# Compagna v. Hiatt, 100 F. Supp. 74 (N.D. Ga. 1951)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/courtlistener-compagna-v-hiatt-100-f-supp-74/

On remand, Judge Underwood held on 18 September 1951 that the revocations of Campagna's and Gioe's paroles were "arbitrary and total nullities" and discharged both "as reinstated parolees." The findings describe the 13 August 1947 release from Leavenworth and the flight from Kansas City to Chicago.

District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, decided 18 September 1951, Judge Underwood, Nos. 2329 and 2330, on the remand ordered by the Fifth Circuit.

The findings state that the petitioners were sentenced on December 31, 1943, and that "Because of their good conduct, they were released on parole August 13, 1947, but after unfavorable newspaper publicity and investigations by Congressional Committees and grand juries they were retaken into custody on July 23, 1948, under parole violator warrants issued July 21, 1948, by Judge Rogers, a member of the parole Board." "Petitioners and a co-defendant, de Lucia, were discharged together from Leavenworth Penitentiary August 13, 1947." They were met by Eugene Bernstein, "who was Compagna's attorney," and "The four were driven by a chauffeur to Kansas City Air Port, where they took a plane to Chicago." On Campagna's 1946 tax settlement the court found that "Eight or nine individuals over a period of about thirty days brought in varying amounts in cash and gave them to Bernstein or his secretary."

The court found that the Board's conclusions rested on what, according to Chairman Killinger's testimony, the Board "felt," "assumed" or "believed." It concluded that "the order of revocation of Compagna's parole was arbitrary and a total nullity, because unsupported by substantial evidence, or any evidence, of parole violations," that the records "show no substantial evidence of violations of parole by either of petitioners," and that both "should be discharged, not to complete liberty, but to conditional liberty in the custody of the Attorney General, under the supervision of the Parole Board as reinstated parolees."

The findings also name the man who furnished the car, people connected with Gioe's employment, and others; they are private persons and are not named here. The 1952 De Lucia opinion records that the government's appeal from this judgment was dismissed.

## Sources

- CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8731991/compagna-v-hiatt/