United States v. Compagna, 146 F.2d 524 (2d Cir. 1944)

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, decided December 20, 1944, before Judges Hand, Swan, and Clark; certiorari denied April 2, 1945.

The opinion opens: “Compagna and six others have appealed from convictions for violation of subdivision (d) of § 420a, Title 18 U.S.C.A.: a conspiracy to extort money from producers and exhibitors of moving pictures during the years 1935 to 1940.” It recounts the testimony of the government’s witness Bioff. Of Compagna it says: “nothing need be said about Compagna; Bioff connected him with the venture in the most direct way; apparently he was the chief.” It states that “To deLucia Bioff repeatedly paid part of the blackmail,” and records Bioff’s account that when he complained of a payment to Nitti, “Nitti had told him to let it pass.”

The opinion sets out the scheme “as the jury might have found it from the testimony,” which was “woven out of the testimony of two accomplices — Bioff and Browne.” It says Browne had been “a member and business agent for the Chicago local of an international trade union of stage hands and moving picture machine operators,” that the group’s “first step was to elect Browne president of the union, in which they succeeded,” and that “Circella and Bioff were then given offices in the union as personal representatives of Browne, as president.” Circella, it says, “kept a night club in Chicago, and … was one of a group, or gang, of confederates who lived by blackmail.” “Circella introduced Rosselli to Bioff as the representative of the group in California.” Maritote and D’Andrea “were given sinecures” with a Chicago exhibitor, and Kaufman was “the local agent of the New Jersey local.” The producers’ “tariff” was $50,000 a year for the larger companies and $25,000 for the smaller, and the arrangement “lasted almost until the indictment was filed on March 18, 1943, and resulted in the collection of over $600,000, in addition to nearly $500,000 collected from exhibitors.” These are the court’s account of the testimony the jury could believe.

The appellants were represented by William Scott Stewart (Compagna, deLucia, D’Andrea, Gioe and Rosselli), J. Bertram Wegman and Harold Simandl (Kaufman), and Vito Marcantonio (Maritote); Boris Kostelanetz appeared for the government. CourtListener gives the appeal number as No. 103. The court concludes: “The convictions are affirmed.” The spelling “Compagna” is the court’s. Louis Campagna gave the spelling Campagna to the Kefauver Committee in 1950.