# United States v. Agueci, 310 F.2d 817 (2d Cir. 1962)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/courtlistener-us-v-agueci-310-f2d-817/

Second Circuit opinion of November 8, 1962 affirming the narcotics convictions of ten defendants, Joseph Valachi among them, on a 1961 indictment charging a conspiracy to bring heroin from Italy hidden in trunks and valises collected at Pier 84 in Manhattan.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, No. 99, Docket 27466; argued October 4, 1962, decided November 8, 1962. Before Lumbard, Chief Judge, and Friendly and Kaufman, Circuit Judges; the opinion is by Kaufman. The appellants are Vito Agueci, Filippo Cottone, Robert Guippone, Luigi Lo Bue, Matthew Palmieri, Anthony Porcelli, Charles Shiffman, Rocco Scopellitti, Charles Tandler and Joseph Valachi.

The indictment, filed on May 22, 1961, had thirty counts. The first charged a conspiracy to violate the narcotics laws "commencing in September 1958 and continuing until May 1961." The trial in the Southern District of New York lasted two months. The government's case rested on two witnesses, Salvatore Rinaldo and Matteo Palmeri, who described heroin from Italy in "concealed packages hidden in valises or false-bottom trunks, most of which were unwittingly brought to New York piers by Italian immigrants." Palmeri, who ran a bakery in Brooklyn, collected the trunks at Pier 84 in Manhattan in his bakery truck.

The court refers "for convenience" to the men who initiated the importations as the "executive group," and says the government's witnesses established that they were Albert Agueci, Frank Caruso, Vincent Mauro, John Papalia, Vito Agueci, Luigi Lo Bue and Valachi. The phrase is the court's shorthand for the witnesses' account of this conspiracy, not a rank in any organization.

"Appellant Valachi was convicted on the conspiracy count only." He argued that his surrender on March 28, 1960, "to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York on another violation," withdrew him from the conspiracy; the court did not accept the argument. A footnote gives the sentences, from five to twenty-five years; Valachi, Guippone and Palmieri received twenty years. The court concludes: "The judgments of conviction as to all of the defendants are hereby affirmed."

## Sources

- CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/258951/united-states-v-vito-agueci/