United States v. Woods

915 F.2d 854
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedOctober 1, 1990
DocketNos. 90-3044, 90-3045 and 90-3046
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 915 F.2d 854 (United States v. Woods) 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. Woods, 915 F.2d 854 (3d Cir. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

GREENBERG, Circuit Judge.

On June 22, 1989, appellants Benjamin Woods, Michael Hartman, and Ablebuilt Construction Co., were charged in a twenty-nine count indictment which included a RICO count under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), the City Council of Pittsburgh being the RICO enterprise, numerous Hobbs Act counts and tax counts, arising from public corruption in the Pittsburgh area.1 They were all convicted on certain counts at a jury trial and have appealed from the judgments of [856]*856conviction and sentence.2 While they have raised various issues we have concluded that only their constitutional challenge to their convictions on Count 3, charging a violation of RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), warrants discussion.

I. FACTS

Inasmuch as the jury delivered a guilty verdict we relate the evidence in a light favorable to the government. In the early 1980’s, Joseph Wozniak, an unindicted co-conspirator who testified with a grant of immunity, was able to have Eco-Seal, a weatherproofing product he sold, specified for use in projects of the Pittsburgh Housing Authority. In addition, Wozniak sold another waterproofing product, Sinak, for use on public projects.3 In return for these sales, Wozniak bought hundreds of dollars of tickets for political functions from the Director of the Housing Authority, Daniel Pietragallo, paying for them in cash.4 It appears, however, that the ticket situation was from Wozniak’s view point out of control as he was “being hit by a lot of tickets, by a lot of sources” and “was having a problem paying on some of these tickets.” Consequently, Wozniak at Pietragallo’s suggestion, arranged a meeting with Woods. Woods was known to Wozniak from “political functions” and “fund raisers” and Wozniak was aware that he was a member of both the Pittsburgh City Council and the Board of Directors of the Housing Authority. When Pietragallo told Wozniak to see Woods, Wozniak understood that he was being told to do business with Woods.

Woods was apparently an influencial member of the City Council as he was chairman of its Finance Committee from 1983-85 and in 1985 was elected its president, an office he held until 1987 when he was elected its President-Pro Tern. Woods also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Housing Authority at the times material to this case.

At their first meeting, Wozniak agreed to “kick back” to Woods approximately 10% of the gross Wozniak realized from sales of Eco-Seal to contractors for Housing Authority projects. Wozniak understood that the arrangement was that as long as he made the payments to Woods, “everything would continue the way it was.” On the other hand, if he did not pay up Wozniak understood that there would be “a very good chance that Eco-Seal would no longer be used” or that a competitor “could come in there with the same arrangement” and he would lose the business. Woods and Wozniak also discussed the use of Eco-Seal in projects of other government agencies and, according to Wozniak, Woods was to use his influence in “opening up doors” and would receive 10% of the gross Wozniak realized from these sales.

In early 1983, in anticipation of a particularly large sale, Woods and Wozniak reviewed how Woods was to be paid and agreed that Wozniak would pay him the 10% directly by check. Not surprisingly, however, they became uncomfortable with this arrangement because of Woods’ public position. Accordingly, they agreed that Woods would thereafter be paid through checks made payable to third parties but that his percentage would be increased to 25% of gross sales. On January 4, 1983, in furtherance of this new understanding, Wozniak paid Woods $1,800 for his influence as a member of the City Council. Wozniak instructed his accountant to record the check as the payment of a commission and this transaction is racketeering act ten in the RICO count.5 At about the [857]*857same time Wozniak paid Woods a total of $20,220, through a series of six checks and a political contribution.6 These six checks comprise six of the eight sub-parts to racketeering act nine.7 The $20,220 represented roughly 25% of the $79,600 in gross sales Wozniak had made to a company known as Lori Waterproofing for use on a city project.

While most of the payments to Woods were in consideration for his influence in Housing Authority projects, some of the projects involved were undertaken by the Three Rivers Stadium Authority and the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (AL-COSAN). Thus, Woods arranged a meeting between Wozniak and the Executive Director of the Three Rivers Stadium Authority following which Wozniak sold Eco-Seal for Three Rivers Stadium, a sale valued at $10,890. For this sale Wozniak paid Woods a total of $3,711, through two checks payable to B & C Equipment Rental, one dated October 19, 1983, for $1,000, and a second dated December 21, 1983, for $2,711, payments reflected in racketeering act twelve.8

In December 1983, Woods introduced Wozniak to James Creehan, the Executive Director of ALCOSAN, which placed an order for Eco-Seal totaling $3,902.95. At the time of the purchase Wozniak, Woods, and Creehan discussed the fact that ALCO-SAN rules required advertisement for competitive bidding on contracts in excess of $4,000. On March 2, 1984, at Woods’ instruction, Wozniak wrote a check payable to Burt Labovick, a party unknown to Wozniak, for $500. This transaction, charged as racketeering act eleven,9 was a payment to Woods, although at trial Wozniak could not recall the particular contract involved. On January 25, 1984, Wozniak paid Woods $1,146 directly by check, a payment Wozniak described as the “kick back” to Woods for the ALCOSAN job.10 This payment is set forth in the indictment as racketeering act thirteen.11

In August 1984, Wozniak sold $24,940.90 worth of Sinak to Tri-State Waterproofing for use in a Housing Authority project known as Bedford Dwellings. On August 31, 1984, Wozniak wrote a check payable to Rivell Industrial Contracting, Inc. for $4,400. Wozniak testified that he never had any dealings with that company and that he wrote the check at Woods’ instruction to pay him for the Tri-State contract. This transaction is set forth in racketeering act nine.

Wozniak also sold Sinak for use in the construction of the Bloomfield Bridge, Anjo [858]*858Construction being the contractor on that job. Originally the contract and plans for the bridge specified the use of linseed oil to seal the concrete but Wozniak met with Paul J. McDermott, the Director of the Pittsburgh Department of Engineering and Construction (DEC), to discuss specification of Sinak instead of linseed oil and Woods, at Wozniak’s request, also spoke with McDermott about the matter.

The DEC is the agency responsible for the design and construction of Pittsburgh’s capital budget projects but it must obtain authorization from the Finance Committee of City Council before it can award contracts.

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United States v. Woods
915 F.2d 854 (Third Circuit, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
915 F.2d 854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-woods-ca3-1990.