United States v. Claudio Calderone and Domenico Catalano

982 F.2d 42, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 32385
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedDecember 10, 1992
Docket1200, 1289, Dockets 90-1122, 90-1123
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 982 F.2d 42 (United States v. Claudio Calderone and Domenico Catalano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Claudio Calderone and Domenico Catalano, 982 F.2d 42, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 32385 (2d Cir. 1992).

Opinions

JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge:

This interlocutory appeal of an order denying a motion to dismiss an indictment on double jeopardy grounds primarily raises the issue whether acquittal of a far-reaching conspiracy precludes subsequent prosecution for a smaller conspiracy entirely contained within the larger conspiracy. The appeal arises in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990), and in United States v. Felix, — U.S. —, 112 S.Ct. 1377, 118 L.Ed.2d 25 (1992), and our own recent decision in United States v. Gambino, 968 F.2d 227 (2d Cir.1992) (“Gambino II"). Claudio Calderone and Domenico Catalano appeal from the February 2, 1990, order of the District Court for the Southern District of New York (Robert J. Ward, Judge), denying their motion to dismiss conspiracy and substantive narcotics charges. We previously reversed that order and directed dismissal of the entire indictment. See United States v. Calderone, 917 F.2d 717 (2d Cir.1990) (“Calderone I"). The appeal is before us on remand from the Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of Felix. See United States v. Calderone, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1657, 118 L.Ed.2d 381 (1992). Upon reconsideration, we conclude that the Double Jeopardy Clause bars prosecution of the conspiracy count and the portion of the so-called telephone counts relating to the conspiracy, but does not bar prosecution of the portion of the telephone counts relating to substantive offenses nor prosecution of substantive possession counts. We therefore affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

Background

The facts are set forth in Calderone I, and only a brief summary is required here. The prosecution that is alleged to create a double jeopardy bar was initiated by an indictment, which we will refer to as the Adamita indictment, returned June 30, 1988, against Calderone, Catalano, and twenty-six others. See United States v. Adamita, 701 F.Supp. 85 (S.D.N.Y.1988). The Adamita indictment charged all twenty-eight defendants with participation in an extensive conspiracy between January 1, 1985, and June 30, 1988. The conspiracy involved, among other things, the importation of kilograms of heroin from Europe into the United States and the distribution in the United States of kilograms of heroin and cocaine and tons of marijuana. Jury trial commenced against seventeen of the defendants, including Calderone and Catalano.

At the conclusion of the Government’s case, Judge Sprizzo granted motions by Calderone and Catalano (and five other defendants) for judgments of acquittal on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence. The Judge indicated that the evidence might suffice to support a charge of a conspiracy of smaller scope than the one charged:

I am not saying your evidence would not have been sufficient to prove Mr. Calder-one to be a member of a heroin conspira[44]*44cy involving [two alleged co-conspirators], but you didn’t charge a heroin conspiracy. You charged a ... broadly based conspiracy that involved different types of drugs. There is no evidence in the record from which I can infer that as to Mr. Calderone.

Calderone I, 917 F.2d at 719.

The Government subsequently obtained a new indictment, containing charges against only Calderone and Catalano. The new indictment, which is the subject of the pending appeal, contains twenty-eight counts. Count One charges both defendants with participating in a conspiracy between January 1, 1987, and March 31, 1988, to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin in the New York metropolitan area, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (1988). Counts Two through Twenty-Five charge both defendants with the substantive offense of using a telephone to facilitate narcotics offenses, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) (1988); the offenses alleged to be facilitated are both the conspiracy offense charged in Count One and the substantive offense of possessing heroin with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (1988). Counts Twenty-Six through Twenty-Eight charge both defendants with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (1988).

On February 2, 1990, the District Court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment as barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause. Judge Ward indicated that he would have dismissed on jeopardy grounds if the defendants had been acquitted by the jury of the charges in the Adamita indictment, but would not do so as a result of Judge Sprizzo’s ruling that the evidence was insufficient to support a jury verdict on the conspiracy charge in the prior indictment. Judge Ward also ruled that the conspiracy charged in Count One of the pending indictment was a different conspiracy from the conspiracy charged in the Adamita indictment.

On the prior appeal, a divided panel reversed, concluding that prosecution of all of the charges in the new indictment was barred by double jeopardy principles as enunciated by the Supreme Court in Grady v. Corbin. See Calderone I, 917 F.2d at 720-22. The Supreme Court subsequently shed new light on its double jeopardy jurisprudence in United States v. Felix, and thereafter vacated the judgment of this Court in Calderone I and remanded for further consideration in light of Felix. See United States v. Calderone, — U.S. at —, 112 S.Ct. at 1657. We invited and have received supplemental papers from the parties.

Discussion

The conspiracy count. At the outset, we reject the reasoning of the District Court to the extent that it relies on a distinction between a jury’s acquittal and a trial judge’s ruling that the evidence is insufficient to permit a case to reach a jury. If a previously prosecuted offense is the “same offense” as a subsequently prosecuted offense for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause, the second prosecution is barred whether acquittal in the prior prosecution resulted from a jury verdict or a trial judge’s ruling as to insufficiency of the evidence. See Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 18, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 2151, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978). The primary issue on which this appeal turns, therefore, is whether the narrow conspiracy charged in Count One of the pending indictment is the “same offense” for double jeopardy purposes as the broad conspiracy charged in the Adamita indictment.

In resolving the “same offense” issue, we are bound to apply both the new teaching from the Supreme Court in Felix, to the extent pertinent to this case, and the recent precedent of our Court in Gambino II. The latter decision is especially relevant because it reconsidered, in light of Felix, a prior ruling, United States v. Gambino,

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982 F.2d 42, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 32385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-claudio-calderone-and-domenico-catalano-ca2-1992.