OPINION
This case is part of a consolidated appeal involving thirteen defendants who were members of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club (“OMC”), an international motorcycle club with chapters across the country and around the world. In 1997, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state law enforcement agencies began an investigation into the Green region of the OMC, which consists of chapters in Dayton, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As a result of the investigation, a grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio returned a 40-count indictment in 2003 charging the defendants with various federal offenses, including Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), drug trafficking, and firearms offenses. The defendants were tried together before an anonymous jury.
Defendant Gregory A. Driver was a member of the Green region of the OMC. Following trial, Driver was convicted of one count of substantive RICO, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), one count of RICO conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute narcotics, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. On October 18, 2004, Driver was sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment on all counts, to run concurrently.
Driver raises four issues on appeal: (1) that the district court erred in failing to sever his trial; (2) that his confrontation rights were violated by the admission at trial of out-of-court statements made by one of his co-defendants; (3) that the evidence at trial was not sufficient to convict him on all counts; and (4) that the district court committed various sentencing errors. In addition, the government argues correctly on cross-appeal that the district court erred in failing to consider the imposition of a firearm enhancement with respect to Driver’s sentence. We agree that the evidence was not sufficient to convict Driver of the substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy offenses, but Driver’s other contentions lack merit. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the two RICO convictions, affirm Driver’s drug conspiracy conviction, vacate Driver’s sentence, and remand the case to the district court for resentencing consistent with this opinion.
*427 I.
The first two of Driver’s contentions—that the district court erred in failing to sever his trial and that his confrontation rights were violated during trial— are without merit. Driver initially argues that the district court abused its discretion when it required Driver to defend himself at a trial with his co-defendants. In support of this argument, Driver points to the admission at trial of evidence regarding various acts of violence perpetrated by other OMC members. Driver argues that he was prejudiced by the admission of this evidence.
This contention is without merit because Driver did not meet the high standard required to prevail on a severance motion. Rule 8(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that defendants may be charged together “if they are alleged to have participated in the same act or transaction, or in the same series of acts or transactions, constituting an offense or offenses.” Fed. R.Crim.P. 8(b). In turn, Rule 14(a) permits a district court to grant severance if joinder “appears to prejudice a defendant or the government.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 14(a). This court has noted that, “[a]s a general rule, persons jointly indicted should be tried together.”
United States v. Causey,
Driver failed to establish such compelling, specific, and actual prejudice. Before deliberations, the district court specifically admonished the jury that it was their duty to consider separately the evidence against, and the guilt of, each defendant. Furthermore,
a defendant is not entitled to a severance simply because the evidence against a codefendant is far more damaging than the evidence against him. As we noted in United States v. Warner,690 F.2d 545 , 553 (6th Cir.1982): “We recognize that, in a joint trial, there is always a danger that the jury will convict on the basis of the cumulative evidence rather than on the basis of the evidence relating to each defendant. However, we adhere to the view, as previously stated by our court, that ‘[t]he jury must be presumed capable of sorting out the evidence and considering the case of each defendant separately.’ ” Id. (citations omitted). The presentation of evidence applicable to more than one defendant is simply a fact of life in multiple defendant cases.
Causey,
Nor does Driver’s Confrontation Clause argument require a new trial. Driver contends that the district court erred in allowing the government, through the questioning of Officer Brent Miller, to introduce out-of-court statements made by co-defendant Jason Fowler. Fowler’s statements related to two murders and various drug trafficking activity, but in no way implicated Driver. Nevertheless, Driver contends that Fowler’s statements helped the government prove the drug conspiracy of which Driver was found to be a part.
At the outset, we question whether the statements that Driver complains of were actually introduced against Driver at trial. “Ordinarily when, at a joint trial, a codefendant’s prior statement, testimonial or otherwise, is introduced only against the declarant-codefendant, and not against the complaining codefendant, the latter has suffered no violation of his Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights.”
United States v. Vasilakos,
In any event, the district court did not give a limiting instruction regarding Fowler’s statements at the time that those statements were introduced. But even assuming that the statements were introduced, as Driver alleges, to prove the drug conspiracy of which Driver was a part, and assuming that the admission of the statements violated Driver’s confrontation rights, any error on the part of the district court in this regard would have been harmless. As discussed more fully in Part II,
infra,
the record contains substantial evidence apart from Fowler’s statements (which do not even mention Driver) that Driver knowingly and intentionally joined and agreed to participate in a drug conspiracy formed among OMC members. Accordingly, there is no reasonable possibility that the admission of Fowler’s statements made a difference to the jury in convicting Driver of the drug-conspiracy offense.
Cf. United States v. Savoires,
For these reasons, Driver’s severance and confrontation arguments do not warrant a new trial.
II.
Driver next challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for each of his convictions. Review of the record shows that the evidence at trial was sufficient to convict Driver of the drug conspiracy charged in Count 3 of the indictment, but insufficient to convict Driver of the substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy counts.
This court reviews de novo the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction.
United States v. Gibson,
Driver’s conviction for the substantive RICO offense was based on the jury’s determination that he committed two predicate acts charged in the indictment. The first predicate act was Racketeering Act 1(A), which incorporated the drug trafficking conspiracy count. 1 The second predicate act was Racketeering Act 12, which charged Driver with violating and/or aiding and abetting a violation of the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1952. 2 Because Driver was charged with and convicted of only two predicate acts, his substantive RICO conviction cannot be sustained if there was insufficient evidence to convict Driver of one of those predicate acts. See 18 U.S.C. § 1961(5) (stating that a “pattern of racketeering activity” for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) requires at least two acts of racketeering activity).
Initially, Driver contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of Racketeering Act 1(A). And because Racketeering Act 1(A) incorporated Count 3, the drug conspiracy count, Driver concomitantly argues that his conviction for the drug conspiracy must be reversed as well. Driver’s arguments in this regard are not persuasive. To prove a narcotics conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt “(1) an agreement to violate drug laws, (2) knowledge and intent to join the conspiracy, and (3) participation in the conspiracy.”
United States v. Gibbs,
The evidence elicited at trial was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that various members of the OMC agreed to violate the drug laws, and that Driver knowingly and intentionally joined and participated in the conspiracy. Testimony at trial indicated that members of the OMC discussed matters related to the drug trade policy at various chapter and “bosses” meetings, and that OMC members regularly dealt in drugs to fulfill financial obligations to the OMC. The record also indicates that Driver knowingly and intentionally entered into at least a tacit agreement to join and participate in this conspiracy. At trial, the government elicited testimony from Ronald Talmadge, a member of the Joliet, Illinois chapter of *430 the OMC and a former OMC regional president. Talmadge testified that he engaged in drug trafficking while a member of the OMC. Talmadge stated that from 1998 to 2001, Frank Wheeler — the former head of the Indianapolis chapter and Green region of the OMC who later presided over the entire international OMC organization — purchased cocaine from Tal-madge in quantities of one or more kilograms as often as once per week. Tal-madge testified that, on occasion, Driver would pick up the cocaine for Wheeler. Driver would typically bring $20,000 to $30,000 to pay Talmadge for each transaction. Karen Driver, Driver’s wife, testified that Driver was a probate member and patched member of the OMC during their marriage. She testified that after Driver became a probate member of the OMC, he began selling cocaine obtained from Dominic Mangine, another OMC member. Karen Driver further testified that she helped Driver and Mangine package and weigh cocaine at Mangine’s home. She also stated that Driver sold drugs obtained from OMC members Garland and Walker.
When viewed in the light most favorable to the government, this evidence is sufficient for a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that members of the OMC agreed to violate the drug laws, and that Driver knowingly and intentionally joined and participated in the conspiracy. Accordingly, the jury properly found that Driver committed Racketeering Act 1(A) and, consequently, the evidence was also sufficient to convict Driver of the narcotics conspiracy count.
Moreover, and contrary to Driver’s argument, the evidence was sufficient for the jury to conclude that Driver was responsible for 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. As discussed above, Talmadge testified that he and Frank Wheeler dealt in cocaine in quantities of one or more kilograms as often as once per week and that, on occasion, Driver would pick up the cocaine from Talmadge in Joliet and pay Talmadge anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000. Although Driver argues on appeal that Tal-madge’s testimony “supports at most a total of two kilograms,” Talmadge’s testimony was sufficient to allow a rational trier of fact to find that Driver was responsible for the drug quantity found by the jury. Talmadge’s testimony clearly implies that Driver transported cocaine for Wheeler on more than just a few occasions. In light of the significant trial testimony linking Driver to the packaging, distribution, and transportation of cocaine, the jury’s drug quantity finding was sufficiently supported by the evidence at trial.
The above notwithstanding, the evidence was not sufficient for the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Driver committed Racketeering Act 12. Because this leaves only Racketeering Act 1(A) to support Driver’s substantive RICO conviction, that conviction must be reversed. To prove a violation of the Travel Act, the government was required to establish the following elements: “(1) that the defendant ‘travels in interstate or foreign commerce’ (2) ‘with intent to ... promote, manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on, of any unlawful activity’ and (3) that the defendant ‘thereafter performs or attempts to perform’ an act of promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on of any unlawful activity.”
United States v. Burns,
The record does not support the jury’s finding that Driver committed Racketeering Act 12. Specifically, there is no evi *431 dence establishing that Driver himself violated the Travel Act or aided and abetted Wheeler in violating the Travel Act. On appeal, the government points to only the testimony of Gary Watkins in support of Driver’s commission of Racketeering Act 12. During trial, Watkins, who was a member of the OMC, testified regarding a trip from Indiana to Toledo, Ohio that occurred in late December 2001. Watkins testified that he, Driver, Wheeler and other OMC members traveled from Indiana to Toledo in a van so that Wheeler could attend a “bosses meeting.” Watkins testified that after arriving in Toledo, members of the OMC partied at the clubhouse while the bosses, Wheeler included, held their meeting in a back room. Watkins did not attend the bosses meeting and offered no evidence that Driver attended the meeting. Watkins did not testify to the subject matter of the meeting, and there is no other evidence in the record indicating what was discussed during the meeting. The government nevertheless contends, based on Watkins’s testimony, that the evidence was sufficient to prove that Driver aided and abetted Wheeler’s violation of the Travel Act. The government argues that other testimony in the record established that OMC members regularly engaged in drug distribution and that drug distribution was frequently discussed at various OMC meetings. Because Driver accompanied Wheeler to Toledo for one such meeting, the government asserts, Driver aided and abetted Wheeler’s commission of the Travel Act violation.
We cannot sustain Driver’s substantive RICO conviction on either the theory that Driver himself violated the Travel Act or the theory that Driver aided and abetted Wheeler’s violation of the Travel Act. Even if evidence in the record supports an inference that the bosses meeting in Toledo served to facilitate the drug conspiracy among OMC members, there is simply no evidence that Driver himself traveled to Toledo with the intent “to ... promote, manage, establish, carry on, or facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on” of that illegal activity. There is also no evidence that, once in Toledo, Driver performed or attempted to perform “an act of promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on of any unlawful activity.” The record is devoid of evidence that Driver attended the meeting, facilitated the meeting, or even knew what would be discussed at the meeting. And at most, Watkins’s testimony establishes that Driver may have “partied” once in Toledo. Further, Watkins’s testimony merely establishes that Driver accompanied Wheeler to Toledo, where Wheeler attended the meeting. Even if the meeting did facilitate the drug conspiracy, the record does not support a finding that Driver aided and abetted Wheeler. To establish aiding and abetting, the government must prove that Driver (1) committed an act that contributed to the execution of a crime, and (2) intended to aid the commission of the crime.
United States v. Davis,
From the above, however, it does not necessarily follow that Driver’s RICO conspiracy conviction must be reversed.
Cf. United States v. Joseph,
It makes no difference that the substantive offense under § 1962(c) requires two or more predicate acts. The interplay between subsections (c) and (d) does not permit us to excuse from the reach of the conspiracy provision an actor who does not himself commit or agree to commit the two or more predicate acts requisite to the underlying offense .... In some cases the connection the defendant had to the alleged enterprise or to the conspiracy to further it may be tenuous enough so that his own commission of two predicate acts may become an important part of the Government’s case. Perhaps these were the considerations leading some of the Circuits to require in conspiracy cases that each conspirator himself commit or agree to commit two or more predicate acts. Nevertheless, that proposition cannot be sustained as a definition of the conspiracy offense, for it is contrary to the principles we have discussed.
Id.
at 65-66,
As noted above, there was sufficient evidence to establish that Driver committed Racketeering Act 1(A). From this a rational trier of fact could reasonably conclude that Driver agreed to the commission of at least one predicate act.
See United States v. Hughes,
In sum, the evidence was sufficient to convict Driver of the drug conspiracy but insufficient to convict him of the substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy offenses. We therefore affirm Driver’s drug conspiracy conviction and reverse Driver’s substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy convictions.
III.
In light of the determination that Driver’s substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy convictions must be reversed, we vacate and remand Driver’s sentence to the district court for reconsideration. This will provide the opportunity for the district court to “confront the offenses of conviction and facts anew.”
See United States v. Quintieri,
Driver contends on appeal that, with respect to his conviction for the drug trafficking conspiracy, the district court erroneously determined that Driver was responsible for in excess of 15 kilograms of cocaine. Contrary to Driver’s argument, however, the testimony elicited at trial provided a sufficient basis from which the district court could conclude that Driver was responsible for the amount determined. In determining a base offense level of 34 under U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(a)(3), (c)(3), the district court noted that
[c]learly there was so much cocaine attested to by Mr. Talmadge and others attributable to Wheeler and as to which Mr. Driver would have been the mule that it seems to me, and I will conclude, that level 34 is applicable for the reasons stated in paragraph 38 of the presen-tence investigation.
As discussed above, OMC member Tal-madge testified at trial that Talmadge and Frank Wheeler dealt in cocaine in quantities of one or more kilograms as often as once per week and that, on occasion, Driver would pick up the cocaine for Wheeler and pay Talmadge as much as $20,000 to $30,000. Talmadge’s testimony clearly implies that Driver transported cocaine for Wheeler on more than just a few occasions. And in light of the other testimony linking Driver and his OMC co-conspirators to the packaging and distribution of cocaine, the district court’s determination that Driver was responsible for more than 15 kilograms of cocaine was not clearly erroneous.
See United States v. Sandridge,
On cross-appeal the government argues that the district court erred in failing to impose a two-level dangerous-weap *434 on increase with respect to Driver’s sentence. We agree that the district court improperly declined to consider the two-level increase. During the sentencing hearing, the government argued for the two-level increase pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(b)(l). The government based its argument on the trial testimony of Gary Watkins. Watkins testified that on a trip to Saginaw, Michigan for a funeral, police pulled Driver and Watkins over while they were driving in Driver’s pick-up truck. Watkins testified that Driver was armed with a firearm at that time and that drugs were present in the truck. Driver asked Watkins to kick the drugs out of the truck, but Watkins refused. During the sentencing hearing, the district court refused to apply the dangerous-weapon enhancement in spite of Watkins’s testimony because “the jury was asked to find nothing about that.”
Watkins’s testimony was sufficient for the district court to determine by a preponderance of the evidence that Driver possessed a dangerous weapon while engaged in the drug conspiracy. The district court’s reason for not applying the enhancement-that there was no jury finding that Driver possessed a dangerous weapon-has since been discredited by the Supreme Court’s decision in
United States v. Booker,
IV.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Driver’s conviction for the drug conspiracy, reverse Driver’s convictions for the substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy offenses, and vacate and remand Driver’s sentence for resentencing consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. Racketeering Act 1(A) alleged that Driver "combine[d], conspire[d], confederate^] and agree[d]” with other members of the OMC to distribute and possess with intent to distribute various narcotics.
. Racketeering Act 12 alleged:
On or about December 29, 2001, in the Northern District of Indiana, Northern District of Ohio, and elsewhere, JAMES L. WHEELER and GREGORY A. DRIVER did knowingly travel in interstate commerce from the State of Indiana, to Toledo, Ohio, with the intent to promote, manage, establish, carry on, and facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on, of an unlawful activity, to wit, a business enterprise involving distribution and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, and thereafter did perform and attempted to perform acts to promote, manage, establish, carry on, and facilitate the promotion, management, establishment or carrying on said unlawful activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1952 and 2.
. Because we vacate and remand Driver’s sentence, it is not necessary to address Driver’s Sixth Amendment and reasonableness arguments.
. In fairness to the district court, we note that Driver’s sentencing took place during a time of uncertainty in federal sentencing — the period between the Supreme Court’s Blakely and Booker decisions.
