United States v. Sasso

215 F.3d 283, 2000 WL 767294
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJune 13, 2000
DocketDocket No. 98-6240
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 215 F.3d 283 (United States v. Sasso) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second 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. Sasso, 215 F.3d 283, 2000 WL 767294 (2d Cir. 2000).

Opinion

KEARSE, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Robert Sasso appeals from an amended judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Thomas C. Platt, Judge, ordering him to contribute $136,000 toward the cost of monitoring the operations of defendant Local 282 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“Local 282”). The district court granted the government’s motion to compel such contribution in light of, inter alia, Sasso’s association with organized crime and his participation in a conspiracy to conduct the affairs of Local 282 through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq. (1994). On appeal, Sasso contends principally that the court (1) lacked authority to order contribution, and (2) failed to make factual findings sufficient to support the amount of contribution ordered. For the reasons that follow, we reject all of Sasso’s challenges to liability, but we vacate and remand for findings with respect to the amount of contribution to be paid.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1992, the government commenced a criminal prosecution against defendants Michael Carbone, Michael Bourgal, John Probeyahn, Joseph Matarazzo, and Sasso (collectively the “individual defendants”), charging them with, inter alia, conspiring to conduct the affairs of Local 282 through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(c) and (d). In March 1994, Sasso pleaded guilty to that conspiracy charge; he was sentenced principally to 41 months’ imprisonment, followed by three years’ supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine, plus $51,172 for the costs of his imprisonment.

Insofar as the present appeal is concerned, most of the events described below were established by Sasso’s plea of guilty. See 18 U.S.C. § 1964(d) (“A final judgment or decree rendered in favor of the United States in any criminal proceeding brought [285]*285by the United States un'der this chapter shall estop the defendant from denying the essential allegations of the criminal offense in any subsequent civil proceeding brought by the United States.”); see generally United States v. Podell, 572 F.2d 31, 35 (2d Cir.1978) (“a criminal conviction, whether by jury verdict or guilty plea, constitutes estoppel in favor of the United States in a subsequent civil proceeding as to those matters determined by the judgment in the criminal case”); United States v. Smith, 407 F.2d 33, 35 (2d Cir.1969) (“a plea of guilty admits all facts well pleaded”).

A. The Present Civil RICO Action and the Events Leading to It

Local 282 is a labor organization representing, among others, truck drivers and other transporters of building materials and equipment to and from construction sites in the New York City metropolitan area. At the pertinent times, the individual defendants were officers of Local 282. Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, by means of threats of physical, economic, and financial harm, including work stoppages, the individual defendants unlawfully obtained cash payments from representatives of companies whose employees were members or were eligible to be members of Local 282. Such companies were assured of lax enforcement of their agreements with Local 282 or were allowed to operate in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement without experiencing labor unrest.

Sasso was an officer of Local 282 from 1968 to 1992, holding at various times the positions of business agent, vice-president, and secretary-treasurer, and serving as its president from 1984 to 1992. Sasso was also an associate of the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (“Gambino Crime Family” or “Gambino Family”), part of a nationwide criminal organization. Sasso and the other individual defendants shared the unlawful payments described above with members and associates of the Gambino Crime Family. In addition, companies affiliated with the Gambino Family received favorable treatment at the expense of their competitors, and official positions within Local 282 were filled with persons favored by the Gambino Family. The individual defendants also engaged in conduct designed to prevent government detection of their unlawful collaboration with the Gambino Family by, inter alia, accepting illegal payments in cash, arranging clandestine meetings, transferring money surreptitiously, and lying during depositions taken under oath.

In June 1994, the government commenced the present civil action against Local 282 and the individual defendants pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1964, which authorizes the district court to issue appropriate orders to prevent or restrain violations of RICO. The complaint, inter alia, alleged a 25-year history of “systemic infiltration, control and corruption” of Local 282 by members of the Gambino Crime Family (Complaint ¶ 1), reiterated the allegations of the count of the indictment to which Sasso had pleaded guilty, and set out 44 acts of racketeering activity. The principal difference between the civil complaint and the criminal indictment was that, whereas in the criminal case the RICO enterprise had been defined as Local 282, in the civil RICO action the enterprise was defined as the “Local 282/Gambino Enterprise.” The complaint asserted two claims, alleging that each individual defendant (1) had conducted the affairs of the Local 282/Gambino Enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), and (2) had conspired to do so, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d). The complaint sought equitable relief designed to “eliminate and enjoin organized crime’s control, infiltration and corruption of Local 282, to prevent Local 282’s and organized crime’s extortion of construction businesses, and to have the Individual Defendants divest and disgorge any interests and proceeds they have received from the enterprise described here[286]*286in.” (Complaint ¶ 2.) It also asked that the court “appoint a trustee ... to assume control of and direct all operations of defendant Local 282 until such time as Local 282 is cleaned of all racketeering or orga7 nized crime influence” (Complaint Wherefore ¶ F), and eventually to conduct elections of new officers free of intimidation and corruption.

In early 1995, the government, Local 282, and the Local’s parent union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“IBT”), entered into a Consent Judgment calling for the establishment of a monitorship to oversee Local 282’s activities and to eliminate corruption within the Local.

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215 F.3d 283 (Second Circuit, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
215 F.3d 283, 2000 WL 767294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sasso-ca2-2000.