KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge:
Modesto Delgado was convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(c)(2), conspiracy to distribute cocaine, unlawful use of a communication facility, and distribution of cocaine. We reverse Delgado’s conviction of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, but affirm the convictions on the other counts. The evidence was insufficient to establish that Delgado organized, supervised, or otherwise managed five or more people. The remaining convictions are unaffected. The critical issue on the reversed count is whether Delgado’s customers, and their customers, count as persons whom Delgado managed.
I. Facts.
The government arrested two cocaine dealers in Las Vegas, Raul Fernandez and Mario Fajardo, who eventually led Drug Enforcement Administration agents to appellant Delgado. Fernandez and Fajardo testified for the government, and the continuing criminal enterprise case-was based on their testimony and recordings of their telephone conversations with Delgado. Delgado had sold cocaine several times in quantities of several kilograms to each of them.
Fernandez had entered the cocaine business in 1985, when he learned from Delgado at a social gathering that an old mutual friend of theirs was a cocaine dealer, and the potential profits of the trade were considerable. A few months later, Delgado made his first sale to Fernandez, by undercutting their old friend’s price. Delgado sold Fernandez two kilograms on credit. Sales of cocaine on credit, to be paid for after the buyer resells it, are called “fronting.” Once Fernandez began buying from Delgado, he dropped his previous supplier and used Delgado exclusively, although Fernandez was free to buy from other suppliers.
About two weeks later, Fernandez paid Delgado for the first two kilograms, and bought four more. This time, Fernandez came with an associate whom he knew Delgado would not approve of because of his violent reputation, so Fernandez left his associate outside. Fernandez then had about six regular customers who bought on credit by the ounce. Delgado did not know who Fernandez’s customers were or control the terms of Fernandez’s sales to them. A couple of weeks later, Fernandez bought two kilograms from Delgado, who introduced Re-nieri Martinez as his employee. Fernandez made payment for his previous purchase to an unnamed individual who was staying in a cabin at a hotel and working for Delgado. Fernandez’s final purchase was four kilograms. Delgado’s price had gone down each time, and Fernandez had saved his profits. On cross-examination, Fernandez was asked about the extent to which Delgado controlled Fernandez’s business:
Q Now, with respect to your organization, did Mr. Delgado make any decisions with respect to who purchased cocaine from you?
A No, he only distributed to us.
Q All right. And so he did not select your customers?
A No, the customers, we selected them.
Q And did he decide whether and to what extent you' would front cocaine to your customers?
A No, we distributed; he would only give us the front.
Q All right. Did he prevent you from buying cocaine anywhere, at whatever price you chose to do so?
A .No, he would quote us a price, and if it was convenient, we would buy there; if not, we would buy elsewhere.
In December 1985, Fernandez decided to separate from the business. He brought Fa-jardo to a meeting with Delgado, paid the [783]*783last of his debt to Delgado, and suggested that from then on, Delgado do business with Fajardo. Delgado told Fernandez that although he and Fajardo were friends, Fajardo was “not sufficiently responsible ... in the sense that he would spend more than what the business would produce and not make timely payments.” Delgado was. also worried about Fajardo’s financial responsibility because Fajardo associated with “Koko,” a violent addict who stole from Fajardo. For this reason, Delgado agreed to sell to Fajardo only if Fernandez agreed to guarantee Fajar-do’s debts to Delgado for cocaine Delgado would front. Fernandez did agree, and also shared Fajardo’s profits.
On one occasion Delgado used Kiki Mata-moros to deliver some cocaine to Fajardo. Delgado said in a surreptitiously taped conversation with Fajardo that he on occasion had his wife take care of certain customers. In another surreptitiously taped conversation, Fajardo told Delgado he was buying cocaine from someone else for $14,000 or $14,500 per kilogram, and Delgado responded that he was paying $15,000 and $15,250 himself.
Fajardo said he expanded Fernandez’s customer list, but he did not consider his customers part of his business organization. “The customers are customers, they don’t receive any instruction. They buy, that’s all. I have only two people working for me, but I instruct them.... The rest are customers, they buy or no buy, that’s all.” Delgado did not give Fajardo orders about how to run his business — he just supplied inventory. When asked about whether Delgado would make decisions about who Fajardo could sell to, Fajardo explained that-Delgado “couldn’t be able to order me anything, because he has a business, I had mine.... [H]is activity was to supply me, that’s all.” Delgado told Fa-jardo he thought it was unwise to use Koko, but did not try to impose his will. Fajardo made his own decisions about extending credit to his customers. When asked whether he was free to buy from other suppliers, Fajardo responded “Oh, absolutely. You can buy, I started with Raul Herrera, and later I' change with him. And later I change with other people. That’s normal.” During his dealings with Delgado, Fajardo met two people- who worked for Delgado, Renieri Martinez and’ a person who delivered the four kilograms, and knew of one more, Kiki Mata-moros.
II. Management of Five People.
The statute defining the crime of “continuing criminal enterprise” requires, as one of its elements, that the defendant act “in concert with five or more other persons with respect to whom such person occupies a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management.” 21 U.S.C. § 848(c)(2)(A). Acting in concert is not enough for this statute — the “with respect to ...” modifier means that the defendant must occupy the requisite position of management with respect to the people with whom he or she acts in concert. United States v. Jerome, 942 F.2d 1328, 1331 (9th Cir.1991).
The trial judge instructed the jury that the government had to prove the management element, but Delgado argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict. In considering a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence underlying a conviction, we determine whether, after “ ‘reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’” United States v. Bishop, 959 F.2d 820, 829 (9th Cir.1992) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)).. We review the critical jury instruction for plain error, because Delgado did not object to it. United States v. Bustillo, 789 F.2d 1364, 1367 (9th Cir.1986).
In Jerome, we reversed a continuing criminal enterprise conviction, which, to meet the five person element, had required that the jury count the people from whom the defendant had regularly purchased drugs. We held that some sort of “managerial responsibility” is required, not just a regular business relationship:
We read the statutory language “or any other position of management” to indicate that an “organizer” must exercise some sort of managerial responsibility; one does [784]*784not qualify if one simply sets up a system of supply.... Every legitimate retail store makes arrangements with its regular suppliers. In one sense it may be said to organize its supply, but does it organize its suppliers? Surely not in the sense of being the manager of its suppliers. To be an organizer within the sense of the statute more is required than simply being a steady customer.
Id. at 1331 (citations omitted); see also United States v. Apodaca, 843 F.2d 421, 426 (10th Cir.) (requiring showing that defendant has some managerial position with respect to five or more persons), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 932, 109 S.Ct. 325, 102 L.Ed.2d 342 (1988); United States v. Jones, 801 F.2d 304, 308 (8th Cir.1986) (five or more persons must fall under defendant’s managerial authority). We held that since the jury might have counted the suppliers toward the five persons, it was plain error not to have instructed them that “they must unanimously agree as to the identity of the five people Jerome organized, managed, or supervised.” Jerome, 942 F.2d at 1331.
Delgado concedes that there was sufficient evidence to count three individuals — Renieri Martinez, Kiki Matamoros, and an unnamed male drug courier who delivered drugs to Fajardo — as persons he ■ organized. He argues that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of having managed his wife, and, more important, Fajardo, Fernandez and their customers.
As to Delgado’s wife, the evidence that he acted in concert with her to sell drugs and organized or supervised her consisted of Delgado’s tape-recorded statement to Fajardo that “I put my wife on occasions to care [to] two or three nice customers of mine, who are the ones that you trust them, follow me?” The statement occurred during a conversation in which Delgado communicated to Fajardo that he had sold his entire inventory of cocaine over the weekend. There was no evidence that Delgado could have been referring to any context other than drug transactions, and Fajardo testified that he understood it as such. A jury could infer from this evidence that Delgado had managed or supervised his wife in narcotics transactions. Accordingly, the evidence is sufficient to support a finding that Delgado managed his wife in the narcotics business.
Thus, the evidence was sufficient, taking it in the light most favorable to the government, for the jury to treat Delgado as occupying a position of management with respect to Renieri Martinez, Kiki Matamoros, his wife, and the person who made a delivery to Fajardo. The government concedes that the evidence was insufficient to show that the person to whom money was delivered at a hotel and the person who delivered cocaine to Fajardo were different people. This only amounts to four people, and the statute requires five. The indictment named Fernandez and Fajardo and their customers as among the five or more persons, and the government’s argument throughout the case has depended upon their inclusion. As in Jerome, no unanimity instruction regarding the five people was given or requested, so different jurors could count different people as among the five, and the jurors were allowed to count Fernandez and Fajardo and their customers toward the five persons managed by Delgado. Under Jerome, then, the conviction of continuing criminal enterprise can stand only if Fernandez, Fajardo, and their customers could properly be counted.
As to- Fernandez and Fajardo’s customers, there is no evidence to support a finding that Delgado occupied any kind of managerial role with respect to any of them. The government implicitly conceded as much, arguing to the jury that Delgado organized the customers “in this sense only”: he organized Fernandez and Fajardo, who in turn organized the customers, and did so knowing about the middlemen’s organizational activities. The jury was urged to count these persons on the theory that Delgado vicariously organized them because he conspired with Fernandez and Fajardo,1 who directly organized them.1
On appeal, the government relies on United States v. Apodaca, 843 F.2d 421 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 932, 109 S.Ct. 325, 102 L.Ed.2d 342 (1988), to argue that the evidence was sufficient to show Delgado organized the customers because they were [785]*785lower-level dealers, not merely consumers, and they were fronted the drugs just as Fernandez and Fajardo were. Apodaca is distinguishable because in that case, there was testimony that the people at issue worked for Apodaca, he told others that they-worked for him, and he offered to pay for legal counsel if any of them were arrested. See 843 F.2d at 424, 427. Delegation of management to an intermediate supervisor does not prevent lower-level subordinates from being counted in the continuing criminal enterprise statute. Id. at 426; United States v. Patrick, 965 F.2d 1390, 1397 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 376, 121 L.Ed.2d 287 (1992).
Here, there was no evidence of such instructions, nor evidence of suggestions, offers, or other inducement conveyed from Delgado to the customers. The evidence showed that Delgado had nothing to do with Fernandez’s and Fajardo’s arrangements with their customers. The evidence showed that Delgado did not set the prices at which the customers’ sales were made, and did not receive any of the markup when Fernandez and Fajardo raised their prices to the customers. The evidence showed Delgado had no dealings with the customers directly, and there was no evidence that he influenced, directed, organized, coordinated, or otherwise purposefully affected their drug-dealing activities indirectly. In sum, there was no evidence to support a finding that Delgado organized, supervised or otherwise managed any of the customers.
We assume without deciding that the government need not prove the name of each person among the five, so the unnamed delivery person could be counted. Cf. United States v. Possick, 849 F.2d 332, 337 (8th Cir.1988). But this still does not get Delgado’s organization up to five unless Fernandez and Fajardo were “managed” by him.
In United States v. Ray, 731 F.2d 1361 (9th Cir.1984), we held that to be an “organizer” within the meaning of § 848(e)(2)(A), one need not “necessarily [be] able to control those whom he or she organizes.” Id. at 1367. Our reasoning was that- the words “organizer, supervisory position, or any other position of management” are widely used in the business community and among the general public, and the ordinary meaning of “organizer” does not “necessarily” connote control over those organized. Id.
Although under Ray, an organizer is not “necessarily” able to control the persons organized, the “managerial responsibility” required by Jerome involves more than simply doing business with them. For example, applying the ordinary business usage required by Ray, the project manager for a general contractor on a construction project organizes the efforts of the independent contractors to whom the work is subcontracted out, without controlling the details of their performance. He manages, even though, since they are independent contractors, he does not control. See United States v. Cruz, 785 F.2d 399, 407 (2d Cir.1986) (holding that a defendant may exercise managerial authority over independent contractors, as well as employees).
This case poses a problem similar to that in Jerome, except that the persons at issue are customers instead of suppliers. Jerome cannot be limited to cases where a customer is accused of managing his suppliers, because its ratio decidendi does not allow for a distinction. The evidence that Delgado managed his customers, Fernandez and later Fajardo, was insufficient to allow a jury to count them toward the five people needed for the continuing criminal enterprise statute. Delgado’s specifications of how they were to contact him obviously had to do with hiding his own criminal business from the police, not managing the way they did business.
Ray establishes that we must construe the words of the statute as they are used in the business community and among the general public. Jerome establishes that we must require that the organizer “exercise some sort of managerial responsibility,” because of the statutory phrase, “or any other position of management” modifying the word “organizer.” The evidence was uncontradicted that Delgado sold cocaine to Fernandez and Fa-jardo but did not in any sense manage their conduct - of their own criminal businesses. We must therefore conclude that Delgado did not “occup[y] a position of organizer, a super[786]*786visory position, or any other position of management,” 21 U.S.C. § 848(c)(2)(A), with respect to Fernandez and Fajardo. In ordinary business usage, selling to people does not make one an organizer of customers, even wholesale customers, any more than buying from them makes one an organizer of suppliers. Cf. Jerome at 1331.
We respectfully disagree with our concurring colleague’s view that the continuing criminal enterprise statute “requires only that Delgado act in concert with his distributor and ‘occupfy] a position of organizer’ with respect to them.” The statutory language requires that the defendant “occup[y] a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management____” 21 U.S.C. § 828(c)(2)(A). Jerome reads the phrase “or any other position of management” to mean that “an ‘organizer’ must exercise some sort of managerial responsibility.” 942 F.2d at 1331. Although the issue in Jerome was whether the retailer organized his suppliers, the ratio decidendi was broader than that. The syntax of the statute, “A, B, or any other C,” implies that A must fall within the class C; that is, organizers are counted only if they exercise some sort of managerial responsibility. By analogy, a statute regulating fishing may state that licensed individuals may catch up to some specified limit of “bass, trout, or any other fresh water fish.” The limits would apply to fresh water bass, such as black bass, but not to sea bass, because the clause “or any other fresh water fish” limits “bass” and “trout” to those in fresh water. Likewise, under the continuing criminal enterprise statute, it is not enough to be just a non-managerial organizer, as Jerome was. While control is not essential, under Ray, management is, under Jerome. Congress has other statutes, such as 21 U.S.C. § 841 for people who sell cocaine, and 21 U.S.C. § 846 for people who conspire with others to sell cocaine. The continuing criminal enterprise statute contains its own additional and unique requirements.
The government acknowledges that “In the traditional sense, this is a chain conspiracy where the government is alleging that the Defendant DELGADO, at the higher end of the distribution chain, is responsible for organizing the individuals at the lower end of the chain.” Appellee’s brief at 2. But the “chain” is a metaphor, not an argument. In a government agency, one may, by going up the “chain of command,” assign responsibility for larger numbers of employees holding lower rank. But business, unlike government, is often not hierarchical. The metaphor of a “chain of distribution” does not fit well if the buyers and sellers are not connected by steel “links,” but instead operate independently of each other, with each being free to deal with others. One cannot infer who is “higher” than whom from who sells to whom. A manufacturer or distributor may have enough market power and product differentiation to be able to control the conduct of its retailers. Perhaps General Motors has the power to manage the conduct of a local Chevrolet dealer. In contrast, some distributors may have to compete for sales to retailers and for shelf space by offering favorable prices, credit and other benefits. A manufacturer of generic aspirin probably has little power to control the business conduct of Woolworth’s or Wal-Mart, even though it is “higher” in what the government calls the “chain of distribution.” We cannot assume that the cocaine business is more like the former than the latter kind of industry. It is at least a commercial possibility that the most market power in the cocaine business is held by the street dealers who control what in a legitimate business would be called “shelf space.” The CCE element of “occ-up[ying] a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management,” 21 U.S.C. § 848(c)(2)(A), must be proved, and cannot simply be presumed on the basis of who sells to whom.
This is not to say that Delgado’s “higher” position in the “chain” is irrelevant. Depending on the conditions of supply and demand, a seller may have more market power than a buyer, which he can translate into control over the buyer’s activities. But that is not necessarily so, and depends on the circumstances. In this instance, the government’s own case showed that Delgado’s customers could and did switch to him from another supplier when he offered a better [787]*787price, and later shifted to a competitor for the same reason. It also showed a decline in prices over time from Delgado to Fernandez and Fajardo, from $40,000 to as little as $13,000 per kilo. In these circumstances, Delgado’s “higher” position in the “distribution chain” does not by itself suffice to show that he had any sort of managerial authority over Fernandez and Fajardo. The evidence did not establish anything more than an arm’s length buyer-seller relationship between Delgado and his customers, Fernandez and later Fajardo. No “managerial responsibility” was demonstrated or implied by any evidence. Cf. Apodaca, 843 F.2d at 426 (mere buyer-seller relationship, without more, is insufficient to show managerial responsibility). The commercial relationship appears to have been about the same, except for its criminality, as that between wholesalers. Delgado extended credit to his customers, as many wholesalers do, but his customers could sell to whom they pleased, on whatever terms they chose, without any direction from him, so far as the evidence indicates. They were free to hire whom they chose, even against Delgado’s advice, and they did not share their profits with him. His customers were also free to shop, bargain, and switch suppliers, and they did so. Except for the felonious nature of the trade, the analogy Jerome draws to the relationship between a retail store and its regular suppliers applies to this case as well, with the modification that this relationship was between wholesalers.
To show that Delgado held managerial authority, the government relies upon the credit granted to Fernandez and Fajar-do, Delgado’s requirement that Fernandez guarantee Fajardo’s trade balances, and Delgado’s specifications regarding beepers and surreptitiousness for meetings and deliveries. Extension of credit may be relevant to show managerial authority, cf. Jones, 801 F.2d at 308, Apodaca, 843 F.2d at 427, but does not necessarily demonstrate such authority. In some market conditions, a seller providing credit may have enough power to manage his buyer’s conduct of his business, and credit conditions may be a means of exercising that power. But credit may also reflect the buyer’s market power. It is in the buyer’s interest not to have to pay-for his inventory until after he has sold it. A buyer may have enough market power to condition his purchases upon receiving the goods on credit, even though the seller would prefer cash on delivery to the delay and risk of “fronting” the inventory. Under Delgado’s credit arrangement, he received no money from Fernandez and Fajardo until they had sold the cocaine and had their profit locked in. His requirement that Fernandez guarantee Fa-jardo’s trade balances gave Delgado more security, though not enough to cover the entire Koko loss, as it turned out. Although he refused to continue selling to Fajardo after the Koko loss, Delgado began supplying him again two years later. Without other indicia of authority, we are unable to conclude that the extension of credit, called “fronting,” suffices to show managerial responsibility.
The testimony of the government’s witnesses, Fernandez and Fajardo, of their independence, was unrefuted. Their plain spoken assertion of autonomy, and denial that Delgado managed their business affairs in any way, together with the evidence regarding the specifics of their business, did not allow for an inference that Delgado managed them. There was no evidence that Fernandez and Fajardo considered Delgado their “boss,” accepted his views on whom they should hire in their own businesses, or otherwise allowed him to direct their affairs in any way. There was no evidence that Delgado used violence or the threat of violence to make Fernandez or Fajardo do as he wished. The evidence was insufficient to show that Delgado occupied, with respect to Fernandez, Fajardo, or their customers, the “position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management.”
We respectfully disagree with our concurring colleague’s reading of the transcript. Delgado “took Fernandez into his own operation” only in the sense that he sold cocaine to him. We cannot find testimony showing that Delgado “insisted that Fernandez turn [his business] over to someone responsible.” Fernandez testified that he, not Delgado, suggested Fajardo. Delgado thought Fajar-do was not financially responsible, but [788]*788agreed to sell- to him anyway, provided Fernandez guarantee the debts. Except for the criminality of the trade, this resembles a common arrangement when the owner of a furniture store retires and sells her business; she may have to guarantee her buyer’s credit in order to induce the suppliers to continue to “front” the inventory.
Because the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law, we need not reach the issues our concurring colleague would find disposi-tive, whether the prosecutor’s argument was legally incorrect and misleading, amounting to plain error, or whether the instructions were plainly erroneous.
III. The Motion to Suppress.
The police observed people under surveillance place objects that looked like kilogram packages of cocaine into Delgado’s car, and saw Delgado move the packages from the passenger compartment into the trunk. They then observed Delgado driving in typical counter-surveillance fashion, including expensive driving around at night with his headlights off, and saw him put another package into his trunk. After these observations, the police stopped Delgado,' and in a peaceful encounter without guns drawn, had him get out of his car and sit on the curb, without being handcuffed. An officer asked if he could look in the trunk, Delgado told him he could, and the officer replied that Delgado was not required to give permission. Delgado responded “No, go ahead.” The police found four kilograms of cocaine and $36,000 cash in the trunk, and arrested Delgado.
Delgado argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress. We review the denial of the motion to suppress de novo, except that the findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. United States v. Negrete-Gonzales, 966 F.2d 1277, 1282 (9th Cir.1992). We review for clear error the district court’s finding that Delgado’s consent was voluntary. United States v. Preciado-Robles, 964 F.2d 882, 886 (9th Cir.1992). No clear error is shown with regard to the factual findings.
Delgado argues that the stop when he was pulled over amounted to an arrest, that it was without probable cause, and that his consent to the search of his trunk was the involuntary result of the illegal arrest. The police observations in this case amount to probable cause for arrest. Cf. United States v. Hoyos, 892 F.2d 1387, 1392 (9th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 826, 111 S.Ct. 80, 112 L.Ed.2d 52 (1990); United States v. Del Vizo, 918 F.2d 821, 825-27 (9th Cir.1990). We therefore do not need to decide whether the stop amounted to an arrest. The finding of consent was "not clearly erroneous.
The portion of the judgment convicting appellant of continuing criminal enterprise is REVERSED. The remainder of the judgment is AFFIRMED.