United States v. Bonanno, 180 F. Supp. 71 (S.D.N.Y. 1960)

United States District Court, Southern District of New York, January 12, 1960. CourtListener records no docket number for this opinion, and none is given here.

During the Apalachin conspiracy trial the defendants moved to suppress “all evidence procured through law enforcement activities in and around Apalachin, New York, on November 14, 1957.” Judge Kaufman held an in camera hearing. “The government presented only one witness, Sgt. Edgar D. Croswell of the New York State Troopers, who was in charge of the police investigation at Apalachin.” He denied the motions in a preliminary opinion of December 2, 1959, and filed this opinion after the trial to set out the facts.

The opinion describes “Joseph Barbara, Sr., at whose estate the gathering took place,” as someone the police had long investigated, and records that “In 1946 Barbara was convicted of an OPA violation involving the illegal acquisition of 300,000 pounds of sugar.” It recounts how Croswell and federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Unit agents saw “some 20 to 25 cars” on the property, set up a checkpoint on the public road, and after 2:00 p.m. sent those stopped to the Vestal substation, where “No one was questioned more than one-half hour.” It states: “About twenty-five out of the approximately sixty persons questioned had criminal records.”

The court held that stopping cars and asking questions in those circumstances was lawful, and that the exculpatory statements given were admissible: “I adhere to my earlier ruling and deny the motions to suppress.” The Second Circuit later reversed the convictions on other grounds in United States v. Bufalino, 285 F.2d 408 (2d Cir. 1960). The police beliefs about Barbara that the opinion reports are the investigators’ suspicions, as the court relates them, not findings of guilt.