La Cosa Nostra, also known as the Mafia, is a "notorious crime syndicate." United States v. DeCologero, 364 F.3d 12, 17 (1st Cir. 2004). During much of the second half of the 20th century, the New England branch of the Mafia, the Patriarca crime family, was led by Raymond Patriarca Sr. Id. After Patriarca Sr.'s death in 1984, his son Raymond Patriarca Jr. took over operations. Id. By 1990, Patriarca Jr.'s heir-apparent was Francis Salemme, better known as "Cadillac Frank" Salemme. Id. However, a faction of the Patriarca family, led by Robert Carrozza, Joseph Russo, and Vincent Ferrarra (the "Carrozza faction"), began challenging Patriarca Jr.'s leadership. United States v. Marino, 277 F.3d 11, 19 (1st Cir. 2002).
In 1991, Salemme became the leader of the Patriarca family. Id. The Carrozza faction challenged Salemme and his faction, and various individuals on both sides of the conflict were murdered. Id. Sometime in early-to-mid-1994, members of the Carrozza faction, including Michael Romano Sr. (Michael Romano Jr.'s father), Enrico Ponzo, and others, plotted to kill certain members of the Salemme faction, including Mark Rossetti. Id. at 20. Romano Sr.'s son, Michael Romano Jr., was also a "Carrozza stalwart[]." Id. Around that time, the two sides met in a "peace" meeting but negotiations fell through. Id.
The Murder of Michael Romano Jr.
On September 1, 1994, Michael Romano Jr., then 20 years old, was murdered by Salemme faction members David Clark, Joseph Souza, and Stephen Rossetti. (Def. Ex. B, Luisi Tr. at 151-53). Romano Jr. was shot at close range while changing a flat tire in Everett. He had been mistakenly identified as Ponzo, the intended target of the shooting. (Am. Compl. ¶ 10).
Mark and Stephen Rossetti are cousins.
The complaint alleges that Mark Rossetti, a FBI informant, sought to kill Ponzo to help the Salemme faction take control of Mafia operations in the Boston area. (Id. ¶¶ 12-13). After the murder of his son, Romano Sr. called Salemme faction member Robert Luisi Jr. and stated "I thought we were going to leave the kids out of this." (Def. Ex. B, Luisi Tr. at 147-54).
Soon after Romano Jr.'s murder, the Carrozza faction met at the Northgate Mall to determine the responsible party. Marino, 277 F.3d at 20. Speculation initially focused on Ponzo himself and Salemme faction members Joseph Cirame, Clark, Souza, Lonnie Hilson, and Salemme. Id. To retaliate for the murder, the Carrozza faction developed a "hit list." Id. Carrozza faction members twice attempted to kill Cirame; opened fire on Stephen Rossetti; and attempted to murder Salemme. Id. Romano Sr. personally shot and killed Souza. Id.
7 Taking the evidence in favor of the verdict, the jury could have found the following facts.2
8 Marino and Patti were members of the Patriarca Family of La Cosa Nostra, an organization that controlled much of the crime in the greater Boston area. In 1989 a conflict developed when a faction led by Robert Carrozza, Joseph Russo, and Vincent Ferrarra began to challenge Raymond Patriarca's leadership of the organization. In 1989 William Grasso, one of the leaders of the Patriarca Family, was killed. An attempt was also made to murder Frank Salemme, who was at that time in the Patriarca Family leadership. Marino was involved in the murder attempt and had reason to fear Salemme would return the favor.
9 In 1991 Salemme became the boss of the Partriarca Family. The conflict escalated. On one side was the leadership of the Patriarca Family, and on the other side was the rival Carrozza faction, to which Marino and Patti belonged. Both factions wanted to collect the extortion payments to the Patriarca Family and control its other business.
10 Anthony Ciampi, a key Carrozza faction member, owned a club on Bennington Street in East Boston, the site of gambling and illegal card games. Carrozza faction members frequented the club. Mark Spisak, a Carrozza faction member, worked there. Marino was seen at least once at the club by John Arciero, a government witness.
11 In the Fall of 1993 there was a confrontation at the Breeds Hill Club in East Boston when Stephen Rossetti, a Salmme faction member, with Joseph Souza, Richard Devlin, and Richard Gillis present, shook down Ciampi. Months later, Ciampi would kill Devlin. Rossetti would die a natural death.
12 In early 1994 Marino and Patti conspired with others to help Carrozza challenge Salemme's leadership of the Family. As part of the conspiracy, Ciampi, accompanied by Spisak and Nick Patrizzi, murdered Devlin on March 31, 1994. Devlin had been attempting to extort money from Ciampi's gaming operations. Devlin's killers also attempted to murder Gillis. Both victims belonged to the Salemme faction. The murder of Devlin and the attempt to murder Gillis took place after Ciampi saw Devlin, Gillis, and Stephen Rossetti in the vicinity of his club, "rubberneck[ing]" him earlier in the day. Ciampi believed that the three men were looking to kill him.
13 After Devlin's murder the Carrozza faction met more frequently at Ciampi's club, which became the center of operations. The group also stored weapons and surveillance equipment (such as night vision binoculars) there. Marino and Patti participated in a number of these meetings. The group talked about collecting envelopes of "rent" payments and taking over the city once they had killed Salemme and his allies.
14 After the Devlin murder and before August 1994, members of the Carrozza faction, including Michael Romano, Ciampi, Spisak, Ralph Scarpa, Enrico Ponzo, Marino, and Patti, met at Santarpio's, a restaurant in East Boston. Ciampi boasted of killing Devlin and asked who was going to do what next. The group discussed the need to eliminate their enemies and, specifically, their plans to kill Mark and Stephen Rossetti, Gillis, and Darin Buffalino, all members of the Salemme faction. After the meeting Romano told Spisak that Carrozza had told Romano that he had "a lot of faith in [Marino]."
15 During this period, between March 31 and August, 1994, a "peace" meeting took place between the warring factions at Kelly's Pub in Central Square in East Boston. Robert Luisi Jr. and Stephen Rossetti (Salemme faction members) met with Romano (from the Carrozza faction) to discuss Devlin's murder and a proposed truce. Luisi and Rossetti told Romano that the reason Devlin, Gillis, and Stephen Rossetti had been in the vicinity of Ciampi's club on the day Devlin was killed was to look for Marino, whom they suspected was involved in the attempted murder of Salemme in 1989.
16 There was no peace. On September 1, 1994, Michael Romano Jr. was murdered. Both Romano Jr. and his father, Romano Sr., were Carrozza stalwarts. At a Northgate Mall meeting, the Carrozza group, with Marino in attendance, discussed who was responsible for the murder, and initially focused on Joseph Cirame and Enrico Ponzo. They also suspected several members of the Salemme faction, including Cirame, Joseph Souza, David Clark, Lonnie Hilson, and Frank Salemme. The murder of Romano Jr. intensified the warfare.
17 The Carrozza faction developed a "hit list" of people to kill. Their hit list included known Salemme faction members and those believed responsible for killing Romano Jr. The defendants and others participated in several excursions to locate and shoot people on the hit list. The excursions started and ended at the Ciampi club.
18 At a meeting at the club, Arciero, Romano, Sean Cote, Scarpa, Paul DeCologero, Marino, and Patti discussed a plan to kill Salemme at an auto body shop in Somerville. They wanted both to avenge Romano's murder and to take over the Patriarca Family operation. At another meeting, Romano, Arciero, Cote, DeCologero, Scarpa, Gino Rida, Marino, and Patti planned to kill Lonnie Hilson in Everett because Hilson was "with Salemme."
19 In September 1994, Carrozza faction members twice attempted to murder Joseph Cirame, whom Romano Sr. suspected in the murder of Romano Jr. The first attempt failed; during the second, on September 16, Cirame was shot several times, but survived.
20 On September 21, 1994, Cote, while in a car driven by Patti, opened fire on Michael Prochilo, who was in his own car. Prochilo, who was in the Salemme faction, had stolen drugs from Patti. He was not hit.
21 On September 25, 1994, Cote stabbed Timothy Larry O'Toole in the arm because O'Toole was in the Salemme faction.
22 On October 13, 1994, several members of the Carrozza faction unsuccessfully attempted to murder Stephen Rossetti outside his home. This was only one of numerous attempts to kill Rossetti.
23 On October 20, 1994, Romano Sr. shot and killed Joseph Souza. Romano acted both to avenge his son's death and as part of the larger struggle between the factions. There was no evidence that Marino was a direct participant in Souza's murder.
24 Sometime in late 1994, Marino, Patti, and Cote broke into a doughnut shop in Central Square, East Boston. They stole both cash and guns for use by the faction and stored the guns with the cache of weapons already at Ciampi's club.
25 In addition, at least from the Fall of 1993 through the Fall of 1994, the Patriarca Family, including Patti and Marino, was involved in a cocaine distribution operation. Participants in this operation supplied drugs to other members of the Patriarca Family for distribution and sale, and for personal use.
Marino and Patti both argue that the district court erred when it admitted hearsay evidence based on the coconspirators' statements exception to the hearsay rule. Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). Specifically, they object to the admission of authorized surveillance tape recordings of a December 11, 1991 conversation between Frank Salemme, Natale Richichi, and Kenneth Guarino which took place at a Hilton hotel (the "Hilton tapes"). The conversation was a general discussion about the Patriarca Family and its business: the members of the Family, the structure, and the activities of the organization. The government used the tapes to show that the Patriarca Family existed and that it engaged in illegal activities. The defense theory is that the three men whose conversation was recorded were part of the rival Salemme faction and so could hardly be the defendants' coconspirators, and therefore the evidence is inadmissible.
64 In addition, Marino contends that statements made by Bobby Luisi Sr. and Stephen Rossetti (introduced through the testimony of Mark Spisak and Jerry Matricia) were inadmissible on the same grounds. It is unclear to which statements Marino is referring; it appears that he means statements made by Luisi and Rossetti that the reason Devlin, Rossetti, and Gillis were in the area of Ciampi's club the night Ciampi shot Devlin was to kill Marino in retaliation for his attempted murder of Salemme in 1989, and not to kill Ciampi (as Ciampi believed). These Luisi and Rossetti statements were made during a meeting between representatives of the two factions who were trying to ease the tension in the factional dispute.
