United States v. Castelbuono

643 F. Supp. 965, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20589
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 10, 1986
Docket85 CR 168(S)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 643 F. Supp. 965 (United States v. Castelbuono) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Castelbuono, 643 F. Supp. 965, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20589 (E.D.N.Y. 1986).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

PLATT, District Judge.

This case is before the Court for the purpose of deciding the pretrial motions of defendant Anthony C. Castelbuono. Castelbuono is a co-defendant of Victoriano Molina-Chacon and others who were involved in a heroin importation and money laundering conspiracy of huge proportions. Previous decisions of this Court regarding Castelbuono’s co-defendants can be found at 625 F.Supp. 338 and 627 F.Supp. 1253. Upon the joint request of Castelbuono and the Government, the Court granted Castelbuono a severance from his co-defendants. The Court also granted Castelbuono’s additional request to delay the start of his trial for a substantial and indefinite period of time, based on (i) the Court’s finding that the case was a “complex” one within the meaning of Section 3161(h)(8)(B)(ii) of the Speedy Trial Act; (ii) the fact that Castelbuono’s lawyer was (and indeed still is) involved in the protracted so-called “Pizza Connection” case in the Southern District of New York; and (iii) Castelbuono’s waiver, under oath, in writing and orally in open Court of his right under such Act to move to dismiss for failure of this Court and the Government to give him a speedy trial as well as all of his other rights under such Act. After a lengthy trial of the co-defendants, Victoriano Molina-Chacon, Rudolfo Risatti, Francis DiTommaso and Sheila Silvetti were convicted of various charges related to the heroin and money laundering activities. Defendant Salvatore Messina was acquitted of all charges.

In the present motion Castelbuono seeks the dismissal of the indictment against him or, in the alternative, the suppression of any statements he made as well as any evidence derived directly or indirectly from his statements. The basis of this motion stems from a “limited” cooperation agreement executed by Castelbuono and the Government on November 21, 1983. Pursuant to Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972), the Court held lengthy hearings to determine whether the Government had an independent source for evidence to be used against Castelbuono at trial. In their post-hearing briefs the parties have expressly reserved the issue of whether the Government’s evidence is “tainted” by Castelbuono’s “cooperation.” The sole issue before *967 the Court is whether Castelbuono breached the agreement, thereby forfeiting any immunity protection it provided.

I. Factual Background

Defendant Castelbuono is a graduate 1 of the Harvard Law School and prior to his current legal troubles practiced law in New York State and also owned several businesses. Whatever Castelbuono’s financial success in these endeavors, it apparently was not sufficient for him because he became involved with an international network responsible for the importation of millions of dollars worth of heroin into the United States. In a nutshell, Castelbuono was the mastermind of the money laundering operations of a group of multi-national heroin dealers. Typically, Castelbuono would take delivery of huge amounts of cash that were the small bills proceeds of heroin sales. He then would enlist the assistance of his employees and relatives in transporting the cash to Atlantic City where, after a period of gambling, the small bills would be converted to hundred dollar bills for easier transport. The larger bills would then be transported to the Bahamas or Bermuda and from these locales physically carried to the secret Swiss bank accounts of the heroin ring. The details of some of these transactions will be discussed later in this decision.

Antonio Turano was the Italian heroin importer who originally enlisted Castelbuono’s assistance in laundering the heroin proceeds. The organization, of which Turano was a member, utilized shoe importing companies as a cover for their heroin trade. On October 17, 1982, Turano was arrested by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) for his role in a 15-kilogram heroin transaction. On October 28, 1982, Italian authorities began installing wiretaps on telephones utilized by Gaetano Giuffrida, Turano’s partner in heroin trafficking. These wiretaps yielded huge amounts of incriminating evidence against members of the network and Castelbuono’s name arose a number of times in connection with his money laundering activities. On January 21, 1983, Italian authorities seized 80 kilograms of heroin destined for one of the organization’s shoe company fronts. At the time, this was one of the largest seizures Italian authorities had ever made and it received some press coverage, as did Turano’s initial arrest.

After the above events, Castelbuono was no doubt concerned that the authorities were closing in on him. Through an acquaintance, Castelbuono arranged a meeting with DEA Agent Ronald Brogan in the hope of offering his cooperation to the Government. Supposedly concerned for his safety, Castelbuono insisted upon the secrecy of his identity and agreed only to meet with Agent Brogan. During two meetings with Agent Brogan held on February 18 and March 4, 1983, Castelbuono related some details of his money laundering activities for the heroin organization. No representations of immunity were made to Castelbuono at either meeting and it is the position of the Government that apart from any issue related to Castelbuono’s later “cooperation,” his voluntary statements to Agent Brogan are admissible against him. At their second meeting, Agent Brogan told Castelbuono of the recent murder of Turano, whose body had been discovered on March 3, 1983. This information visibly upset Castelbuono.

In early May of 1983 Castelbuono, along with his attorney, Ivan S. Fisher, Esq., met with Assistant United States Attorneys (“AUSAs”) Mark Summers and Gavin Scot-ti of the Eastern District of New York to discuss the possibility of Castelbuono’s cooperation. At that meeting, supposedly out of fear for his personal safety and his alleged belief in his innocence of any crime, Castelbuono suggested such stringent conditions on his cooperation and offered such dramatic departures from the usual cooperation terms that the AUSAs felt his offer was of little value. Later, the AUSAs informed Mr. Fisher that they were not interested in Castelbuono’s cooperation. Minutes of Hearing at 134.

*968 Mr. Fisher made repeated attempts to interest the Government in Castelbuono’s cooperation. Finally, on November 21, 1983, a limited cooperation agreement was signed. (A copy of that agreement is attached as an appendix to this opinion.)

Castelbuono’s subsequent relationship with the DEA case agents handling the investigation of the heroin ring was strained, to put it mildly. Throughout the relationship, the agents believed Castelbuono's cooperation was half-hearted at best and quite possibly merely a ruse on his part to gain knowledge of the Government’s information. Throughout the hearings it was apparent that Castelbuono’s “cooperation” consisted of revealing misleading, incomplete tidbits of information and withholding documents, tapes and other information from the Government. Throughout this period, and in the briefs submitted in support of his motion, Castelbuono justifies his recalcitrance on the basis of alleged fears for his personal safety.

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Bluebook (online)
643 F. Supp. 965, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-castelbuono-nyed-1986.