United States v. Edward T. Perrotta

289 F.3d 155, 58 Fed. R. Serv. 1391, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 8649, 2002 WL 911764
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedMay 6, 2002
Docket00-2427
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 289 F.3d 155 (United States v. Edward T. Perrotta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First 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. Edward T. Perrotta, 289 F.3d 155, 58 Fed. R. Serv. 1391, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 8649, 2002 WL 911764 (1st Cir. 2002).

Opinion

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Edward Perrotta was convicted of conspiring with Rocco Folco and others to make extortionate extensions of credit, aiding and abetting Folco in making extortionate extensions of credit, and financing extortionate extensions of credit made by Folco. He appeals on a number of grounds. Unconvinced by his arguments, we affirm his convictions.

I. Background

In April of 1995, Perrotta loaned $50,000 to Folco at an interest rate of one percent per week (52 percent per year). Folco, in turn, loaned the $50,000 to Anthony Re-gine at an interest rate of two percent per week (104 percent per year). Under Rhode Island law, annual interest rates in excess of 21 percent are not legally enforceable. Regine testified, however, that he believed “something would happen to me or to my family” if he failed to make timely payments to Folco.

In March of 1999 a grand jury indicted Perrotta, Folco, and several others on various racketeering-related charges. The indictment charged that Perrotta had financed extortionate extensions of credit from Folco to Regine, in violation of 18 *159 U.S.C. § 893. Most of the defendants pled guilty. In March of 2000 the grand jury returned a superceding indictment which included the original count against Perrot-ta and also charged that he had conspired with Folco and others to make extortionate extensions of credit to Regine, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892, and that Perrotta had aided and abetted Folco in making extortionate extensions of credit, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892 and § 2 (the general aiding and abetting statute).

Perrotta moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that § 893 (proscribing the advancement of money to a person “with reasonable grounds to believe” that person intends to use it to make an extortionate extension of credit) encourages the jury to use a standard of proof less exacting than “beyond a reasonable doubt,” in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. The district court denied his motion. Perrotta also moved to suppress weapons seized from his home and car which had not been described in the search warrant, and that motion was also denied. In addition, Perrotta objected unsuccessfully (in a motion in limine and at trial) to the admission into evidence of the seized weapons. After the jury convicted Perrot-ta on all charges, the court denied his earlier motions for a judgment of acquittal and sentenced Perrotta to 37 months in prison.

On appeal, Perrotta argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions, that the district court erred in admitting into evidence weapons seized during a search of his home and car, that the seizure of the weapons violated the Fourth Amendment, and that 18 U.S.C. § 893 invites confusion in the application of the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard and is therefore unconstitutional.

II. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Under 18 U.S.C. § 892, “Whoever makes any extortionate extension of credit, or conspires to do so, shall be fined ... or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.” Federal law also proscribes “willfully advancing] money ... to any person, with reasonable grounds to believe that it is the intention of that person to use the money ... for the purpose of making extortionate extensions of credit....” 18 U.S.C. § 893. An “extortionate extension of credit” is

[a]ny extension of credit with respect to which it is the understanding of the creditor and the debtor at the time it is made that delay in making repayment or failure to make repayment could result in the use of violence or other criminal means to cause harm to the person, reputation, or property of any person.

18 U.S.C. § 891(6). Recognizing that direct evidence of the understanding of the parties concerning the consequences of delayed repayment or non-repayment may be difficult to obtain, Congress enumerated four factors which, if all present, would constitute “prima facie evidence that the extension of credit was extortionate.” 18 U.S.C. § 892(b). The factors are “(1) that repayment is unenforceable through civil judicial process; (2) that the loan requires interest greater than 45% per year; (3) that the loan exceeds $100; and (4) that the debtor reasonably believes that the lender either has used [extortionate means] to collect other debts or has a reputation for doing so.” United States v. Zannino, 895 F.2d 1, 11 (1st Cir.1990) (summarizing 18 U.S.C. § 892(b)).

Instead of alleging that Perrotta’s loan to Folco was extortionate, the government tried to implicate Perrotta as a participant in Folco’s extortionate loan to Re- *160 gine. Count One of the indictment charged that Perrotta had conspired with Folco to make extortionate extensions of credit to Regine, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892. To win a conviction on this count, the government had to prove that Perrotta and Folco agreed and intended that Folco would make an extortionate extension of credit to Regine (that is, that Regine would understand that Folco would, if necessary, resort to violence or other criminal means to collect). United States v. Escobar-de Jesus, 187 F.3d 148, 175 (1st Cir.1999) (“To prove the elements of a conspiracy, the government must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant and one or more coconspirators intended to agree and ... to commit the substantive criminal offense which was the object of their unlawful agreement.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).

Count Three charged that Perrotta had aided and abetted Folco in making extortionate extensions of credit to Regine, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892 and § 2. To win a conviction on this count, the government was required to prove that Perrotta knew that Folco’s extensions of credit to Regine were extortionate and that Perrotta intended to assist Folco in making the extortionate loans. See United States v. Rosario-Diaz, 202 F.3d 54

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289 F.3d 155, 58 Fed. R. Serv. 1391, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 8649, 2002 WL 911764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-edward-t-perrotta-ca1-2002.