United States v. Civella, 648 F.2d 1167 (8th Cir. 1981)

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, Nos. 80-1828, 80-1829 and 80-1844, submitted February 13, 1981, decided May 13, 1981, with rehearing and rehearing en banc denied June 10, 1981 (the CourtListener header shows the June date), before Judges Ross, Henley and McMillian, with the opinion by Judge Ross.

“On July 18, 1980, appellants Civella, Tamburello and Tortora were convicted by a jury on a two count indictment charging them with conspiring to bribe a public official and using the communication facilities in interstate commerce in carrying out their conspiracy.” The evidence “consisted primarily of nine taped recordings of their conversations, which were intercepted by federal agents pursuant to court orders dated September 24 and November 10, 1978.” The bribery concerned “a scheme to bribe the warden of a federal correctional center in Ft. Worth” to transfer Anthony Civella. The court affirmed.

The recordings “were obtained in the course of an ongoing investigation by federal agents which followed a series of alleged ‘gangland style’ murders in Kansas City.” The opinion does not discuss Las Vegas. It is filed because it is the Eighth Circuit’s record of Nicholas Civella’s conviction, and the surveillance orders of September 24 and November 10, 1978 are the ones the Senate subcommittee’s staff later summarized in the Central States hearings.