United States v. Patriarca

776 F. Supp. 593, 1991 WL 228198
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJuly 15, 1991
DocketCrim. A. 89-289
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 776 F. Supp. 593 (United States v. Patriarca) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Patriarca, 776 F. Supp. 593, 1991 WL 228198 (D. Mass. 1991).

Opinion

WOLF, District Judge. *

Basically, in summary, the Defendant Raymond J. Patriarca, also known as Junior, is charged with a violation of the Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Organization (“RICO”) statute. 1 The predicates are premised on violations of the Travel Act, 2 two of which relate directly to alleged ex-tortions.

He was arrested on March 22, 1990. He has been detained ever since, pursuant to a May 1, 1990, order by the magistrate, finding that no combination of conditions of release would reasonably assure the safety of the community. The Defendant has been incarcerated in the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, which is more than four hours from here.

He suffers from recurring cancer, which requires regular medical attention. He now seeks his release prior to a possible one-year trial, which is scheduled to begin in September 1991, in order to make financial, educational and personal arrangements for his family. He also believes that *595 his release will assist him in working more effectively with his counsel.

The Government has opposed the request that Mr. Patriarca now be released and seeks his continued detention based on both dangerousness and risk of flight.

I find, however, that the Government has not proved by a preponderance of the evidence that no combination of conditions will reasonably assure the Defendant’s appearance in the future. Nor has the Government proven by clear and convincing evidence that no combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of any person or the community if Mr. Patriarca is released.

Rather, the Court finds that there is a combination of realistic, feasible conditions which will provide the required reasonable assurances. These include the conditions that the Defendant remain in his home at Lincoln, Rhode Island, 24 hours a day; that he leave only with the prior approval of Pretrial Services for scheduled medical care in the personal custody of one of his two attorneys, either Mr. Cicilline or Mr. Weinberg, and for any medical emergencies; and that all consultations with his attorneys will occur at his home in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

His direct and indirect communications with others, that is, his personal communications and any messages he may send or receive through others, will be restricted to a small number of people approved by the Court after consultation with the Government. These people will not include any known members of the La Cosa Nostra (“LCN”), or anybody else to whom the Government has a compelling objection.

The Defendant’s compliance with the requirement that he stay at home will be monitored by an electronic bracelet. This will detect any flight within five minutes and cause the Pretrial Services office of this Court to be so informed within ten minutes. I expect this, among many other things that I’ll describe, will deter the Defendant from attempting to flee.

In addition, I am requiring that many members of the Defendant’s family post as security, in connection with these conditions, property, including their personal residences, worth over four million dollars. By agreement of the Defendant, that property will be forfeitable not only if the Defendant flees, but if he should violate any other condition of his release, including the requirement that he not engage in any criminal activity while released and the requirement that he not engage in any communications with individuals other than those whom I will authorize. 3

In addition, once again pursuant to the Defendant’s agreement, he will be subject to random visits by the FBI and other law enforcement personnel to determine whether he is complying with the conditions of release.

These conditions of release and related conditions, which will be developed in the coming week, are similar to, but more stringent than, the conditions which I imposed when I released Messrs. DiGiacomo, Spagnolo and Gioachini, participants in the now-notorious Mafia induction ceremony on October 29, 1989. 4

The Pretrial Services department of this Court encountered no problems with supervising those three individuals while they were on release. The testimony I received on May 10, 1991, indicated that they were among the least difficult, from the perspective of Pretrial Services, of pretrial detainees. 5 Each of them was released and no problems regarding their release were brought to my attention. They each pled guilty to guideline sentences. They each voluntarily surrendered to serve those sentences, and are now serving them. 6

*596 I also note that the conditions are much more stringent than those imposed on the eight defendants released in the companion case of United States v. Bianco, 7 now being prosecuted in Connecticut. Once again, none of the eight defendants released in that case has fled, nor has any request been made to revoke their release. 8

So as I said, in a moment I will describe in detail the reasons for this decision. I will, as I will explain at the end, require counsel along with Pretrial Services to take my prior order in the DiGiacomo case and seek to reach agreement on a joint proposed order to apply in this case to be developed by the close of business next Wednesday.

It’s also my intention to stay the Defendant’s release for at least two weeks, so the Government will have an opportunity to consider the Opinion and the Order and decide whether it wishes to appeal and seek a further stay from the Court of Appeals.

In addition, it is my intention to review the Defendant’s release about 60 days after he is released, or earlier if either party requests. That will give me an opportunity to monitor whether the Defendant has complied with the terms of his release during that period. It will also give the Defendant an opportunity to make whatever arrangements he wishes for his family and consider whether he wishes to continue to be released. That is not an entirely academic issue.

In another case in which the Government vigorously asserted that somebody, Vincent Marino, ought to be detained for violating conditions of release, I found in about December 1989 that there continued to be some combination of conditions on which Mr. Marino might be released, but I suggested that perhaps he did not want to be released indefinitely. Mr. Marino, after staying out for about two weeks, including the Christmas holidays and New Year’s, decided to report back to the custody of the United States. He subsequently pled guilty and has since been incarcerated.

That, in summary, is where this opinion will come out. The Court of Appeals in Mr. Tortora’s case noted quite properly that it did not receive a detailed explanation from the district judge for his conclusions. 9

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Related

United States v. Salemme
91 F. Supp. 2d 141 (D. Massachusetts, 1999)
United States v. Patriarca
807 F. Supp. 165 (D. Massachusetts, 1992)
United States v. Carrozza
807 F. Supp. 156 (D. Massachusetts, 1992)
United States v. Raymond J. Patriarca
948 F.2d 789 (First Circuit, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
776 F. Supp. 593, 1991 WL 228198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-patriarca-mad-1991.