United States v. David Gomberg, United States of America v. Harold Levy, United States of America v. Michelle D'amico, United States of America v. Albert Spielvogel, United States of America v. Joseph Disantis, Jr.

715 F.2d 843
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 29, 1983
Docket82-1258
StatusPublished

This text of 715 F.2d 843 (United States v. David Gomberg, United States of America v. Harold Levy, United States of America v. Michelle D'amico, United States of America v. Albert Spielvogel, United States of America v. Joseph Disantis, Jr.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. David Gomberg, United States of America v. Harold Levy, United States of America v. Michelle D'amico, United States of America v. Albert Spielvogel, United States of America v. Joseph Disantis, Jr., 715 F.2d 843 (3d Cir. 1983).

Opinion

715 F.2d 843

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
David GOMBERG, Appellant.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
Harold LEVY, Appellant.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
Michelle D'AMICO, Appellant.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
Albert SPIELVOGEL, Appellant.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
Joseph DiSANTIS, Jr., Appellant.

Nos. 82-1258, 82-1534, 82-1477 to 82-1479 and 82-1485.

United States Court of Appeals,
Third Circuit.

Argued April 28, 1983.
Decided Aug. 30, 1983.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 29, 1983.

Thomas Colas Carroll (argued), Carroll & Carroll, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant Joseph DiSantis, Jr.

Timothy J. Savage, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant David Gomberg.

Stephen Robert LaCheen, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant Harold Levy.

Philip J. LiVolsi, Berlin, N.J., for appellant Michelle D'Amico.

Pamela W. Higgins, Higgins & Madden, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant Albert Spielvogel.

Judy L. Goldstein (argued), Asst. U.S. Atty., Peter F. Vaira, U.S. Atty., Walter S. Batty, Jr., Asst. U.S. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.

Before WEIS and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges, and BROTMAN, District Judge.*

OPINION OF THE COURT

WEIS, Circuit Judge.

In these appeals from drug convictions, we reject the defendants' contention that a count charging a conspiracy with two objectives was duplicitous. We also find no merit to the challenge that there was a variance between the conspiracy alleged in the indictment and the evidence produced at trial. We agree, however, that a defendant sentenced under the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise should not also receive separate sentences for conspiracy and the underlying predicate offenses. As to the defendant convicted of the continuing criminal enterprise, we remand for resentencing. The convictions and sentences of the other defendants are affirmed.

A six-count indictment charged Joseph DiSantis, Jr., David Gomberg, Albert Spielvogel, and Michelle D'Amico with violations of the Comprehensive Drug Act, 21 U.S.C. § 801 et seq. Count One charged all defendants with conspiracy under section 846 "to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, and to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute phenyl-2-propanone." Harold Levy was charged in a separate indictment with participating in the conspiracy. The main indictment further alleged that defendants had violated various substantive provisions of the Act. In addition, DiSantis was charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, id. § 848.

The two indictments were consolidated for a jury trial which lasted thirteen days. Much of the evidence came from Ronald Raiton, a leader of the conspiracy who testified for the prosecution as part of a plea bargain. The jury found defendants guilty as charged, except that D'Amico was acquitted on one count.

Defendants raise numerous issues in these appeals, but after careful review we deem it necessary to discuss only a few of them in detail. The appendix to this opinion lists the remainder of the contentions, all of which we find without merit.

* Defendants contend that the indictment was duplicitous because the conspiracy count charges them with two separate offenses. They also argue there was a variance between the conspiracy charged in the indictment and the proof offered at trial.

Duplicity is the joining of two or more distinct offenses in a single count, so that a general verdict does not reveal exactly which crimes the jury found the defendant had committed. 1 C. Wright, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 142 (1982). According to defendants, Count One charges two separate conspiracies--one to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, and another involving P2P. They rely on United States v. Starks, 515 F.2d 112, 116 (3d Cir.1975), where we instructed trial courts to require the government to elect between duplicitous charges at trial, or else suffer dismissal of the indictment.

Starks does not support the defendant's position. The single-count indictment in that case charged the defendants with conspiracy to extort and attempt to extort--two separate crimes. In contrast, the count at issue here charges defendants with only one crime: a conspiracy. Although the illegal agreement had two objectives, the count is not duplicitous. " 'The conspiracy is the crime, and that is one, however diverse its objects.' " Braverman v. United States, 317 U.S. 49, 54, 63 S.Ct. 99, 102, 87 L.Ed. 23 (1942), quoting Frohwerk v. United States, 249 U.S. 204, 210, 39 S.Ct. 249, 252, 63 L.Ed. 561 (1919). See also W. LaFave and A. Scott, CRIMINAL LAW § 62 (1972) ("An agreement to commit several crimes is but one conspiracy."). Accordingly, we reject the defendant's duplicity attack.

We turn next to the variance argument. Defendants assert the proof at trial showed the existence of many different and unrelated conspiracies, and the spillover of evidence prejudiced them. They rely on Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946), where the Supreme Court reversed the convictions of individuals who had been indicted as participants in a single conspiracy because the prosecution proved the existence of several unrelated schemes. See also United States v. Camiel, 689 F.2d 31 (3d Cir.1982). In reviewing the defendants' argument, we must examine the record to determine whether, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, there is sufficient evidence of a single conspiracy to support the verdict. United States v. Boyd, 595 F.2d 120, 123 (3d Cir.1978).

At trial, the government proved the existence of an international drug ring that grossed millions of dollars. In the summer of 1978, DiSantis made Raiton a partner in his methamphetamine laboratory in Plymouth Meeting near Philadelphia. The two men soon decided to expand production, and opened a new laboratory in Upper Darby. This facility was shut down after DiSantis and one of the chemists were arrested for narcotics possession, but DiSantis and Raiton later started another one in Bucks County and hired a different chemist. During this time, the partners employed Gomberg and Spielvogel, who formed sham companies to purchase the essential ingredients for methamphetamine, particularly P2P. Levy, an attorney who shared office space with the partners, was retained in an attempt to gain the release of a shipment of P2P seized by federal drug agents.

DiSantis and Raiton also arranged to have P2P brought into the United States from France and Germany.

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Related

Frohwerk v. United States
249 U.S. 204 (Supreme Court, 1919)
Blockburger v. United States
284 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1931)
Braverman v. United States
317 U.S. 49 (Supreme Court, 1942)
Kotteakos v. United States
328 U.S. 750 (Supreme Court, 1946)
Blumenthal v. United States
332 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1948)
North Carolina v. Pearce
395 U.S. 711 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Jeffers v. United States
432 U.S. 137 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Whalen v. United States
445 U.S. 684 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Albernaz v. United States
450 U.S. 333 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Missouri v. Hunter
459 U.S. 359 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Zant v. Stephens
462 U.S. 862 (Supreme Court, 1983)
United States v. Jose Guadalupe Valenzuela
596 F.2d 1361 (Ninth Circuit, 1979)

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715 F.2d 843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-david-gomberg-united-states-of-america-v-harold-levy-ca3-1983.