McCann, Demetrius v. Mangialardi, Sam

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 22, 2003
Docket02-2409
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
McCann, Demetrius v. Mangialardi, Sam, (7th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________

Nos. 02-2409 & 02-3021 DEMETRIUS MCCANN, Plaintiff-Appellee/ Cross-Appellant, v.

SAM A. MANGIALARDI, Defendant-Appellant/ Cross-Appellee. ____________ Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 94 C 5156—Harry D. Leinenweber, Judge. ____________ ARGUED FEBRUARY 10, 2003—DECIDED JULY 22, 2003 ____________

Before POSNER, MANION, and KANNE, Circuit Judges. MANION, Circuit Judge. Otis Moore operated a cocaine trafficking business in Chicago Heights, Illinois. One of his top assistants was Demetrius McCann. Also on the payroll was Sam Mangialardi, the deputy chief of the Chicago Heights police department, who not only pro- tected Moore’s operation but also investigated and arrested many of Moore’s competitors. At some point, Mangialardi and Moore suspected McCann of being a federal informant, and they agreed that Moore should get rid of him. Moore set McCann up for arrest by having cocaine planted in a 2 Nos. 02-2409 & 02-3021

car McCann was driving, then notified Mangialardi of McCann’s location. Mangialardi ordered police to stop, search and arrest McCann. After his arrest McCann pleaded guilty, was sentenced, and served time in pris- on. After his release on parole, McCann discovered that Mangialardi had been prosecuted and that Moore, testify- ing for the government, disclosed he had planted cocaine in the car McCann was driving when arrested. McCann filed suit against the City of Chicago Heights, its police department, and a number of government officials, in- cluding Mangialardi. Ultimately, the litigation boiled down to McCann’s claims against Mangialardi for false arrest under the Fourth Amendment and a Fourteenth Amendment violation of his due process rights. Mangialardi moved to dismiss McCann’s Fourth Amendment claim on the pleadings, which the district court granted. Mangialardi then moved for summary judgment of McCann’s due process claim on the ground that he was entitled to qual- ified immunity. The district court denied the motion, and Mangialardi appeals. McCann cross-appeals the dis- trict court’s dismissal of his Fourth Amendment false ar- rest claim. We reverse in part and affirm in part.

I. From 1988 until 1990, Demetrius (“Trent”) McCann was a “lieutenant” in a narcotics trafficking organization oper- ated by Otis Moore, holding the position of “overseer.” During this time period, McCann sold cocaine for Moore’s organization. As part of the operation, Moore paid protec- tion money to Sam Mangialardi, who at that time was the deputy chief of the Chicago Heights police department. Mangialardi’s “duties” were to protect Moore’s operation from police interference and to arrest any drug competi- tors whom Moore wanted out of the way. At some point Nos. 02-2409 & 02-3021 3

in 1990, Mangialardi told Moore that he suspected McCann might be working for the Federal Bureau of Investiga- tion (“FBI”) as an informant, and advised him to “get rid of that guy.” In November of that same year, Ray Cooper, one of Moore’s subordinates, found an FBI or IRS business card while searching through some of McCann’s personal belongings. Cooper relayed this information to Moore, who in turn advised Mangialardi of the discovery. Shortly thereafter, Moore and Mangialardi met to dis- cuss how to best deal with McCann. During the meeting, Moore told Mangialardi that McCann “would have drugs in his car shortly,” to which Mangialardi responded, “I will be at the station. Just give me a call.” On November 20, 1990, Moore instructed another subordinate, Johnson Lee, to “bring his black Cutlass” so that he could plant “100 dime bags of cocaine . . . under the springs of the driver’s side seat.” After Moore planted the drugs, the black Cutlass was parked near McCann’s residence. Moore then ordered Lee to direct Terrell Jones, yet another subor- dinate, to ask McCann to follow him in the black Cutlass under the pretense that Jones’s car was about to run out of gas. Jones made the request, and McCann agreed to follow him in the Cutlass (unaware that Moore had planted the drugs). Upon seeing the two cars depart from McCann’s house, Moore—who was carefully watching events tran- spire from a safe distance with binoculars—immediately called Mangialardi at the police station to tell him that “it was going down, that they were moving westbound on 14th street.” Moore then followed Jones and McCann in his car, and, shortly thereafter, called Mangialardi back to advise him of “the location where they was [sic] and the direction they was [sic] moving in.” Mangialardi advised police officers of the “tip,” and in short order the police surrounded the car McCann was driving. When the police were unable to find any drugs, Moore called the police 4 Nos. 02-2409 & 02-3021

station again, this time speaking with Officer Tony Murphy. Moore advised Murphy that the drugs were “up under the driver’s side seat,” and Murphy relayed this information to the officers on the scene, who promptly found the planted drugs and arrested McCann. On December 21, 1990, McCann was indicted for posses- sion of a controlled substance and for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. Faced with the prospect of a 30-year prison sentence, McCann pleaded guilty on January 31, 1991, receiving a five-year term of imprisonment. In December 1991, Moore was arrested by federal law enforcement officers, and there- after indicted for tax evasion, participating in a criminal enterprise, money laundering, and conspiracy. In return for a lighter sentence, Moore agreed to testify as part of the government’s prosecution of Mangialardi, who had also been indicted for similar criminal acts. During Moore’s testimony, which he gave on March 24, 1994, he admitted to orchestrating the arrest of McCann on November 20, 1990, and claimed that sometime after the arrest he in- formed Mangialardi that McCann was not on a routine drug delivery at the time of his arrest, but instead Moore’s people 1 had planted drugs in the car McCann was driving. During Mangialardi’s trial, McCann was apparently on parole and soon learned of Moore’s admission to plant- ing drugs in the car McCann was driving on the day of his arrest. On August 24, 1994, McCann filed a complaint against the City of Chicago Heights and numerous govern- ment officials and police officers (including Mangialardi), alleging, inter alia, that they violated his rights under the

1 Mangialardi was subsequently convicted of racketeering, “conspiracy against rights,” tax evasion, and intimidation of a witness. Nos. 02-2409 & 02-3021 5

Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. A great deal of procedural wrangling then ensued, but eventually the litigation was narrowed to two parties, McCann and Mangialardi, and two claims, a Fourth Amendment false arrest claim and a Fourteenth Amend- 2 ment due process claim. On February 16, 2001, the dis- trict court dismissed McCann’s Fourth Amendment false arrest claim on the pleadings, holding that the claim was time-barred. On November 2, 2001, Mangialardi filed a motion for summary judgment on McCann’s due proc- ess claim, asserting that he had not violated McCann’s constitutional right to due process and that he was en- titled to qualified immunity from the claim. The district court denied this motion on April 24, 2002, which Mangialardi appeals. McCann cross-appeals the district court’s dismissal of his Fourth Amendment false arrest claim.

II. The first question before us on appeal is whether the district court erred in concluding that Mangialardi was not entitled to qualified immunity from McCann’s due process claim.

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