[1101]*1101FEINBERG, Circuit Judge:
Albert Puco was convicted in April 1972 by a jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Arnold Bauman, J., of selling narcotic drugs to an undercover federal agent in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 4705(a) and 7237(b).1 Puco was sentenced on May 22, as a second time narcotics law violator, to 14 years in prison. This was Puco's third trial on two counts of conspiracy to sell narcotic drugs and sale of such drugs. At a trial in February 1970, Puco and a co-defendant, Robert Gonzalez, were convicted on each count, but their convictions were reversed because of improper prosecutorial comment. United States v. Puco, 436 F.2d 761 (2d Cir. 1971) (reversal of Gonzalez’s conviction, April 16, 1971, is unreported). A superseding indictment was filed the same month, again charging conspiracy and sale of narcotics. At their second trial, in June 1971, both defendants were again found guilty on each count. On appeal Puco’s conviction was once more reversed — because of use of a 21-year old conviction in cross-examining him — and his case was remanded, 453 F.2d 539; the conviction of Gonzalez was affirmed. 460 F.2d 1286. At Puco’s third trial, he was acquitted of the conspiracy charge but convicted on the sale charge.2 It is from this conviction that he now appeals. For reasons set forth below, we affirm the conviction.
I
The events leading to Puco’s arrest began when agents of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, together with an informer, contacted Gonzalez, a suspected narcotics dealer, to discuss a possible heroin purchase. At their first meeting, in late June 1969, Gonzalez was unable to reach his “connection” by phone. The next day Gonzalez again met with the agents and described his contact as Italian and as having “a legitimate business front.” During this meeting Gonzalez placed a call to his contact, known as “Al”; one of the agents sought to arrange a transaction with him, but the negotiations stalled. Four days later, the agents again met with Gonzalez. Once again, the heroin deal foundered, but another of the agents, George Ellin, reached an agreement with Gonzalez for a separate purchase of cocaine, to be supplied by Al.
On July 2, by prearrangement, Ellin met Gonzalez and they drove, at Gonzalez’s direction, to White Plains Road in the Bronx. When they were near Wood Avenue and White Plains Road, Gonzalez stated that this was the block where the sale would be made and that his connection owned a store in the area and used a nearby building for drug deliveries. Later they parked across the street from the block in question, and Gonzalez pointed out one building as the place where the delivery would be made at 8:00 o’clock. The two men waited; at 8 P.M. appellant Puco left the TV repair shop that he owned on the block, carrying a “suitcase type of bag.” Gonzalez then reportedly said to Ellin, “There’s my man now, the individual with the bag. He carries the merchandise in the bag.” Puco entered the building that Gonzalez had earlier identified, which was immediately next door to Puco’s shop. Gonzalez left the car and followed Puco into the building, emerging “less than a minute” later with a brown paper bag containing one-half kilo of cocaine. On a signal from Ellin, surveilling agents closed in and arrested Gonzalez. Ellin then identified Puco as he came out of the building, still carrying his bag, and Puco was arrested as well. No [1102]*1102money had changed hands prior to the arrest.
The most substantial arguments on appeal relate to the remarks Gonzalez allegedly made to Agent Ellin. At trial (Puco’s third), Ellin described the events of the day in question, including, over defense objection, the alleged statements of Gonzalez identifying Puco as his connection. As part of the defense case, Puco’s counsel sought to introduce into evidence a transcript of Gonzalez’s testimony at his — and Puco’s — first trial, in which Gonzalez denied that he had seen Puco at all at the time and place in question. The asserted reason for introducing this transcript was to impeach the hearsay declarant, Gonzalez. After ascertaining that the Government was willing to produce Gonzalez, who was then in jail, as a defense witness, Judge Bauman refused to allow introduction of the transcript on the ground “that Mr. Gonzalez is readily available and the best way to hear what Mr. Gonzalez has to say is to produce Mr. Gonzalez.” Defense counsel declined to call Gonzalez, principally because to do so might give the prosecution an opportunity to question him about certain statements incriminating Puco that Gonzalez had purportedly made to an Assistant United States Attorney shortly after his arrest.
II
Appellant’s most challenging argument is, in effect, an attack on the constitutionality of the standard exception to the hearsay rule for the extrajudicial declarations of a defendant’s alleged co-conspirator. Puco claims that the Government should have been required to call Gonzalez as a witness before allowing Agent Ellin to report Gonzalez’s alleged statements and that the failure to do so deprived Puco of his sixth amendment right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” Ellin’s testimony as to what Gonzalez had said, though hearsay, was admitted as reporting statements made in furtherance of a conspiracy. See, e. g., Lutwak v. United States, 344 U.S. 604, 617, 73 S.Ct. 481, 97 L.Ed. 593 (1953).3 That the testimony was admissible in spite of its hearsay character does not, however, end our inquiry. Although there has not been a consensus in the Supreme Court as to the scope and substance of the Confrontation Clause, the Court has clearly stated that the Clause is not merely a codification of the hearsay rule. See Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 81-82, 91 S.Ct. 210, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970) (opinion of Stewart, J.), quoting California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 155-56, 90 S.Ct. 1930, 26 L.Ed.2d 489 (1970).
Nonetheless, recent Court decisions indicate that the considerations governing the hearsay rule also animate the principles of the confrontation guarantee. Although careful to avoid placing evidentiary rules in a constitutional strait jacket, the Court has emphasized the importance of subjecting evidentiary statements to challenge by cross-examination of the declarant during at least some stage in the judicial proceedings against a defendant. Thus, in California v. Green, supra, testimony at a preliminary hearing at which counsel conducted cross-examination was held admissible at trial because of that prior cross-examination, regardless of whether the witness was available at trial, 399 U.S. at 165-66, 90 S.Ct. 1930; and the Court [1103]*1103also held that since the witness was available for cross-examination at trial, the preliminary hearing testimony would have been admissible even if there had been no opportunity to cross-examine. Id. at 157-64.
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[1101]*1101FEINBERG, Circuit Judge:
Albert Puco was convicted in April 1972 by a jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Arnold Bauman, J., of selling narcotic drugs to an undercover federal agent in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 4705(a) and 7237(b).1 Puco was sentenced on May 22, as a second time narcotics law violator, to 14 years in prison. This was Puco's third trial on two counts of conspiracy to sell narcotic drugs and sale of such drugs. At a trial in February 1970, Puco and a co-defendant, Robert Gonzalez, were convicted on each count, but their convictions were reversed because of improper prosecutorial comment. United States v. Puco, 436 F.2d 761 (2d Cir. 1971) (reversal of Gonzalez’s conviction, April 16, 1971, is unreported). A superseding indictment was filed the same month, again charging conspiracy and sale of narcotics. At their second trial, in June 1971, both defendants were again found guilty on each count. On appeal Puco’s conviction was once more reversed — because of use of a 21-year old conviction in cross-examining him — and his case was remanded, 453 F.2d 539; the conviction of Gonzalez was affirmed. 460 F.2d 1286. At Puco’s third trial, he was acquitted of the conspiracy charge but convicted on the sale charge.2 It is from this conviction that he now appeals. For reasons set forth below, we affirm the conviction.
I
The events leading to Puco’s arrest began when agents of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, together with an informer, contacted Gonzalez, a suspected narcotics dealer, to discuss a possible heroin purchase. At their first meeting, in late June 1969, Gonzalez was unable to reach his “connection” by phone. The next day Gonzalez again met with the agents and described his contact as Italian and as having “a legitimate business front.” During this meeting Gonzalez placed a call to his contact, known as “Al”; one of the agents sought to arrange a transaction with him, but the negotiations stalled. Four days later, the agents again met with Gonzalez. Once again, the heroin deal foundered, but another of the agents, George Ellin, reached an agreement with Gonzalez for a separate purchase of cocaine, to be supplied by Al.
On July 2, by prearrangement, Ellin met Gonzalez and they drove, at Gonzalez’s direction, to White Plains Road in the Bronx. When they were near Wood Avenue and White Plains Road, Gonzalez stated that this was the block where the sale would be made and that his connection owned a store in the area and used a nearby building for drug deliveries. Later they parked across the street from the block in question, and Gonzalez pointed out one building as the place where the delivery would be made at 8:00 o’clock. The two men waited; at 8 P.M. appellant Puco left the TV repair shop that he owned on the block, carrying a “suitcase type of bag.” Gonzalez then reportedly said to Ellin, “There’s my man now, the individual with the bag. He carries the merchandise in the bag.” Puco entered the building that Gonzalez had earlier identified, which was immediately next door to Puco’s shop. Gonzalez left the car and followed Puco into the building, emerging “less than a minute” later with a brown paper bag containing one-half kilo of cocaine. On a signal from Ellin, surveilling agents closed in and arrested Gonzalez. Ellin then identified Puco as he came out of the building, still carrying his bag, and Puco was arrested as well. No [1102]*1102money had changed hands prior to the arrest.
The most substantial arguments on appeal relate to the remarks Gonzalez allegedly made to Agent Ellin. At trial (Puco’s third), Ellin described the events of the day in question, including, over defense objection, the alleged statements of Gonzalez identifying Puco as his connection. As part of the defense case, Puco’s counsel sought to introduce into evidence a transcript of Gonzalez’s testimony at his — and Puco’s — first trial, in which Gonzalez denied that he had seen Puco at all at the time and place in question. The asserted reason for introducing this transcript was to impeach the hearsay declarant, Gonzalez. After ascertaining that the Government was willing to produce Gonzalez, who was then in jail, as a defense witness, Judge Bauman refused to allow introduction of the transcript on the ground “that Mr. Gonzalez is readily available and the best way to hear what Mr. Gonzalez has to say is to produce Mr. Gonzalez.” Defense counsel declined to call Gonzalez, principally because to do so might give the prosecution an opportunity to question him about certain statements incriminating Puco that Gonzalez had purportedly made to an Assistant United States Attorney shortly after his arrest.
II
Appellant’s most challenging argument is, in effect, an attack on the constitutionality of the standard exception to the hearsay rule for the extrajudicial declarations of a defendant’s alleged co-conspirator. Puco claims that the Government should have been required to call Gonzalez as a witness before allowing Agent Ellin to report Gonzalez’s alleged statements and that the failure to do so deprived Puco of his sixth amendment right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” Ellin’s testimony as to what Gonzalez had said, though hearsay, was admitted as reporting statements made in furtherance of a conspiracy. See, e. g., Lutwak v. United States, 344 U.S. 604, 617, 73 S.Ct. 481, 97 L.Ed. 593 (1953).3 That the testimony was admissible in spite of its hearsay character does not, however, end our inquiry. Although there has not been a consensus in the Supreme Court as to the scope and substance of the Confrontation Clause, the Court has clearly stated that the Clause is not merely a codification of the hearsay rule. See Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 81-82, 91 S.Ct. 210, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970) (opinion of Stewart, J.), quoting California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 155-56, 90 S.Ct. 1930, 26 L.Ed.2d 489 (1970).
Nonetheless, recent Court decisions indicate that the considerations governing the hearsay rule also animate the principles of the confrontation guarantee. Although careful to avoid placing evidentiary rules in a constitutional strait jacket, the Court has emphasized the importance of subjecting evidentiary statements to challenge by cross-examination of the declarant during at least some stage in the judicial proceedings against a defendant. Thus, in California v. Green, supra, testimony at a preliminary hearing at which counsel conducted cross-examination was held admissible at trial because of that prior cross-examination, regardless of whether the witness was available at trial, 399 U.S. at 165-66, 90 S.Ct. 1930; and the Court [1103]*1103also held that since the witness was available for cross-examination at trial, the preliminary hearing testimony would have been admissible even if there had been no opportunity to cross-examine. Id. at 157-64. See Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965) (conviction invalid as prosecutor read to jury confession of accomplice, who invoked fifth amendment privilege and thus effectively prevented cross-examination).
The function of the cross-examination requirement is to assure that “the trier of fact has a satisfactory basis for evaluating the truth of the prior statement” introduced into evidence at trial, whether by transcript of a prior hearing or by hearsay testimony. California v. Green, supra, 399 U.S. at 161, 90 S.Ct. 1930. However, some statements are, because of their content or the circumstances in which they were uttered, obviously reliable even in the absence of cross-examination of the declarant. Thus, in Dutton v. Evans, supra, 400 U.S. at 89, 91 S.Ct. 210, the Court indicated that the presence of sufficient “indicia of reliability” may, in some circumstances, permit the prosecution to introdüce out-of-court statements into evidence even though the declarant is available to it and the defendant has never had an opportunity to cross-examine him.4 Justice Stewart’s plurality opinion in Dutton, which was joined by three other justices,5 indicates that the exact scope of this exception to the usual requirement of an opportunity to cross-examine must be worked out on a case-by-case basis, id. at 86, 91 S.Ct. 210, but the exception apparently applies at least where the statement is clearly trustworthy and is not “crucial” to the prosecution or “devastating” to the defendant.6 See United States v. Adams, 446 F.2d 681 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 943, 92 S.Ct. 294, 30 L.Ed.2d 257 (1971); cf. United States v. Clayton, 450 F.2d 16, 19-20 (1st Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 975, 92 S.Ct. 1200, 31 L.Ed.2d 250 (1972). While the latter standards are fairly general, it should be noted that the prosecution in Dutton apparently had a very strong case. Twenty witnesses testified against the defendant, including an eyewitness who identified him as one of the participants in the triple murder, and the plurality opinion characterized the hearsay testimony there in question as “of peripheral significance at most.” 400 U.S. at 87, 91 S.Ct. 210. Although the holding in Dutton is apparently not sui generis, its scope is uncertain in view of both the facts of the case and other recent decisions. See, e. g., Mancusi v. Stubbs, 408 U.S. 204, 92 S.Ct. 2308, 33 L.Ed.2d 293 (1972) (transcript of principal witness from first trial admissible at second trial as witness not available and there was adequate cross-examination at first [1104]*1104trial); California v. Green, supra; Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. 719, 88 S.Ct. 1318, 20 L.Ed.2d 255 (1968) (transcript of preliminary hearing testimony inadmissible at trial despite availability of cross-examination at earlier hearing unless Government makes reasonable effort to produce witness at trial); see generally, Davenport, The Confrontation Clause and the Co-Conspirator Exception in Criminal Prosecutions: A Functional Analysis, 85 Harv.L.Rev. 1385 (1972).
Nonetheless, applying the standards of Dutton as we understand them, we conclude that the Confrontation Clause did not bar admission of Agent Ellin’s testimony reporting Gonzalez’s. statements. There is no reason to question the accuracy of Gonzalez’s identification of Puco as his source. Gonzalez undoubtedly believed Ellin to be merely an “innocent” purchaser, not a government agent; otherwise Gonzalez would not have been there. Thus, Gonzalez’s voluntary disclosure of his source was presumably not tainted by any motive to falsify the identification. Nor is there any reasonable possibility that Gonzalez was in error in his statements since at 8:00 o’clock, the predicted time, Puco appeared and entered the predicted building with a “suitcase type of bag,” Gonzalez followed Puco into the building and emerged almost immediately with the agreed-upon cocaine, and was followed shortly by Puco, still carrying his bag. Moreover, Gonzalez’s earlier description of his source — as Italian, as answering to the name Al, as owning a legitimate business7—is consistent with identification of Puco as the source. In view of all these circumstances, the statements of Gonzalez, if made, were reliable.8 As for the question whether the reported statements were in fact ever made, no confrontation issue is raised by the use of Ellin’s testimony. As the Supreme Court said with reference to this problem in Dutton, 400 U.S. at 88, 91 S.Ct. at 219:
The hearsay rule does not prevent a witness from testifying as to what he has heard; it is rather a restriction on the proof of fact through extrajudicial statements. From the viewpoint of the Confrontation Clause, a witness under oath, subject to cross-examination, and whose demeanor can be observed by the trier of fact, is a reliable informant not only as to what he has seen but also as to what he has heard. [Footnote omitted.]
We also cannot say on these facts that Gonzalez’s statement to Ellin was “devastating” or “crucial,” although ordinarily a verbal identification of a defendant might well be. Admittedly, these terms do not offer a precise standard, but we interpret them as requiring that the evidence be in some way essential, indeed central, to the prosecution’s case. It is true that Ellin’s testimony about what Gonzalez had said to him on July 2 was more important than was the hearsay statement quoted in Dutton. But even though evidence of Gonzalez’s verbal identification of Puco was helpful to the prosecution, it came as part of a sequence of events that made the statement almost unnecessary. Given what had occurred prior to 8:00 P.M. on July 2, even if Gonzalez had said nothing to Ellin when Puco appeared, Gonzalez’s immediate departure from the car and entry into the building spoke volumes. A jury could well have convicted Puco based upon prior events and what Ellin had observed of Puco’s and Gonzalez’s entries into the building and their respective departures from it, Gonzalez with the cocaine.
Finally, on the peculiar facts of this case Gonzalez was “available” to the Government as a witness more in theory [1105]*1105than in fact. At the second trial of Gonzalez and Puco, Gonzalez took the stand in his own defense. The Government confronted him with a statement made after his arrest admitting that Puco was his source of narcotics; Gonzalez denied making the statement and the trial judge refused to permit the Assistant United States Attorney to whom Gonzalez had allegedly made it to so testify. On the appeal from that second trial, Puco asserted that the denial of his motion for severance had prejudiced him because the Government, in cross-examining Gonzalez, had referred repeatedly to his post-arrest statement that Puco was his source, even though Gonzalez was then unwilling to so testify.9 Presumably, if the Government had called Gonzalez as a hostile witness in Puco’s third trial, the defense would have complained vigorously — and quite possibly successfully — when Gonzalez was again confronted with his statement. See 3A J. Wigmore, Evidence §§ 904, 905 (Chadbourn Rev.1970). Since Gonzalez was not called, the defense had the choice of leaving him out of the trial altogether or calling him as a defense witness with the possibility of impeachment.10 To this it might be said that the Government, by Ellin’s testimony, injected Gonzalez’s statements into the case, because Ellin could have told his story without referring to these statements of Gonzalez. But, as already shown, that evidence was clearly admissible, and in large part inferable merely from Ellin’s presence at White Plains Road with Gonzalez and the accompanying events and circumstances.
In sum, we regard Dutton as requiring a careful case-by-ease analysis of the effect of the co-conspirator rule. When Gonzalez identified Puco as “my man,” Gonzalez had no motive to falsify. Moreover, his remark was almost unnecessary in view of his immediate action and the events preceding and following it. Finally, the Government was uniquely hampered from putting Gonzalez on the stand. On these facts, application of Dutton suggests that no constitutional error was committed.11
Ill
Appellant also objects to the refusal of the court to permit introduction of the earlier testimony of Gonzalez after agent Ellin had quoted him. Citing a number of authorities, e. g., 3A J. Wigmore, supra, § 884; 4 B. Jones, The Law of Evidence § 936, at 1764 (5th ed. 1958), Puco asserts that he is entitled to use the inconsistent statements of a hearsay declarant (Gonzalez) in order to attack his credibility, and that he need not lay a foundation otherwise required for use of such statements, see, e. g., United States v. Hayutin, 398 F.2d 944, 952-953 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 961, 89 S.Ct. 400, 21 L.Ed.2d 374 (1968), since the prosecution did not call the declarant. Although we can accept the general validity of appellant’s premise, cf. Carver v. United States, 164 U.S. 694, 697-698, 17 S.Ct. 228, 41 L.Ed. 602 (1897), his conclusion that the district court erred in rejecting his claim does not follow. By use of this theory, appellant actually seeks to introduce the evidence of Gonzalez’s denials of Ellin’s [1106]*1106story not primarily to discredit the reliability of Gonzalez’s alleged identification of Puco, but rather to contradict and discredit Ellin’s version of the events of July 2.12 Used in this manner, the prior testimony is submitted for the truth of its content and is thus hearsay, which Judge Bauman could properly exclude, even though it may have had some very marginal probative value on the credibility of Gonzalez.
Apparently in anticipation of this conclusion, appellant also cited to the court below the prior recorded testimony exception to the hearsay rule. See C. McCormick, Handbook of the Law of Evidence ch. 25 (2d ed. 1972). However, this exception has traditionally been predicated upon the unavailability of the witness. See, e. g., id. § 255, at 617; Proposed Rules of Evidence, 51 F.R.D. 315, 440 (Advisory Committee’s Note to Rule 804). Here the prosecution declared in open court its willingness to produce Gonzalez, but defense counsel declined. That Puco’s attorney did not wish to expose such a witness to possibly damaging cross-examination does not justify introduction of Gonzalez’s prior testimony under this exception to the hearsay rule.
Puco’s final argument goes to the sufficiency of the evidence against him. We have already indicated that there was ample evidence for a jury to convict.
Judgment affirmed. We wish to compliment appellant’s assigned counsel, Jay Goldberg, for his excellent briefs and argument.