# Sagansky v. United States, 358 F.2d 195 (1st Cir. 1966)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/courtlistener-sagansky-v-us-358-f2d-195/

First Circuit decision of 25 March 1966 holding that a bookmaker who takes a bet over an interstate telephone call can "use" a wire facility under the Wire Act, but ordering new trials on the entrapment instructions.

Harry Sagansky and Morris Weinstein appealed convictions on jury verdicts under 18 U.S.C. § 1084(a), on five counts from January and February 1964. A special agent of the Intelligence Division of the Treasury Department, introduced to Sagansky under another name, had placed bets with him by telephone. Heard December 7, 1965; decided March 25, 1966.

The defendants argued that the offence was committed by the one who sends the bet, not the one who receives it. The court answered that "§ 1084(a) does not punish the mere transmission of bets or wagers, but rather the 'use' of interstate wire communication facilities for their transmission." It rejected the claim that entrapment was shown as a matter of law, but held that as to the interstate element "the initiation clearly came from" the agent, and that the jury instructions on entrapment required new trials: "Judgments will be entered vacating and setting aside the judgments of the district court and remanding the cases for a new trial."

The opinion prints the case numbers inconsistently (6808 and 6609 in the caption, 6608 elsewhere), so no docket number is given here. The agent's name and the defendants' addresses in the opinion are not copied.

## Sources

- CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/271129/harry-sagansky-v-united-states-of-america-morris-weinstein-v-united/