United States v. Frank Altese, A/K/A Frankie FeetsUnited States v. Frank Altese, A/K/A Frankie Feets
Lead Opinion
This is an appeal pursuant to
The gravamen of the two counts before us (counts one and two) is that the named defendants had conducted a large scale gambling business through a pattern of racketeering activity and the collection of unlawful debts, as defined in
1. The Language of the Act:
We first note that each of the four paragraphs ofSection 1962 begins with the all inclusive phrase: “It shall be unlawful for any person . . . ” who has received any income derived from any pattern of racketeering activity, etc., to use any part of such income in the acquisition of “any entеrprise engaged in . interstate or foreign commerce.” (emphasis supplied). The word “any” is explicit. In addition, we note that inSection 1961 the Congress in defining the words “person” and “enterprise” again uses the word “any”. In the light of the continued repetition of the word “any” we cannot say that “a reading of the statute” evinces a Congressional intent to eliminate illegitimate businesses from the orbit of the Act. On the contrary we find ourselves obliged to say that Title IX in its entirety says in clear, precise and unambiguous language — the use of the word “any”4 — that all enterprises that are conducted through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debts fall within the interdiction of the Act. Congress could, if it intended any other meaning, have inserted a single word of restriction. Instead it left out the word and inserted a clause providing that the provisions of Title IX “be liberally cоnstrued to effectuate its remedial purposes.” 84 Stat. 947. We cannot — in the light of such language — hold that Congress did not say what it meant nor meant what it said.
2. The Cases on Title IX:
If the language of Title IX is not found to be so explicit as we hold it to be and we are obliged to construe the language of Title IX, we come out with the same result. As this Circuit held in United States v. Parness,
It is the purpose of this Aсt to seek the eradication of organized crime in the United States by strengthening the legal tools in the evidence-gathering process, by establishing new penal prohibitions, and by providing enhanced sanctions and new remedies to deal with the unlawful activities of those engaged in organized crime. 84 Stat. 923.
These new penal prohibitions, enhanced sanctions, and new remedies clearly extend to an illegitimate business as well as a legitimate one; to read the Act otherwise does not make sense since it leaves a loop
We note that three other Circuits have reached this same result.
Reversed and remanded.
Notes
. 18 U.S.C. 1962 provides:
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduсt of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.
. 18 U.S.C. 1962:
(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsections (a), (b), or (c) of this section.
.
(1) “Racketeering activity” means (A) any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, or dealing in narcotic or other dangerous drugs, which is chargeable under State lаw and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, (B) any act which is indictable under any of the following provisions of title 18, United States Code; Section 201 (relating to bribery), section 224 (relating to sports bribery), sections 471, 472, and 473 (relating to counterfeiting), section 659 (relating to theft from interstate shipment) if the act indictable under section 659 is felonious, section 664 (relating to embezzlement from pension and welfare funds), sections 891-894-(relating to еxtortionate credit transactions), section 1084 (relating to the transmission of gambling information), section 1341 (relating to mail fraud), section 1343 (relating to wire fraud), section 1503 (relating to obstruction of justice), section 1511 (relating to the obstruction of State or local law enforcement),section 1510 (relating to obstruction of criminal investigations), section 1511 (relating to the obstruction of State or local law enforcement), section 1951 (relating tо interference with commerce, robbery, or extortion), section 1952 (relating to racketeering), section 1953 (relating to interstate transportation of wagering paraphernalia), section 1954 (relating to unlawful welfare fund payments),section 1955 (relating to the prohibition of illegal gambling businesses), sections 2314 and 2315 (relating to interstate transportation of stolen property), sections 2421-24 (relating to white slave traffic), (C) any act which is indictable under title29, United States Code, section 186 (dealing with restrictions on payments and loans to labor organizations) or section 501(c) (relating to embezzlement from union funds), or (D) any offense involving bankruptcy fraud, fraud in the sale of securities, or the felonious manufacture, importation, receiving, concealment, buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in narcotic or other dangerous drugs, punishable under any law of the United States;
(5) “pattern or racketeering activity” rеquires at least two acts of racketeering activity, one of which occurred after the effective date of this chapter and the last of which occurred within ten years (excluding any period of imprisonment) after the commission of a prior act of racketeering activity;
(6) “unlawful debt” means a debt (A) incurred or contracted in gambling activity which was in violation of the law of the United States, a State or political subdivision thereof, or which is unenforceable under State or Federal law in whole or in part as to principal or interest because of the laws relating to usury, and (B) which was incurred in connection with the business of gambling in violation of the law of the United States, a State or political subdivision thereof, or the business of lending money or a thing of value at a rate usurious under State or Federal law, where the usurious rate is at least twice the enforceable rate; .
. “Any” is defined in Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, as follows: “Indicating a person, thing, etc., as one selected without restriction or limitation of choice, with the implication that everyone is open to selection without exception; all, taken distributively; every; used especially in assertions with emphasis on unlimited scope.”
. It was held that the word “enterprise” in the Aсt included both foreign and domestic.
. Two district courts have held to the contrary: United States v. Amato,
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting):
Because I believe that the majority’s holding radically extends federal jurisdiction to virtually every criminal venture affecting interstate commerce, I must dissent. Although such a large scale incursion by. the federal government into matters traditionally of local concern may be constitutionally permissible, I do not believe that such a step should be taken in the absence of clear Congressional direction. With all due respect to my brothers, I am unable to find such a mandate in either the statutory language or the legislative history of Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, 84 Stat. 922, 941-948.
The majority places great reliance on the word “any” which precedes “enterprise” in
Even were I tо agree with the majority’s facial reading of the statute, I would, nevertheless, feel duty bound to examine the legislative history to ascertain Congressional intent. In expounding a statute, we must not be guided by a single sentence or word therein. Rather, we must look to the provisions of the whole law so that we may give effect to the legislative will. Philbrook v. Glodgett,
A review of the legislative history of Title IX leaves no doubt that Congress never contemplated that “enterprise” as used in
While the majority’s disregard of legislative intent is troublesome, it pales in the shadow of the prospective consequences of their action on sensitive federal-state relationships аnd limited federal police resources and the resultant transformation of relatively minor state offenses into federal felonies by mere geographic happenstance. Rewis v. United States, supra,
The end result of the majority’s expansive interpretation of
Appellees are alleged to have engaged in illegal gambling, concededly a racketeering activity. In so doing, they have not invested in, acquired control of, or employed the resources of any legitimate commercial concern. The “enterprise” the majority finds is the gambling operation itself, a de facto conspiracy whose sole raison d’etre was the carrying on of criminal conduct. While Congress has recognized the desirability of federal prosecution of illegal gambling, previously a matter solely of State concern, by the passage of Title VIII of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, 84 Stat. 922, 936 — 940,
Although the instant indictment alleges a violation of federal law [
Application of the Court’s holding today to the facts in Moeller illustrates the far-reaching effect of our expansive interpretation of “enterprise”. Without a clear and
Although the question at bar has been resolved on several occasions by the district courts of this Circuit, with varying results,
In United States v. Campanale,
In United States v. Cappetto,
For all of the preceding reasons, I would decline to fall in line behind the Fifth and Seventh Circuits
. Notwithstanding the mandate of Congress to liberally construe the provisions of Title IX, 84 Stat. 947, “when choice has to be made between two readings of what conduct Congress has made a crime, it is apрropriate, before we choose the harsher alternative, to require that Congress should have spoken in language that is clear and definite.” United States v. Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp.,
. Our Court, however, has in recent decisions sought to stem the tide. See United States v. Merolla,
. Additional problems are raised by the vast disparities among the laws of the various states. Under New York law, for example, the following are gambling offenses punishable by more than one year imprisonment: (a) rеceiving more than $500 in a single day in connection with a lottery or policy scheme [
. See footnote 6 of the majority’s opinion.
. I find it somewhat difficult to comprehend how subsections (b) and (c) can conjure up a different meaning of “enterprise” than subsection (a) since both are derived from the identical definition contained in
. As previously indicated, I do not believe that the Ninth Circuit has to date expressed its views on the matter at issue.