is the central, moving force in this criminality, the "kingpin" if you will. He was tried with co-defendants William Tibolt ("Tibolt") and Holland. All were convicted, although not on all counts. I sentenced Berthoff to twenty-one years' imprisonment on Counts One and Two; three years' imprisonment on Count Three; twenty years' imprisonment on Counts Seven through Fourteen; and ten years' imprisonment on Count Sixteen, with the sentences on all counts to run concurrently.[5]

Cimeno, the individual next to Berthoff most culpable in this conspiracy, pleaded guilty prior to trial and cooperated, his testimony being quite important to the conviction of Berthoff and absolutely vital to the conviction of Holland. I sentenced him to three years' imprisonment.

Mello, like Cimeno an important figure in this conspiracy, also pleaded guilty and cooperated, his testimony being less important than that of Cimeno. I sentenced him to three years' imprisonment.

Schifone, a lesser figure, pleaded guilty and cooperated. I sentenced him to five years' probation, the first nine months to be spent in house arrest.

Tibolt went to trial. Accepting his statute of limitations argument, the Court granted him a mid-trial judgment of acquittal on Counts One and Two. Tibolt was convicted of money laundering, and I sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment.

The hapless Holland, excitable and somewhat spaced-out, tried to manage his own defense. Skipper of the vessel that made the drug run, Holland professed nothing more than a desire to be reunited with his children, Sunshine and Jelly Bean, and had been advised that he had an ironclad statute of limitations defense. At trial, however, Cimeno came up with some new testimony that scotched that defense. After his conviction, I sentenced him to five years' imprisonment. Interestingly, it appears that Holland has made the most successful rehabilitation.

*54 Berthoff appealed but his conviction was affirmed. He commenced the present case, a habeas proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, on April 23, 1997.

On December 9, 1998, concerned over the far-reaching implications of a then-recent decision of the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit — United States v. Rodriguez, 162 F.3d 135, 150-53 (1st Cir.1998), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1152, 119 S.Ct. 2034, 143 L.Ed.2d 1044 (1999) — I granted Berthoff a certificate of appealability after denying his petition for habeas corpus. The Court of Appeals has now vacated the certificate of appealability and remanded the matter to this Court, Berthoff v. United States, No. 99-1276, 201 F.3d 426, 1999 WL 1295839 (1st Cir. Dec.22, 1999) (unpublished table decision), with instructions further to consider whether a certificate of appealability ought issue concerning the adequacy of Berthoff's representation by trial counsel and, if so, to explain my reasoning on certain points, id. at *1-*2.

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Bluebook (online)
140 F. Supp. 2d 50, 2001 WL 396368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berthoff-v-united-states-mad-2001.