United States v. Gambino, Rosario

864 F.2d 1064, 1988 WL 138657
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJanuary 31, 1989
Docket87-5232
StatusPublished
Cited by99 cases

This text of 864 F.2d 1064 (United States v. Gambino, Rosario) 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. Gambino, Rosario, 864 F.2d 1064, 1988 WL 138657 (3d Cir. 1989).

Opinions

OPINION ANNOUNCING THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

GREENBERG, Circuit Judge.

Appellant, Rosario Gambino, appeals from an order entered in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by Judge Bissell following a plenary hearing denying his motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate his conviction entered on December 11, 1984 on various drug offenses and sentencing him to a total custodial term of 45 years and to pay a total fine of $105,000. The specific offenses and sentences were as follows:

counts 11 and 12, possession of heroin with intent to distribute and distributing heroin on or about January 18, 1984, at Atlantic City, New Jersey (merged), 15 years followed by a special parole term of ten years and a $25,000 fine; counts 17 and 18, possession of heroin with intent to distribute and distributing heroin on or about February 20,1984, at Somers Point, New Jersey (merged), 15 years followed by a special parole term of ten years and a $25,000 fine, the sentence to be consecutive to those imposed on counts 11 and 12; count 2, conspiracy to distribute heroin from at least as early as October 1, 1983 until on or about March 16, 1984 at Atlantic City, New Jersey, 15 years and a fine of $25,000, the sentence to be consecutive to those imposed on counts 11, 12, 17 and 18; count 13, using a telephone at Cape May, New Jersey, on or about January 30, 1984 to facilitate the distribution of heroin, four years to be served concurrently with the other sentences and a $30,000 fine.

Appellant and co-defendants Erasmo Gambino, Antonio Gambino and Anthony Spatola, who were also convicted on various counts of the indictment, directly appealed from their convictions and, in addition, appellant appealed from an order denying him a new trial. We, however, affirmed. United States v. Gambino, 788 F.2d 938 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 825, 107 S.Ct. 98, 93 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). Another defendant, Giovanni Bosco, was a fugitive at the time of the trial and thus was not tried with appellant. He was later apprehended and pleaded guilty to certain offenses charged in the indictment. The final defendant, Mario Gambino, was acquitted of all charges against him.

Inasmuch as the facts of the case were set forth in our earlier opinion they will not be repeated at length. See 788 F.2d at 940-41. It should be indicated, however, that evidence at the trial showed that appellant supplied the heroin mentioned in counts 11 and 12 of the indictment and sold on January 18, 1984 to undercover agents and that Spatola and Bosco obtained the heroin at the Caffe Milano in Brooklyn on [1066]*1066the night of January 17-18, 1984. In his earlier appeal appellant asserted that his trial attorney, Jacob Evseroff, had simultaneously represented Gaetano Mazzara in a case referred to as the pizza connection case, United States v. Badalamenti, et al., No. 84-Cr-286, a narcotics conspiracy case in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Appellant asserted that Mazzara was under suspicion as the source of the heroin sold to the undercover agents on January 18, 1984 by Spatola and Bosco. This dual representation was said to give rise to a conflict of interest on Evseroff’s part since he failed to establish that Mazzara, and not appellant, was the source of the heroin. After an extensive discussion of appellant’s claim, we indicated that circuit precedent required us to affirm his conviction without prejudice to his right to initiate a collateral proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 for the resolution of the conflict of interest question. 788 F.2d at 949-53.

Thus, appellant filed his motion in the district court claiming that his conviction was obtained in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel because of Evseroff's alleged conflict of interest which, in appellant’s view, adversely affected his performance at appellant’s trial. His motion was supported by an affidavit of Evseroff, dated June 9, 1986, which set forth that at the time of appellant’s trial Evseroff was also representing Mazzara, who was charged with being a leader of a multi-million dollar heroin distribution organization, in the Ba-dalamenti case. Evseroff indicated that during appellant’s trial he obtained entries from surveillance logs for January 17,1984 at the Caffe Milano that suggested Mazar-ra’s involvement in the events of that day.1

Evseroff further stated that it occurred to him that there was substantial evidence from which an argument could be made that Mazzara was the actual source of the heroin. Nevertheless, according to his affidavit, when Evseroff cross-examined the surveillance agents, he carefully avoided any questions which might have implicated Mazzara, out of a sense of loyalty to him and for fear that he might jeopardize Maz-zara’s position in his impending trial. Evseroff also stated that he did not call appellant's attention to the fact that an argument could be made that Mazzara was the source of the heroin. The affidavit gave no indication of who its author was or how it came to be executed.

A plenary hearing was held on the motion on October 31, 1986. On direct examination by appellant’s attorney, Evseroff testified that he had met Mazzara in April 1984 and represented him in the Badalam-enti case. Evseroff testified that during appellant’s trial he was supplied with government surveillance reports showing that Mazzara was seen around the Caffe Milano on January 17, 1984.

Surveillance log J-146 was then admitted into evidence. It indicates that Spatola arrived in the area of the Caffe Milano at 2:27 p.m. and entered at 2:30 p.m. At 2:40 a yellow Mercedes Benz departed from in front of the cafe, a significant fact as the vehicle was identified as being appellant’s. At 2:47 p.m. Spatola exited the cafe and entered the nearby 18 Avenue Tile Co. with two unidentified men. Mazzara and Fran-cesco Castronovo arrived at the scene at 2:58 p.m. and entered the Caffe Milano at 3:00. At 3:09 p.m. they were observed on the street and then entering the 18th Street Tile Co. At 3:41 p.m. Mazzara and Fran-cesco Castronovo left the tile store and departed the scene. Nothing in the log indicated that Mazzara was seen delivering heroin.2

Evseroff testified that the government argued at appellant’s trial that appellant supplied the heroin to Spatola and Bosco which they sold to the undercover agents. But Evseroff said that even though he had examined the above described log prior to cross-examining the surveillance agents, he did not cross-examine them about Mazzara or seek additional information about his [1067]*1067involvement in the episode because it would have been a “specious argument” to contend that Mazzara, and not appellant, was the source of the heroin and he did not want to bring out Mazzara’s name. Evser-off said that while there was substantial evidence which could have been articulated to make an argument that Mazzara was the source of the heroin it would not have been a “substantial argument.” He also said it would have been unfair to draw an inference that Mazzara was involved in the matter.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
864 F.2d 1064, 1988 WL 138657, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gambino-rosario-ca3-1989.