United States v. Joseph F. X. McNally A/K/A "Pope" McNally

473 F.2d 934, 31 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 609, 1973 U.S. App. LEXIS 12165
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJanuary 15, 1973
Docket72-1297
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 473 F.2d 934 (United States v. Joseph F. X. McNally A/K/A "Pope" McNally) 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. Joseph F. X. McNally A/K/A "Pope" McNally, 473 F.2d 934, 31 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 609, 1973 U.S. App. LEXIS 12165 (3d Cir. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

ADAMS, Circuit Judge.

This appeal, in which the government challenges a suppression of evidence ordered by the district court, 338 F.Supp. 341, forces us to peer once again into the murky area surrounding the precepts governing averments necessary for a finding of probable cause, the basic component that permits a search warrant to issue.

The Fourth Amendment commands:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

A significant number of United States Supreme Court cases 1 require *936 that, if a statement made by an unidentified informer is to be an element in the determination of probable cause, the importance of the statement and the weight to be accorded it in that determination must be analyzed carefully. 2 Thus the task facing the Court in this case is to ascertain whether the affidavit, produced to support the issuance of the search warrant, containing, inter alia, a statement by two unidentified informers, provided a sufficient basis for a finding of probable cause to search a property at 3039 Belgrade Street, Philadelphia.

I.

Defendant Joseph P. X. “Pope” Mc-Nally was indicted on seven counts of (a) failing to file income tax returns and (b) filing fraudulent tax returns for the years 1963-1966, on income totaling $833,055.17. The charges were based primarily on evidence gathered at a house located at 3039 Belgrade Street, occupied by McNally’s mother. That evidence, implicating McNally in a wide-ranging wagering operation, was seized in a search conducted pursuant to a warrant. It was this warrant that was successfully attacked in the district court. 3

The affidavit submitted to the magistrate in support of the warrant indicated an extensive system of numbers gambling and horse race wagering. The betting operation described, situated in the Richmond section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was quite active, employing techniques typical of such an enterprise. This much of the affidavit is not in contention. Rather, the controversy turns on the allegations identifying McNally as the “banker” and establishing a nexus between his activity and 3039 Belgrade. The averments include statements that:

(1) “Confidential information was received from two confidential sources, proven reliable in the past, that a large scale wagering operation was being conducted in the Richmond section of Philadelphia, and the ‘banker’ of this operation was Joseph ‘Pope’ McNally.”

(2) McNally had been arrested fifteen times and convicted six times for numbers violations.

(3) McNally was observed driving in a surreptitious manner on several occasions.

(4) McNally was seen carrying a brown paper bag on two occasions.

(5) Several conversations were overheard by special agents in which reference was made to the leader of this operation, referred to as “Pope.”

(6) McNally appeared several times in various taverns in which special agents had placed bets.

(7) McNally visited the house searched, 3039 Belgrade, the home of his mother, ten times within a two-month period under questionable circumstances.

The district court, holding United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573, 91 S.Ct. 2075, 29 L.Ed.2d 723 (1971), not controlling, considered itself bound by what it referred to as “the somewhat unrealistic standards” required by Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969).

Focusing on the allegations linking McNally to the gambling operations and finding them inadequate to establish probable cause to suspect that McNally was the “banker” of the business, the *937 district court did not go on to consider whether the affidavit provided any indication that 3039 Belgrade was the locus of criminal activity because it did not find that McNally, himself, was involved in criminal activity.

II.

Before commencing an inquiry into the sufficiency of the affidavit, it is important to note the presumptions with which reviewing courts are directed to approach such an examination:

“. . . that only the probability, and not a prima facie showing, of criminal activity is the standard of probable cause, Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 96, [85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142] (1964); that affidavits of probable cause are tested by much less rigorous standards than those governing the admissibility of evidence at trial, McCray v. Illinois, 386 U.S. 300, 311, [87 S.Ct. 1056, 18 L.Ed.2d 62] (1967); that in judging probable cause issuing magistrates are not to be confined by niggardly limitations or by restrictions on the use of their common sense, United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 108, [85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684] (1965); and that their- determination of probable cause should be paid great deference by reviewing courts, Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 270-271 [80 S. Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697] (I960).” 4

The first step in the analysis is to determine whether the finding of probable cause is based on the informant’s tip alone, the tip plus evidence corroborating the tip, or the tip and other incriminating evidence. If the tip alone or the tip plus corroboration of the tip are the sole grounds for the finding by the magistrate of probable cause, then Spinelli and Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), demand that the tip or the tip plus corroboration meet certain standards. The trial judge found no evidence beyond the tip from which a link between McNally and the numbers operation could be forged. Having reached this conclusion, he then measured the tip against the Aguilar and Spinelli standards and held that no basis for probable cause existed. He concluded, “[N]o nexus had been shown connecting the defendant with the operation in question other than unsubstantiated rumor.”

In Aguilar the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a warrant could issue based on an affidavit that alleged only:

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Bluebook (online)
473 F.2d 934, 31 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 609, 1973 U.S. App. LEXIS 12165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-joseph-f-x-mcnally-aka-pope-mcnally-ca3-1973.