# United States v. Aviles, 274 F.2d 179 (2d Cir. 1960)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/courtlistener-us-v-aviles-274-f2d-179/

Second Circuit opinion of January 12, 1960 affirming most of the 1959 narcotics-conspiracy convictions of Vito Genovese, Vincent Gigante and others. It finds Genovese one of the conspiracy's "principal directing heads."

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, docket 25682, decided January 12, 1960. The appeal was from the 1959 narcotics-conspiracy trial in the Southern District of New York. The government's main witness was the courier Nelson Cantellops, and the court summarizes his testimony at length. In that summary Cantellops took a package "to Las Vegas," where "Carmine Polizzano met him and introduced him to the defendant Fiano to whom he gave the package later that evening"; the court notes that "the jury acquitted defendant Fiano."

On Genovese, the court wrote: "We find upon all the evidence that there is ample proof of Genovese's participation in the conspiracy as one of its principal directing heads." It adds that Genovese "was called 'The Right Man' by those actively dealing with the distribution of the narcotics." The court notes there was no proof that he handled narcotics or received money. These are statements about this conspiracy, not about a family.

The opinion lists the sentences, among them "Joseph Di Palermo and Vito Genovese-- fifteen years" and "Vincent Gigante and Ralph Polizzano received seven years." In the testimony the court summarizes, Gigante drove Cantellops to Lorain, Ohio, and "Ormento and Galante sent Cantellops to Puerto Rico for narcotics." The court affirmed the convictions, except that it reversed one.

## Sources

- CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/249926/united-states-v-aviles/