United States v. Desist

277 F. Supp. 690, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7500
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 30, 1967
DocketNo. 66 Cr. 7
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 277 F. Supp. 690 (United States v. Desist) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.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. Desist, 277 F. Supp. 690, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7500 (S.D.N.Y. 1967).

Opinion

PALMIERI, District Judge.

Preliminary Statement

This case, presently sub judice before the Court of Appeals after a trial com[691]*691pleted before this Court on July 11, 1966, was remanded by order of that court dated May 29, 1967, “so that the trial judge may conduct a prompt and full hearing to ascertain the Government’s use of electronic equipment on the occasions referred to on page 2 of the * * * letter from the United States Attorney” dated April 27, 1967, addressed to the •■Clerk of the Second Circuit.1 The letter of the United States Attorney2 refers to two instances of electronic eavesdropping: (1) One took place in Columbus, Georgia, on December 18, 1965 (the Avis car rental incident) and provided no evidence of any kind since the equipment malfunctioned, and (2) the second took place between April 25, 1962, and April 1, 1963, and consisted of an electronic listening device used in a business establishment in Miami, Florida (the Case Maria-Dorey surveillance). This will be discussed fully.

In its order the Court of Appeals directed that “at such hearing the district court will confine the evidence presented by both sides to that which is material to questions of the content of any electronically eavesdropped conversations overheard on those occasions, and of the relevance of any such conversations to petitioners’ subsequent convictions”. On June 14th the Court of Appeals handed down a supplementary order of which counsel were advised at a conference held on June 14th.3 The order stated, in substance, that the defendants were to be allowed “to explore, in addition to the incidents described in the letter of April 27, 1967 to the Clerk from the United States Attorney, the question of whether any governmental personnel engaged in any other electronic eavesdropping of any other kind which related to this case. * * * >>

At conferences between Court and counsel on June 19th and July 6th, defendants’ counsel repeatedly urged that they be given additional time to complete their investigation and on a number of occasions requested the production of approximately 40 witnesses, many of them law enforcement officers of high echelon. After lengthy discussion with counsel, the Court requested the presence of the supervising agent in charge of the Miami, Florida, office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the narcotics agent in charge of the investigation of the case in the Atlanta-Columbus area. These witnesses, agents Swinney and Matuozzi, were called as a matter of caution, in order to complete the proof adduced by the Government with respect to the Casa Maria-Dorey surveillance and the Avis car rental incident. In both instances the evidence indicated that there was no relationship whatever between the incident and the proof adduced against the defendants in this case.

The Casa Maria-Dorey incident related to an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation through its Miami office, which was totally unrelated to any of the evidence in the case. It developed that the defendant Dioguardi participated or appeared to have participated in some of the conversations which were overheard. However, nothing that was said by Dioguardi, and no reference made to him in any of these conversations, had any possible relationship to the evidence in this case. Clerks of the Federal Bureau of Investigation listened to tapes of these conversations and transcribed notes of them. The transcribed notes were quite voluminous and were marked in evidence at the hearing. (Government's exhibits 102 and 103.) However, only the relevant portions, that is, those portions relating to the defendant Dioguardi, [692]*692were revealed to counsel. (Government’s exhibit 103.) These were the portions which reported the conversations in which he participated or the conversations in which it was believed he was one of the speakers. The portions which were not revealed to counsel (Government’s exhibits 100 and 102) were ordered sealed by the Court and have been preserved for appellate scrutiny.

These transcribed notes indicate that there was no relationship between the eavesdropping and the evidence in this case. Indeed they preceded the events to which this case related by approximately two years.

The Avis rental car episode took place in Columbus, Georgia, on December 18, 1965, shortly before the arrests of the defendants and the heroin seizure which led to the indictment in this case. On this occasion, an apparatus was installed in an automobile rented to the defendant Nebbia by the Avis car rental agency. Through this apparatus the narcotics agents engaged in surveillance of Nebbia hoped to overhear conversations between Nebbia and his co-conspirators. The apparatus did not function. It gave only static and unintelligible noises from which no evidence could be secured. In addition, it should be pointed out that the defendant Nebbia customarily spoke in French. The only French-speaking agent seeking to listen in on the conversations was Agent Kiere, who testified at length at the trial and also testified at the hearing before this Court on June 26, 1967. His testimony, as well as corroborating testimony by Agents Waters, Matuozzi and Selvaggi, provided clear and persuasive proof that the apparatus did not function and that nothing coherent was obtained.

The only other episode related to eavesdropping on conversations in the room occupied by the defendant Nebbia at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City between December 14-18, 1965. This eavesdropping was much bruited at the trial and was fully explored by the defendants both at trial and at in camera hearings during the trial. This matter is the subject of review in the appellate proceedings and needs no elaboration here since this episode was not deemed to be within the purview of the broadened frame of reference as set forth in the order of the Court of Appeals of June 14, 1967. For these reasons the defendants were not permitted to re-explore the Waldorf-Astoria eavesdropping episode.

In sum, there is no persuasive evidence before this Court that defendants’ rights were impinged upon in any way by any electronic eavesdropping activities of the government agents.

The defendants were given whatever time they requested to complete their investigation and a full opportunity to present evidence indicating a violation of their rights. Evidentiary hearings were held before the Court on June 26, July 11, July 18 and July 25. The government witnesses, whether called by the defense or produced by the Government on its own initiative, or at the Court’s request, all proved to be accurate and reliable witnesses, and they supported in various ways the conclusion above stated.

Subsequent to the Court of Appeals’ order of May 29, 1967, the defendants hired an investigator, one John G. (Steve) Broady. As a result of his efforts he interviewed and obtained as defense witnesses two men of advanced years, Mr. Charles B. Brown, former night manager of the Black Angus Motel at Columbus, Georgia, and Mr. Oscar H. Kennington, who is still employed as the day manager at the motel. They testified before this Court on July 18, 1967.

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Related

Eugene Anthony Nolan v. United States
423 F.2d 1031 (Tenth Circuit, 1970)
Desist v. United States
394 U.S. 244 (Supreme Court, 1969)
United States v. Wolfson
289 F. Supp. 903 (S.D. New York, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
277 F. Supp. 690, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-desist-nysd-1967.