United States v. Ruby Lazarus

425 F.2d 638
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 18, 1970
Docket23290
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 425 F.2d 638 (United States v. Ruby Lazarus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Ruby Lazarus, 425 F.2d 638 (9th Cir. 1970).

Opinion

JAMES M. CARTER, Circuit Judge:

Lazarus appeals from his conviction upon three out of seven counts of perjury under 18 U.S.C. § 1621, based on his testimony before a grand jury. He raises four questions: Did the district court err, (1) in denying his motion for a mistrial based upon a Government witness’ testimony linking Lazarus to the Mafia, (2) in admitting portions of transcript of the hearings before the grand jury in which Lazarus had asserted his privilege against self-incrimination, (3) in admitting bookmaking documents seized from a person other than Lazarus, and (4) in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal?

In 1966 a federal grand jury began an investigation of syndicated gambling activities after receiving information that a meeting of some of the members of the syndicate had been held at Palm Springs and that telephones were used during the meeting to transmit gambling information across state lines. The investigation was an inquiry into possible violations of federal laws concerning interstate transmission of gambling information, 18 U.S.C. § 1084, interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises, 18 U.S.C. § 1952, and of further possible violations of the Federal Communications Act and the Internal Revenue Code.

Lazarus was called before the grand jury on December 14, 1966. He refused to respond to any questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege. He was again summoned to testify on March 9, 1967, and he again invoked his privilege and refused to testify. The Government thereupon obtained an order compelling Lazarus to testify pursuant to the immunity provisions of the Federal Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 409 (J).

On March 10, 1967, he was called to appear before the grand jury to answer questions about his association with the other alleged participants at the Palm Springs meeting, about his own activities there, and about his knowledge of telephone calls from Palm Springs to Multiple Sports Service and to the Prokos brothers in Miami, Florida. Although he knew that he could no longer rely on the privilege in view of the immunity order, he declined to answer all questions put to him. The district court ordered him to answer, Lazarus refused, and the court found him in contempt for which he was committed to custody until he purged himself of contempt. 1 After seven months in custody, Lazarus requested and was granted an appearance to testify before the grand jury on October 18, 1967. It is his testimony on October 18, 1967, that is the subject of his prosecution for perjury.

Lazarus admitted before the grand jury that he visited the residence in Palm Springs for five or six days and *640 that Elliott Paul Price, Tony Salerno, Jerry Zarowitz, Vincent Alo, and two women were also present during that time. The subject of Count One of the indictment was his testimony that he did not use the telephones in the Palm Springs house and that he did not see anyone else do so. The subject of Counts Four and Seven was his testimony that Mickey Zion was the only bookmaker with whom he ever placed a bet and that he never placed bets at bookmaker’s odds with the Prokos brothers in Miami. The jury returned guilty verdicts on Counts One, Four and Seven.

I

The Denial of Motion for a Mistrial

The Government’s first witness was a former United States Attorney who, during his Government service, had been in charge of the Special Prosecutions Division, engaged in prosecuting cases in the general field of organized crime. He was called by the Government in order to establish the materiality to the grand jury investigation of Lazarus’ testimony. The court instructed the jury that the testimony was not received to prove the truth of the facts contained therein but to show the nature of the investigation and what prompted it.

In response to questions about the information he had relayed to the grand jury and upon which its investigation was partially based, the witness stated:

“[W]e had information that in Palms Springs, California, in October 1965 there was a meeting at a certain residence there, which involved people who were reputedly very high up in the Mafia organized crime syndicate in this country.
«* -* *
“We had information that the phones in this residence had been used by certain individuals and that the telephones were used to make calls across State lines to other parts of the United States, in connection with gambling activities.
“We also heard — had information that a dispute had arisen among certain members of an alleged gambling syndicate, and that one of the purposes of the meeting at Palm Springs was to resolve that dispute.
-K *
“We heard that there was present Elliott Paul Price, Tony Salerno, Jerry Zarowitz, Vincent Alo, also known as Jimmy Blue Eyes, Ruby Lazarus and two young women who were reputed to be girl friends of two of the people I have named.
“■» # *
“Elliott Paul Price, we had information he was involved on a large scale in gambling activities, not only interstate in the country but also in Canada and in the Montreal area. We had information he was involved in a bookmaking operation in and around Boston.
“We also knew that he was under indictment for Federal violations in the Southern District of New York.
“As to Vincent Alo and Tony Salerno, we had information they were high important figures in organized crime activity on the East Coast and had been connected with Vito Genovese.”

Lazarus’ counsel did not move to strike the testimony referring to the Mafia, but he did move for a dismissal [TR. 69], which we will charitably treat as a motion for a mistrial, on the ground that the witness’ reference to the Mafia was prejudicial. The court denied the motion, admonished the prosecuting attorney to avoid references to the Mafia, and reiterated its prior instruction to the jury that the witness’ testimony was hearsay, not received for the purpose of proving the truth of the facts asserted.

Two days later the prosecuting attorney in reading the transcript of the grand jury proceedings of March 10, 1967, read a portion of the transcript in which Lazarus declined to answer the *641 question: “Did Alo use the phone in connection with the gambling or other activities of the criminal syndicate known as La Cosa Nostra or the Mafia?” [TR. 531]. Lazarus’ counsel had been previously supplied with the transcript and had specified out of the presence of the jury certain portions thereof which he objected to and did not want read, and the court by rulings complied with his request. [TR. pages 86, 138, 161].

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425 F.2d 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ruby-lazarus-ca9-1970.