United States v. Corrado, 227 F.3d 528 (6th Cir. 2000)

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, opinion by Circuit Judge Gilman. It opens: “This case involves three codefendants convicted of conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), as alleged members of the Detroit Mafia.” The three were indicted “on charges relating to their alleged involvement in the Detroit branch of the national Mafia organization.”

Paul Corrado and Nove Tocco challenged the voir dire, the prosecutor’s conduct and the jury’s impartiality after an attempted contact with a juror. The court held: “we VACATE the convictions and sentences of Corrado and Tocco and REMAND for a hearing pursuant to Remmer v. United States,” with the convictions to be reinstated if the district court found no prejudice.

Vito Giacalone argued that an earlier plea agreement barred the charges. The court recounts that he had been indicted in 1992 for inducing Theodore Forman, a Justice Department attorney, to turn over grand jury material; that under a plea to conspiracy to defraud the United States the government promised he would “not be charged … in connection with the theft of Government documents involved in United States v. Forman”; and that “Giacalone served a three-year sentence for his crime.” On January 5, 1998 he “pled guilty to count two of the indictment (RICO conspiracy based upon the collection of unlawful debts), in return for the dismissal of all remaining charges,” reserving his appeal. The court concluded: “we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of Giacalone’s motion to dismiss.”