United States v. Indelicato, 865 F.2d 1370 (2d Cir. 1989) (en banc)

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, sitting en banc; argued June 13, 1988, decided January 13, 1989. This is Anthony Indelicato’s appeal from his conviction in the Commission case. The court reheard one question: whether “Indelicato’s participation in three murders as part of a single criminal transaction could constitute a ‘pattern of racketeering activity.’” It held that “the facts proven by the government are sufficient to establish a RICO pattern” and returned the remaining issues to the panel. The panel’s opinion in the same appeals is United States v. Salerno, 868 F.2d 524.

The background is “the evidence at trial, taken in the light most favorable to the government.” It begins: “In 1979, the boss of the Bonanno family was Carmine Galante. Indelicato was a member of the family; his father was a capo; and an uncle, J.B. Indelicato, was a member. As part of an overall plan to end the factional disputes within the Bonanno family and to realign its leadership, the Commission planned and implemented the murder of Galante and two of his close associates.” The court says the Commission worked through Aniello Dellacroce, “underboss of the Gambino organized crime family,” Stefano Canone, “the counselor of the Bonanno family,” and several Bonanno soldiers, “including Indelicato, Dominic Trinchera, and Cesare Bonventre.”

“On July 12, 1979, Indelicato and two other men, all wearing ski masks, entered a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, where Galante, his cousin Giuseppe Turano, and Galante’s friend and associate Leonard Coppola were having lunch,” and shot and killed all three. Afterward Indelicato went “with his father, his uncle J.B., and Phillip Giaccone, another Bonanno family capo, to a social club in Manhattan.” The court adds: “He, Trinchera, and Bonventre were promoted to the rank of capo. Indelicato maintained that rank until at least 1981.” The proof included ballistics, eyewitness evidence and “Indelicato’s palm print on an inside door handle of the getaway car.”

“He was sentenced to two consecutive 20-year terms of incarceration and a $50,000 fine.” The ranks in this account are the court’s statement of what the government’s evidence showed. They stay on this page and the person pages. The Bonanno family chart is not filled from them.