United States v. Costanza

549 F.2d 1126
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 17, 1977
DocketNos. 76-1627, 76-1658 and 76-1668 to 76-1671
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 549 F.2d 1126 (United States v. Costanza) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Costanza, 549 F.2d 1126 (8th Cir. 1977).

Opinion

HENLEY, Circuit Judge.

On December 10, 1975 a federal grand jury sitting in the Western District of Missouri returned a one count indictment charging ten individuals with having oper[1128]*1128ated in Kansas City, Missouri over a period extending from about August 1, 1973 to about January 30, 1974 an organized, large scale, bookmaking operation involving sporting events in violation of Missouri law and in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955. The defendants named in the indictment were John Anthony Costanza, Joseph Anthony Becchina, Thomas Joseph Circo, John Joseph Sciortino, Peter Joseph Simone, Frank Tousa, Nicholas DiGirlomo, Joseph George Palmentere, Jr., Benjamin Palmentere and Robert Vincent Gulotta. Other individuals identified as being criminally involved in the operation but not indicted were Vincent Picone, Anthony Simone, Joseph Goodfellow and Larry Riley.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and filed numerous pretrial motions including motions to suppress evidence obtained by the government on the basis of interceptions of oral and wire communications, which interceptions had been authorized by the district court1 in October and November, 1973. In the spring of 1976 the district court held hearings on the motions, including the motions to suppress. The motions to suppress filed by Nicholas DiGirlomo, Robert Vincent Gulotta and the Palmenteres were sustained.2 Similar motions and other motions filed by the remaining defendants were denied, and the case as to them stood for trial.

Tousa and Costanza were tried jointly before a jury in June, 1976 with Judge Collinson presiding, and they were found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment. The case as against Becchina, Circo, Sciortino and Simone was submitted to Judge Collin-son on stipulations of fact which reserved all rights of the defendant under earlier motions which had been denied by the district court. Those defendants were found guilty and sentences were imposed. All six of the defendants have appealed, and the appeals were consolidated for purposes of argument.

While we have six appeals before us, we actually have three cases which we will discuss separately. Those cases are the Tousa-Costanza case, the Circo-Sciortino-Simone case, and the Becchina case. As to the case last mentioned, we note that Becchina makes some contentions that are advanced by the defendant Circo, Sciortino and Simone; Becchina also makes an individual contention of his own.

Although the separate cases will be discussed individually, it is desirable to state the over-all facts applicable to all of the cases and in that connection and by way of background to refer to an earlier case in which Frank Tousa was a principal defendant.

Prior to 1970 a large scale bookmaking operation was being conducted in Kansas City by a number of people including Tousa, Nicholas and Anthony Civella, Joseph Barletta and Thomas Fontanello. Those people and others were indicted, were tried before Judge Collinson and were convicted. They appealed and the convictions of the Civellas and of Tousa were affirmed. The convictions of Barletta and Fontanello were reversed. United States v. Civella, 533 F.2d 1395 (8th Cir. 1976).3

The gambling operation involved in that case was centered at the North Side Social Club, sometimes called “The Trap,” located at 1048 East Fifth Street in Kansas City. In the course of the investigation a telephone located on the premises of “The Trap” was tapped under an authorizing order signed by Judge Collinson; thereafter search warrants were issued and served and incriminating evidence was obtained. The indictment in that nase was returned in 1971 but due largely to defense maneuvering the case was not tried until about mid-1975, some months before the trials in the [1129]*1129instant ease were conducted. Our opinion in the Civ ella ease, supra, was filed while pretrial motions in this case were being considered, and in ruling on some of those motions the district court took note of our opinion.

The return of the indictment in the Givella case did not put an end to organized bookmaking in Kansas City, and FBI investigations of the “outfit” continued. The specific investigation which resulted in the return of the indictment in this case commenced in December, 1972, and between that time and early October, 1973 the investigation consisted of FBI surveillances of people and places, examination of telephone company records, and the gleaning of information from confidential informants who were unwilling to testify as witnesses.

The FBI’s investigation, which was conducted in cooperation with Special Attorneys of the Department of Justice assigned to the Kansas City “strike force,” led the Bureau to believe that while Tousa had become more circumspect since 1970, he was still in charge of the “book,” and that Costanza was probably his principal lieutenant. Other individuals were deemed to be playing less important parts in the operation.

The Bureau concluded that “The Trap” was still being used in connection with bookmaking, and that other premises in Kansas City were involved as well. One of those locations was the front office of Neceo Tea & Coffee Co. (Neceo) at 3616 Independence Avenue; another was the home of Costanza at 326 Olive Street; still another was an apartment located at 545 Prospect Avenue which Costanza visited frequently; and another was the home of “unindicted co-conspirator” Vincent Charles Picone at 4112 North Walrond Avenue. All of those premises were equipped with telephones, and there were two telephones in the Neceo office.

On or about October 5, 1973 the government applied to Judge Collinson for authority to intercept electronically conversations that might take place on the Neeco premises and to tap the two telephones located on those premises. Authority was also sought to tap the telephones located in the homes of Costanza and Vincent Picone. In addition the government sought to make use of a pen register device or devices in connection with all the telephone intercepts. That application was supported by a long affidavit submitted by Special Agent Schucker of the FBI.

18 U.S.C. § 2518(l)(b)(iv) provides that an application for intercept authority must identify the persons “if known” who are committing the offenses under investigation and whose communications are to be intercepted. And •§ 2518(4)(a) provides that an order authorizing interceptions must identify the persons “if known” whose communications are to be overheard. In view of those subsections, it was incumbent upon the government to identify in its application and it was necessary for the authorizing order to identify all persons whom the government had probable cause to believe were engaged in the illegal operation and whose communications would be intercepted. United States v. Donovan, — U.S. —, 97 S.Ct. 658, 50 L.Ed.2d 652 (1977); United States v. Kahn, 415 U.S. 143, 94 S.Ct. 977, 39 L.Ed.2d 225 (1974).

The government’s application identified as potential interceptees Frank Tousa, John A. Costanza, Vincent Charles Picone, Vincent Charles Abbot, Jim J.

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549 F.2d 1126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-costanza-ca8-1977.