United States v. Conley

833 F. Supp. 1121, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13854, 1993 WL 387976
District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania·Decided September 3, 1993·No. Crim. 91-178·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

UNITED STATES v. CONLEY, CR91-178 (W.D.PA):

INDEX TO SEPTEMBER 3, 1993 MEMORANDUM OPINION 1

introduction. 1124

THE INDICTMENT.1124

Introduction.1124

Count One: The Conspiracy.1126

The Conspiracy and its Objects.1126

Manner and Means of the Conspiracy.1126

Overt Acts.1128

Count Two: Illegal Gambling Business.1128

DISCUSSION.1128

DEFENDANT THOMAS “BUD” MCGRATH’S MOTION TO DISMISS COUNT I... 1128

Double Jeopardy.1128

The Statutes.1134

Prohibition of Illegal Gambling Business, 18 U.S.C. § 1955 . 1134

Laundering of Monetary Instruments, 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(l)(A)(i).1136

*1124 Legislative History of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(l)(A)(i).1141

S. 572, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985).

S. 1385, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985). 1143

S. 1335, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985). 1144

Hearings before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.1145

Comments on S. 572 and S. 1385. 1145

Comments on the Administration Bill, S. 1335 . 1148

S. 2683, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. (1986) . 1152

Conclusions Drawn from Legislative History.1155

Conclusion with respect to Defendant Thomas “Bud” McGrath’s Motion to Dismiss

Count I .1156

The Remedy.1158

DEFENDANT SHEILA SMITH’S MOTION TO DISMISS AND DEFENDANT JACK CONLEY’S OMNIBUS PRETRIAL MOTION: MOTION TO DISMISS COUNTS I AND II.1158

Vagueness, Facially and as Applied.1158

Adequacy of the Statement of Illegal Gambling Business Object and Offense.1160

Conclusion.1162

ORDER OF COURT.1162

MEMORANDUM OPINION

LEE, District Judge.

Before the Court are Defendant Thomas “Bud” McGrath’s Motion to Dismiss Count I (Document No. 388), Defendant Sheila F. Smith’s Motion to Dismiss (Document No. 381), Defendant John Francis “Jack” Conley’s Omnibus Pretrial Motion: Motion to Dismiss (Document No. 374, in-part), Defendant Mark A. Abbott’s Motion to Dismiss on the Grounds of Duplicitous Indictment or, in the Alternative, to Elect (Document No. 252) and Defendant Thomas “Bud” McGrath’s Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, to Elect or Force the Government to Divide Count I on the Grounds of Duplicitous Indictment (Document No. 389). Before addressing the motions, the Court will summarize the pertinent parts of the Indictment.

THE INDICTMENT

Introduction

The Indictment contains an Introduction section before Count I begins. The introduction alleges that Duffy Conley was the owner and operator of Duffy’s Vending and/or Three Rivers Coin, which had the primary purpose of facilitating an illegal gambling business based on video poker machines. The illegal gambling business was carried on by Duffy Conley “and his associates and employees.”

The Introduction identifies the remaining Defendants and their roles as follows. William C. Curtin was the general manager of Duffy’s Vending, assisting Duffy Conley in daily operations.

Sheila Smith was an office manager, accountant and bookkeeper for Duffy Conley, also supervising employees who placed, moved and serviced video poker machines.

Jack Conley recorded service calls from locations and facilitated the movement, repair and servicing of video poker machines.

Bud McGrath, Duffy Conley’s employee, marketed and secured locations for Duffy Conley’s video poker machines.

Mark Abbott, Duffy Conley’s employee, marketed, moved and secured locations for Duffy Conley’s video poker machines.

*1125 The Introduction alleges that certain Defendants assisted Duffy Conley by facilitating the placement and use of illegal gambling devices at various locations under their control as follows:

Thomas Rossi

William Steinhart

Roberta Fleagle

Robin Spratt

Monica Kail

William Reed

Joanne Smith

Kenneth “Ron” Goodwin

Lawrence “Neudy” Demino, Sr.

William Rusin

Carnegie American Legion

Terry’s Snack Shop

Kail’s Coffee Corner

Idlewood Inn

The Coffee Pot

The Coffee Shop, and

Bloomfield Snack Shop

The Sunny Farms Deli

Mugshots, and

Cruisin II

The Introduction alleges that Duffy Conley employed Chris Kail, Joseph Devita, Frank Garofalo, Thomas Ciocco, Michael Sukaly, Phillip “Mike” Ferrell, Anestos “Naz” Ro-dites and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury as collectors whose duties included going to machine locations and collecting the proceeds of video poker machine gambling.

The Introduction alleges that William Ru-sin was an “associate” of Duffy Conley, who entrusted Rusin with depositing proceeds of the illegal gambling business into Pittsburgh National Bank account # 2-680118, the Duffy’s Vending Account.

The Introduction alleges two “essential parts” of the illegal gambling business. Paragraph 8 of the Indictment alleges:

8.) The placement and use of the video poker machines as illegal gambling devices at various locations, such as taverns, sandwich shops, fraternal clubs, restaurants and convenience stores, in the Western District of Pennsylvania and other places was an essential part of the illegal gambling business that was run by JOHN F. “DUFFY” CONLEY and his associates and employees.

Indictment, ¶ 8 (Document No. 1). Paragraph 18 of the indictment alleges:

18.) It was an essential part of the illegal gambling business run by JOHN F. “DUFFY” CONLEY that the proceeds of this unlawful activity be collected from the various locations where the video poker machines were in use as illegal gambling devices. To accomplish this collection activity, Duffy’s Vending and/or Three Rivers Coin maintained a group of employees whose primary job was to travel to the locations, divide the proceeds from the illegal gambling activity with a person at each location, collect the share of the proceeds owed to Duffy’s Vending/Three Rivers Coin and in turn deliver that money to another employee of JOHN F.

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United States v. Conley, 833 F. Supp. 1121, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13854, 1993 WL 387976 (W.D. Pa. 1993).

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